VI. Call me Steve

"Lyra this is the order." Steve put everything ordered on the table. The aroma is so appetizing, let alone smell the coffee and enjoy it when it rains.

"Thank you, sir." Steve smiled and quietly watched Lyra who was eating food voraciously. Watching Lyra eat sandwiches voraciously, made Steve curious about how the sandwich tasted, he hadn't always liked sandwiches because it has raw vegetables in them. "Lyra, is sandwich good?" asked Steve.

"Of course, it's delicious, sir," said Lyra.

"Can I try?" Lyra immediately nodded and shared her sandwich with Steve. At first, Steve was hesitant to try it again. "Doesn't it taste good?" Lyra asked.

"It's delicious," said Steve, while devouring the sandwich. Time passed and the rain also began to subside.

"Sir, aren't we late for the company?" Lyra asked worriedly.

"No Lyra, company hours are eight o'clock. Don't worry," said Steve, who was busy finishing his meal. While there was still time and Steve seemed very calm, Lyra wanted to tell Steve a little about her dream last night.

"Sir, can I tell you something?" Lyra asked. Steve looked up at Lyra with a serious face. "Yes, Lyra," Steve answered curiously.

Lyra took a deep breath. "Last night I had a strange dream, I dreamed that I saw two people running into the forest. One woman and one man and it seems the two people love each other, sir. But the man doesn't want an arranged marriage and the woman doesn't want to lose the man she loves," Lyra explained.

Steve was a little surprised to hear Lyra's story. He guessed Lyra was talking about him and Lyra in the past "Then do you know what the names of the boys and girls are?" Steve asked.

Lyra's face slowly turned pale, it was getting harder and harder for Lyra to say the name of the man and woman. "The man's name is Steve and the woman's name is Lyra."

Steve's guess about it, it turns out that Lyra has been shown a little memory from her past. Maybe now was Steve's time to tell Lyra what had happened in the past. "The dream had something to do with both of us. It was the two of us in the past," Steve said with a serious look in his eyes.

"No way, sir. Maybe the dream was just a coincidence, sir," answered Lyra. According to Lyra, such a dream happened because she was so close to Steve these several days. It's just a different background and story.

"You can believe it and you can not. But that's the truth even though it sounds absurd." Lyra was silent, in her mind various questions that invited her to consider more about what Steve said. The atmosphere turned awkward again, Lyra increasingly did not understand what was happening and her heart asked herself. Is she in a dream world?

"You'll find out later, Lyra," Steve said.

"Sir looks like we can discuss this another time. Now we have to go to the company, sir," said Lyra.

Steve agreed and immediately paid for the food and then went straight to the company. "One day you'll remember Lyra. Even though you're confused right now, I'm sure you'll remember me. I'll make you remember little by little and we can start over our story in this second life," Steve thought.

Arriving at the company, Lyra and Steve were silent. They were both lost in their thoughts. Suddenly there was the sound of someone knocking on the door and their daydream was broken. "Excuse me, sir," said the employee from behind the door.

"Yes, please come in," said Steve.

"Here, sir, the company's financial statements for this month," said a treasurer who handed Steve a folder filled with papers.

"Thank you," said Steve. The treasurer left the room. Lyra glanced slightly at the document Steve was examining. Steve, who realized he was being watched, also glanced back at Lyra. Lyra hurried back to her work. "What's wrong? You want to see?" asked Steve.

"No," Lyra answered quickly. Steve showed the folder containing the papers to Lyra. Steve said that his company's finances were on the rise. "You said you didn't want to see this," Steve teased, making Lyra angry.

"Since when did I say I didn't want to see?" Lyra said. "Hmm, okay," Steve replied, puffing his cheeks.

Lyra burst out laughing, a confused Steve laughed too. Lyra was silent for a few seconds when she saw Steve laughing. "What you're laughing at?" Lyra asked confused.

"I don't know. Hahaha ...," Steve replied while wiping the tears that came out of the corners of his eyes. After laughing, the two of them returned to busy with their respective jobs until lunch break arrived. Lyra, who happened to finish her work first, decided she wanted to buy some food at the company canteen to fill her stomach for a while.

"Sir, I want to buy some food. Would you like to leave something?" Lyra offered while looking for the wallet in her bag.

"Yes, please buy me fried chicken with rice, and drink it with iced tea," answered Steve, who was busy looking at his laptop.

"Alright, I'll be right back, sir." Lyra walked out of her workspace. Arriving at the company canteen, the atmosphere was very crowded and there were several canteens. Finally, she stopped at a canteen that sold the food she wanted to buy.

A few minutes passed and Lyra returned to her room and placed the food she bought earlier on the empty table that was intended for placing food. "Sir, here's the food," said Lyra, taking the food out of the plastic bag.

Steve also approached Lyra, when he looked carefully the food Lyra bought for him was the same as Lyra's. "Why did you buy the same food?" Steve asked.

"Because the canteen is very crowded. So I bought two of the same food," Lyra replied, who is ready to eat his food. "I see, thank you," said Steve.

"You're welcome." Steve occasionally glanced at Lyra who ate like a child and reminded himself of the past, when he and Lyra eat in the woods before it all ended tragically. Lyra's fried chicken was gone and there were still three mouthfuls of rice left. Lyra looked at Steve's fried chicken which still looked whole. "You want this?" asked Steve.

Lyra immediately looked away, "Not." Steve took Lyra's rice and divided his chicken a little and then fed Lyra. Lyra was a little surprised and looked at Steve "Quickly open your mouth, I know you still want fried chicken right?"

Being so fond of fried chicken, Lyra opened her mouth. "How does it feel?" asked Steve.

"That's good," said Lyra. After the rest of the rice runs out, Lyra immediately took a sip of her iced tea. "It's delicious, I love fried chicken." The smile that Steve wanted to see was plastered on Lyra's sweet face, to the point that she became a little nervous.

Lyra's heart skipped a beat and she remembered her dream with Steve. "What's wrong with me?" Lyra thought.

"Lyra, what's wrong?" Steve asked, seeing Lyra suddenly quiet. Lyra immediately shook her head. "I am alright." Then back to drinking his iced tea until it runs out. "Looks like she's thinking about something," Steve thought.

After eating, Lyra threw away the place where they ate earlier, then went back to work. "Lyra, can I drive you home this afternoon?" Steve asked.

"Maybe not today, sir. The past few days I've been in a lot of trouble, Mr. Steve. I can go home myself," Lyra replied.

"It's okay, I would do anything for you, Lyra." From here Lyra had no answer but to obey Steve's request. "Okay, sir."

"Oh yeah, you don't call me sir. Just call me Steve." Lyra turned to Steve, does it look polite if she calls Mr. Steve like that and how will other employees respond?

"Why have to call you like that?" Lyra asked. Steve just wanted to create a different atmosphere for Lyra, if Lyra calls him Mr. Steve every day, it seemed a little stiff. "Yes, because when you call Mr. Steve, I feel old."

"Alright, I'll call you Steve." Lyra glanced back at her laptop. "Are you busy tonight? I want to invite you to dinner together."

Lyra's fingers, who were typing on her laptop keyboard stopped and thought about whether or not to accept the dinner invitation. "Not really," she replied, glancing at Steve out of the corner of his eye.

"All right, after work. We go to dinner," Steve said.

"Okay, Steve," Lyra replied with a clumsy smile. Steve immediately smiled when he heard Lyra say his name, his heart seemed to want to jump out of his body and Lyra didn't know how to repay Steve for his kindness, because Steve was so kind.

Hours ended and they both started to pack up their things and walked out of their workspace. Arriving at the company parking lot, Steve opened the door and let Lyra in first. Then Steve got in and the car left the company area. From a distance, there was a pair of eyes and a sly smile looking at Steve's car which was getting further away.