The night before last, I lost my phone. I was sitting with Boyana in the café’s garden on her street. When we got up, I left the phone on the table. I came back after twenty minutes, the café was closed, and there was nothing on the table.
I went back the next morning, but they hadn’t found the phone. I definitely needed to buy a new one, but the problem now was that I didn’t have the SIM card either. I had to go to the Telecom office, and as far as I remember, it takes a long time to wait there. I postponed the wait for a day. Boyana had left for Sombor that morning anyway.
Today, I went to Telecom. On the way, I got a new phone, one that folds. Boyana insisted I get a folding one because she has one, so we would have the same. Telecom was still on Modena Street, but they had moved to the other side of the street in the meantime. There was no one when I arrived, and everything was done in ten minutes. I didn’t expect that. Four years ago, when I got my number, I came before working hours and waited three hours in line. I remember there was an entrepreneur in line who needed another number, so he found a student to take the number in his name. He paid him for the service. The student came with his friend, and it was obvious from his face that he was a bit scared. He was probably worried about how the number, which was being taken in his name, would be used. The entrepreneur talked about his business. He ran a restaurant, played in a band in his restaurant, and also composed music for his band and other bands. The more he tried to prove his credibility, the more the student got scared. It didn’t help that he didn’t look like either a musician or an entrepreneur. He looked like an illustration from a book about petty criminals.
I inserted the SIM card and turned on the phone. Unlike the lost one, this one had a color screen, and the sound was much better, not just different tones and beep durations.
Soon, I got my first message, from Boyana.
“I’m traveling tomorrow morning. Can you come to Sombor today to see me?”
That means she left this morning. The night before, and in the previous days, she had mentioned thinking about staying. We had known each other for just over two months, and it was hard for me to believe she would stay here for me, but her heart always beat fast when she hugged me, and I had to trust her.
I let her decide, as I felt it wasn’t right to pressure her into staying. I still thought there was more time. Now I think I was wrong every step of the way. I called her. She was unreachable. I went to my apartment and lay down until the evening. Then, I called Elena to take a walk and asked her to stay with me until bedtime. I didn’t want to be alone.
