Message in the Bottle

080-when-fiction-and-realities-collide-080

"Call me. Four Seasons Marunouchi. Erika."

What? I looked back to the entrance but she's gone already. Damn...how did she slip that piece of paper into my suit's pocket? Is this somekind of joke?

...

1 hour earlier at Pacific Cardinal Marunouchi

"Heyy..yooo...happy new year! Akemashite omedetou, fellas! How is it going!" I greeted some of the guys that I met at the paintball trip at Tama Hills in summer. "Nick-san! Happy new year to you too! When are we going to compete again?" Haha..such a warm competitive hisashiburi greeting, eh? "Compete? Ahaha..let me try to keep my job first and got some slice of the bonus pie and then I'll let you know! Gotta pay my bills first before I can afford renting the equipments, jya nai?" "Sure, Nick..if anyone got fired, that would be us first..haha. What do you want for drink?" "Whatever you drink now, mate."

I walked around and greeted some more people until I suddenly heard some people talking Bahasa Indonesia at one of the tables. I took a look..hmm..2 guys and 2 girls..and don't look like locals. Tried to see more clearly while remembering faces from my Facebook account..none matches. Ahh..let me just walk there and say hello..show some hospitality that Tokyo has to offer I guess..

"Hello..dari Indonesia?" A bit pause there and then one of the guys answered "Iya. Orang Indonesia juga, Mas?" "Yup, lagi liburan atau tinggal di sini?" One of the girls now looking at me and answered "Ohh..kita lagi transit. Going for an exhibition at SF. Kalau Mas?" "Saya kerja di Tokyo. Wait a minute..are you guys going to Macworld Expo?" "Iyaaa..kok tau sih?" "Ahh well..I'm just guessing..I know that there will be mac expo soon. Cool! May I know what you're going to do there? I mean..just visiting or some kind of business trip?" Now the other girl is answering me "Mau berbisnis..ada sedikit pekerjaan disana." Wait a minute..the tone and her choice of words is a bit strange..so I said "Eto..nihonjin desu ka?" "Haha..sou desu. Tau dari mana?" "Haha..well..just another lucky guess" I answered back with a smile and a wink.

So, they invited me to join their table and after some usual introduction lines I found out that this group is very interesting. They are actually part of an NPO that focusing on education for kids in emerging market and got some back up from Apple. They're going to SF and trying to get some more funding from Apple's alliance to create interactive libraries across Indonesia. Whoa. Never heard such before. The Japanese girl, her name is Erika and been living in Jakarta for about 1 year now. Her background was..surprisingly..investment banking in the past and somehow got attracked to the "non-profit" (whatever) side of the world. And still single. Kya kya kya..

After some more talk, they excused themselves as they're going to have some important meetings in the morning. I gave them my name cards and my cellphone numbers and saying if anything, then to give me a call. I didn't try to close anything..haha..I mean..I don't know..they might be more than just co-worker to each other..desu yo ne? Anyway..so I said goodbye to them and as they left, I walked back toward the bar. I ordered one Chivas on the rock and as I pulled out my money clip from my pocket, I got a piece of paper with some writings on it.

...

I'm still staring at the paper. Should I call???


Notes:
Dari Indonesia = From Indonesia
Lagi liburan atau tinggal di sini? = (Are you) on holiday or live here?
Saya kerja di Tokyo = I work here in Tokyo
Iya, kok tau sih? = Yes, how do you know?
Mau berbisnis..ada sedikit pekerjaan disana. = Going for a business..have a bit of work there.
Eto..nihonjin desu ka? = Err..are you Japanese?