Chapter 19 - Email From Andrea

Andrea spent the weekend gardening at his mother's house. He was in a really good mood because, as it turned out, fate brought him to meet Ludwina after 7 months. He was pondering whether he should contact Ludwina in Scotland and ask the progress of her novel.

Finally, he found a good excuse to contact the girl.

Meanwhile, Ludwina who was used to sleeping comfortably while flying on the first-class cabin, this time could not close her eyes at all. Her heart kept pounding, and for some reason, her right hand still felt the warmth when it was held by Andrea and as he put it on his chest earlier.

That feeling did not disappear until Ludwina arrived in London, changed planes to Edinburgh, and checked in at her hotel. Ahhh .... it felt really unbearable.

Ludwina had never felt this sad ... except for maybe six months ago when she finally called Andrea after looking for excuses for over one month, only to find out that the man had just moved to Singapore.

There, Ludwina was despondent. She was too late with that phone call and Andrea had already moved abroad. Moreover, Ludwina also previously told him that she did not like traveling to Singapore ... Certainly, it would seem strange if Ludwina suddenly showed up there, right?

At that time, the situation was chaotic and sad, and Ludwina cried all day after the last phone call.

Johann advised her to put aside her pride and contact Andrea. Still, Ludwina was late again because Andrea's old phone number was no longer active. He must now already used a Singaporean SIM number.

Finally, Ludwina overcame her sadness by focusing on her travel plans. Within 6 months, she broke her personal record by visiting 20 countries. Her heart began to calm down and she was happy again. She even collected many ideas for her new novels.

However...

As soon as she met Andrea back at the airport last night ... all the composure she had built seemed to collapse without a trace, and she couldn't stop thinking about the young man.

"Would you like to order something else? We are about to close," said the waiter at the coffee shop, suddenly interrupting Ludwina's reverie. She shook her head, then cleared her laptop, and paid for her drink.

Ludwina returned to her hotel with a heavy heart. She felt dumb because when she met with Andrea yesterday, she did not ask for his new cellphone number.

"Hmm... he said he thought I was still in New York ..." Suddenly, a realization dawned on her. "It means he must have seen my photos on Instagram"

A glimmer of hope rose in Ludwina's mind. She opened her Instagram account and checked who all her followers were ...

After scrolling thousands of names, she finally realized that her actions were futile because her Instagram account was made public and anyone could see her pictures without having to create an account. She then decided to look for Andrea's contacts on Google, Facebook, and all the media that she could think of.

There was none.

Ludwina realized that she didn't even know Andrea's full name and didn't know where he worked. She could only type keywords such as "Andrea, Singapore"; "Andrea, Jakarta"; etc., on the internet search engine and cried despondently because she did not know anything about the man.

If Andrea were on social media, maybe Ludwina could find out where he was, and see what he was doing in Singapore, whether he was now with another woman or not ...

There was no news at all—no online presence. Gosh!

This was unfair .... Andrea was able to know that Ludwina was in New York last week, while Ludwina didn't even know Andrea's full name ...

Ludwina felt miserable in Edinburgh and could not enjoy her vacation slash searching-for-inspiration-journey. Finally, a week later, she decided to go home.

"Hey, you surprised me there. Why do you come home early?" Johann asked curiously when he was picking her up at the airport. Ludwina only pursed her lips and did not answer. Once she got home, the girl immediately went to bed.

In the morning, she opened her laptop to look for tickets to Singapore. She had already taken the decision not to care about her so-called pride. She would start traveling to Singapore, and somehow, she would meet again with Andrea.

An email in her inbox suddenly caught her attention.

Email subject: How is your Edinburgh trip?

Ludwina clicked on the email with a pounding heart.

"Hey, Ludwina. I hope you are well, and you find what you are looking for in Edinburgh. I loved meeting you by chance the other day, but at the same time, I hate to keep meeting you by chance. I always come to Jakarta every second and fourth Friday evening to visit my mom. If you fly out by then, let's meet for coffee and have a proper catch-up." -Andrea.

Where did Andrea get my email address? thought Ludwina.

She remembered that she had several email addresses published on her social media and in the travel itineraries she sent to Kompas newspaper. However, this email address was quite personal, and she only gave it to family members and friends.

Ludwina did not mind it one bit though, she was delighted to receive news from Andrea unexpectedly.

A big smile immediately adorned her face, as she hurriedly typed an email reply.

[Andrea! What is your full name?]

[Andrea Baskara]

[Oh, I'm Ludwina Kurniawan]

[I know.]

[When is your birthday?]

[November 15th.]

[You don't want to know when is my birthday?]

[I know]

[Oh ...]

Ludwina felt her face turning red as her smile widened.

"He knows my birthday!!" she squealed in delight.

She then typed the last email.

[I want to find inspiration for my novels in Singapore tomorrow. Any recommendations for interesting places that could excite inspiration?]

[I know some.]

Ludwina happily closed her laptop and hugged it. She even took it for a dance around her bedroom.

She came downstairs from her room while humming. Her father, mother, and brother, who were having breakfast together at the dining table, looked astonished.

"I'm going to Singapore tomorrow," Ludwina explained without being asked.

Her mother and father just looked at each other and smiled in understanding.