Chapter 21 - Crossing Roads

Chapter 21: Crossing Roads

The map of ABIX had changed.

No longer four bodies in one city, but four lights across the region—connected not by proximity, but by memory, effort, and the quiet, stubborn love that refused to dim.

Crystal sent voice notes from Jakarta, always mid-chaos. Traffic honking, her voice loud and laughing, interrupted by sudden Bahasa phrases and stressed interns.

Ivan’s texts from Germany came at odd hours—photos of wintry streets, accidental selfies, and updates like:
Ivan: Tried sauerkraut. Instant regret. 0/10. Would not ferment again.

Isabelle’s life in Melbourne became muted, reflective. She wrote more than she spoke. Emails, blog posts, sometimes late-night texts that read like poems. Loneliness never left, but neither did courage.

And Aleem?

He was in Penang.

Not the same as the one he remembered from JB—this one was wider, older, quieter. His new job was demanding but manageable. The team respected him. The project was meaningful.

But there was something missing.

Until one afternoon—routine, unremarkable—he met her.

The First Meeting

The office pantry was nearly empty. 4:17PM on a Tuesday. Aleem was refilling his water bottle when someone stepped in behind him.

She wore a light grey blouse, glasses slightly fogged from coming in from the heat. She nodded politely, opened the fridge, and pulled out a packet of chrysanthemum tea.

“Hi,” he said, because he was trying to be more open these days.

“Hi,” she replied, with a small, surprised smile.

“I’m Aleem. Just joined last month.”

“I know,” she said. “You did the systems architecture for the launch.”

“You… read that?”

She nodded, unscrewing her drink cap. “I like studying things I don’t understand. You made it sound very simple.”

He chuckled. “That’s a dangerous compliment.”

“I mean it.”

There was a pause.

Then—

“Shei Er,” she said. “Nice to meet you.”

They shook hands.

Something subtle passed between them. Not lightning. Not sparks.

But stillness.

The kind that makes you listen more closely.

Elsewhere in the World

That night, as the rain painted Jakarta’s skyline, Crystal voice-noted the group:

Crystal: Okay so, I almost got run over by a bajaj BUT I closed the funding pitch and I didn’t cry once. Where’s my trophy?

Isabelle replied ten minutes later, sitting on her bed beside a rain-speckled window in Melbourne:

Isabelle: That’s the trophy. You didn’t cry. And you’re still standing. That’s everything.

Ivan, between trains in Munich, sent a screenshot of his Duolingo streak with one word:

Ivan: Fluency is a scam.

Aleem, lying on his mattress in Penang, phone warm in his hand, stared at their messages and typed slowly:

Aleem: I met someone today. Her name’s Shei Er.

He didn’t say more.

But they didn’t need more.

Not Replacing. Evolving.

In truth, none of them were trying to go back to the old ABIX.

They couldn’t.

And they knew it.

But they were doing something better.

They were carrying it forward—into new cities, new jobs, new people.

Not replacing.

Evolving.

Like islands joined by current, not bridges.

Somewhere in Penang

Shei Er and Aleem passed each other in the corridor later that week. She held a book in one hand—The Architecture of Thought. He made a mental note to look it up.

“You always look like you’re solving equations when you walk,” she said.

He smiled. “That obvious?”

She shrugged. “Some people solve equations. Some observe them.”

“And which are you?”

She considered that.

“Maybe both.”

He chuckled again, softer this time. “Sounds familiar.”