The hotel was closing for a lengthy renovation, so on the final evening staff were allowed a celebration in the large ballroom. Rada worked at reception; Bojan occasionally maintained the computers. They knew each other through brief conversations outside the networking cupboard. That evening she first discovered he could dance, while he discovered she sang much louder than she spoke to guests. Both were single and old enough not to believe immediately that a good song must mean a grand destiny.
Still, they remained together until the end. When the music stopped, Bojan asked whether she wanted breakfast. It was almost six in the morning. Rada removed her heels and put on sneakers she kept at work. They left through the staff entrance carrying a bag of pastries the cook had packed. The city was just beginning its day. They sat at a bus stop because the bakery opposite had not opened its seating area and the benches outside the hotel had already been carried inside.
Rada said she did not know where she would work in a month. Bojan immediately began offering contacts. She raised her hand, not harshly. "First let me be frightened for a little while," she said. He listened. She admitted she had spent so many years at the hotel that she knew the elevator's moods, but was unsure how to write a good résumé. Bojan said his work had been uncertain for a long time and what most exhausted him was pretending flexibility always suited him.
At the celebration they had looked like people in complete control. At the bus stop they shared cold pastries and said things that were not especially seductive. Precisely because of that, Rada felt more at ease. When the bus arrived, Bojan asked whether he could call the next day. She said yes, but after noon because she intended to sleep. She did not promise the same smile she had worn beneath the ballroom lights. He said his shirt would no longer be so neatly ironed either.
He called at the agreed time. Their second meeting was a short walk between two of her job interviews. They spent the third searching for a lost key in his untidy apartment. Neither came with music to help. Still, when she found a new job a month later, Rada first wanted to tell him how she had stumbled over the question about her greatest weakness. He brought pastries from the same bakery. They sat at the kitchen table, fully awake, and remained together far longer than breakfast required.