Ajla drafted the request in four pages. Nenad looked at it and said nobody would read that much about an overcrowded storage room. She replied that problems remained unresolved precisely because nobody explained them properly. They sat at a small table in their building's hallway, chosen to write a shared request to the manager. The other residents left quickly, glad to entrust the job to two people who usually could not agree even about an open window.
Nenad wanted three sentences. Ajla wanted a sequence of events, description, and clear proposal. He shortened her text until the explanation of why the room needed clearing disappeared. She restored every comma and added a heading. While they competed over the page, a neighbor brought coffee and said she hoped the love letter would soon be finished. Both became annoyed suspiciously quickly.
Ajla knew Nenad as someone who turned everything into a joke. He considered her someone more interested in being right than finishing a task. After an hour, however, they discussed why it mattered. Ajla had spent years working somewhere her concerns were ignored unless perfectly argued. Nenad spent his working days reading lengthy messages often concealing no decision at all.
They composed one clear page. It was no triumph of meeting halfway, but a text finally retaining what mattered. After they signed, Nenad said he would like coffee without a request on the table. Ajla asked whether he could then speak in complete sentences. He said yes if she prepared no agenda. They laughed, this time without an audience needing proof of who was wittier.
Their first dates did not remove differences. Ajla liked agreeing on times beforehand; Nenad often said he would see. She did not teach responsibility as though he were a poor student, nor did he try making her relax whenever she planned anything. They discussed concrete things: when he was coming, what she wanted, why he was late. Sometimes they still argued, but no longer made a whole character out of one habit.
The storage room was cleared only months later, according to a schedule beyond their control. By then Ajla and Nenad carried coffee onto the balcony together. They kept a copy of the request but did not frame it. One evening Ajla found three entirely unnecessary explanations in his short message. She replied with a single word: coming. Both knew they would laugh about it afterward.