Hana and Vedad sat at opposite ends of the table while association members elected a new board. She supported turning the old hall into workshop space. He wanted to retain the stage for performances. Over previous months they had spoken mainly through objections, amendments, and sentences beginning with the need to consider every member.
They were not candidates but the people responsible for keeping the day orderly. Hana checked the list; Vedad handed out ballots. When an older member forgot glasses, they brought a version with larger print. Neither tried winning a final vote at the door. That mutual restraint began to matter more than all their earlier speeches about fairness.
The board supporting Hana won. Vedad congratulated them without a photographic smile, then began stacking chairs. Everyone else left to celebrate or complain in the cafe next door. Hana stayed because she did not want all the post-victory work left to the man who had just lost. They carried chairs to storage, counting aloud to avoid starting another debate.
Vedad suddenly asked whether she had ever acted. She said yes, in a school play, and forgot her only line. He admitted never stepping onstage. He wanted to preserve it for his father, who had once built scenery there. For the first time Hana heard a reason that was not an argument. She explained wanting workshops because after her divorce she could not afford any available course in town.
They did not change positions. But they stopped speaking as though the other lacked a personal reason to care. Vedad asked whether the new board could consider a folding stage. Hana said he could propose it, without promising an outcome. Then she asked whether he wanted food. Since morning both had lived on coffee and biscuits crumbling across voting lists.
They ate soup in an almost empty restaurant. They discussed everything that required no vote. Hana learned Vedad liked bad detective series, while he discovered she traveled without an orderly plan despite how she ran meetings. When he said he wanted to see her again, he added that he expected no change on the stage. Hana laughed and said even a kiss could not guarantee that. Still, she kissed him outside the restaurant, without minutes or an audience counting who had won.