For their first trip together, Nina packed five shirts and Vanja two. At the airport, hers was the suitcase that disappeared. In the hotel he offered one of his, loose and patterned with tiny fish, while she tried to explain by phone the color of the missing bag's handle. When the call ended, she put on the shirt and looked so serious that Vanja did not dare laugh. The journey was supposed to be a trial before living together.
It rained the next morning. Nina wanted to buy essentials and visit a museum; Vanja wanted to remain in the room until the weather improved. To him a vacation meant having no plan; to her it was a rare opportunity to fulfill a plan that did not belong to work. They argued about breakfast, but both knew they were discussing more than eggs and coffee. Her apartment already contained an empty shelf intended for him, while not a single book had moved in his.
Nina went out alone. In a shop she bought socks, a shirt, and a cheap umbrella that immediately turned inside out. Instead of visiting the museum, she sat in a small café and called Vanja. She said she did not want to spend three days testing whether he would spontaneously want the same things. He admitted he had not decided whether to move in, although he had let her make room for his belongings. Nodding had been easier than risking losing her.
He came to the café without excuses or suggestions that they now hurry through every attraction. They talked until afternoon. Nina wanted a shared home soon but did not want a housemate arriving out of fear. Vanja loved his apartment and quiet while also imagining ordinary evenings together. They agreed to live separately for several more months, then have a definite conversation. They did not call it a perfect arrangement. It was simply more honest than a shelf waiting for an answer in place of a person.
The suitcase arrived on the final evening just as they brought restaurant food back in paper cartons. Nina did not open it immediately. They sat on the hotel floor and ate, each from a separate lid. Vanja asked whether she wanted an early walk before leaving tomorrow. She said yes, without an obligation to talk the entire way. After returning, she gave back his washed fish patterned shirt. He left her a book, not as a sign of moving in, but as something they could discuss when she had read it.