From their first meeting, Sara decided she disliked the owner of the restaurant where she organized film evenings. Dženan interrupted her suggestions, asked the cost of every small detail, and once said in front of guests that her posters looked cheap. The next day, she sent her invoice in the ugliest available font. She was pleased to have answered in a way she could at least explain as an accident.
Around that time, she met Niko, a musician. He was witty, approachable, and, according to his own account, a victim of Dženan's jealousy. The restaurant supposedly owed him fees, and Dženan had cost him several bookings. Sara believed him immediately. She had an unpleasant impression, and Niko offered reasons to consider it correct.
When Dženan suggested dinner after the final screening, Sara refused more loudly than intended. She listed his criticisms, bad manners, and treatment of Niko. At first, Dženan began answering in the same tone. Then he looked at the guests who had stopped by the exit and said he would clarify the business claims the next day.
He sent confirmations of every payment, the contract, and correspondence about the canceled concerts. Niko had taken an advance for three performances that never happened. Dženan requested repayment, and other organizers independently ended their collaborations when they encountered the same problem. At the end of his message, he wrote that the documents did not change the fact that he had been rude to Sara. For that, he had no attachment, only an apology.
Sara called two people named in the correspondence. They confirmed the details. Confronted with questions, Niko first said she did not understand artistic relationships, then stopped answering. She was ashamed of how much she had enjoyed someone confirming an opinion she already held. She sent Dženan a short acknowledgment that she had accused him without checking.
They planned the next season at a table covered in paper samples. Dženan learned to explain what bothered him about a poster without judging Sara's taste. She stopped reading every reservation he expressed as an insult. The work improved before they dared ask whether something else might be possible between them.
At the end of one meeting, Sara said she might accept dinner after all. Dženan asked whether she preferred his restaurant or somewhere he did not know the staff. She chose the small diner across the street. At the next table, no one viewed them as feuding collaborators. They ordered and left their phones in their bags, curious to discover what could not be read from posters or other people's stories.