Dina lay sprawled on her bed, her long hair hanging loosely over the pillow. The lights in the room were deliberately dimmed, leaving only the warm glow of the crescent-shaped nightlight on the corner of the table.
"I don't think this one is that Alfa either…" she muttered softly.
She stared at her phone screen. The contact name was simply "Alfa Mutual FB." Yes, this was a friend of a friend on Facebook.
Dina placed her phone against her chest and stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling, some of which were no longer lit. The clock on the wall read 9:10 PM, a time when her thoughts usually start to wander.
Percy—her beloved white cat—jumped onto the bed. A giant, innocent-faced furry creature. He licked his hand briefly and then curled up next to Dina's stomach.
"Percy…" Dina stroked the cat's head. "Does it look like I'm looking for someone who only exists in my imagination?"
Percy didn't react. He just blinked slowly.
Her phone beeped. A text message came in.
Alfa: What time are you leaving for school tomorrow?
Dina read the message expressionlessly. She knew this guy was polite, friendly, and even seemed interested. But that was it—unfamiliar. There was no spark, no feeling of "I've known you before."
It was so different from the image in her head.
She sighed softly and rolled over onto the pillow. "Definitely not," she muttered again.
He wasn't the Alfa she'd kept in a vague memory—a memory that had become increasingly blurry as she grew.
She felt ashamed. Not of anyone, but of herself.
How could she possibly hope to find someone just by using a name?
Percy yawned widely, his voice almost a comment.
Dina chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. I know. It's so weird, isn't it?"
She turned around, lying on her side, hugging her pillow. From the window, she could hear the sound of a motorcycle entering the yard and the gate closing again. It must have been Dino, just coming home from college.
She stroked Percy dreamily. His thick, pure white fur felt comfortable in her palm. "I feel like I'm looking for a ghost," she said quietly. "Just a name, not a face."
But she had no intention of stopping.
She had to try again.
Though this time she wouldn't search. Just catch what passed by.
Her eyes began to close, but her lips still held a faint smile. A smile mixed with disappointment and a hint of self-pity.
Somewhere in her past, there was a little Alfa who had helped her.
And someday, who knows when, Dina still longed to see that boy again.
The nightlight was still on. Dina's room began to sink into the warmth of the night, and she slowly drifted into a dream—a dream about a boy with the same name.