Two days later, walking home from university with a friend, she saw it.
The movie poster was hanging next to the bus stop. Intense colors, a night scene - two figures in the rain, close but not yet together.
She slowed down.
Her friend kept talking for a few seconds, then noticed she'd stopped.
"What is it?"
She didn't answer right away.
She was looking at the poster.
"Ah," her friend said, following her gaze. "That movie. I've heard about it. They say it's good."
She said nothing.
She stayed there a few seconds too long.
Then she started walking again.
But something had stayed with her.
In the days that followed, the thought kept coming back.
Not obsessively - more like a thin thread that resurfaced between other things. While taking notes. While drinking coffee. While coming home in the evening.
The poster. The scene. The atmosphere.
Her friends noticed before she thought they would.
"Something's up," one said while they were studying.
"What?"
"You're a bit somewhere else."
She smiled. "No."
"Yes."
Silence.
"I wanted to go see a movie," she said, with fake lightness.
"Which one?"
"That old one they're re-showing at the cinema near the bus stop."
Her friends lit up.
"Let's go!"
"Really?"
"Of course."
They checked the showtimes on their phones.
Their expressions changed.
"Ah."
"I can't that day."
"I'm working."
The small excitement faded quietly.
"We can go another day," one said.
She shook her head. "It's only playing for a few days."
"I'm sorry."
"No, don't worry. It's fine."
And she meant it. Or almost.
That evening she came home with the thought heavier than usual.
He was in the kitchen, sitting at the table with his laptop.
She set down her bag. Stayed standing.
She stood there a few seconds.
"Can I ask you something?"
He looked at her.
She breathed in.
"There's a movie I'd like to see. My friends can't make it that day."
Pause.
"I was wondering if you'd want to come."
The words hung in the air, light but clear.
There was no flirtation. No strategy. Just the simple wish to share something that mattered to her.
He studied her for a moment.
"Sure."
She held her breath for an instant, without noticing.
"Really?"
He nodded.
"Then... thank you," she said quietly.
"Saturday."
"Sure."