Story Background

Only Like Brother and Sister
Dikta and Nadhira have known each other since childhood. She has always called him Kak Dikta, treating him like an older brother and turning to him whenever she needs help. Now he studies law at university, while she is still in high school, worrying about homework and complaining that he fusses over her too much.
Then their families bring up marriage.
Their parents hope the two of them will marry one day. It was a wish Dikta’s father left behind, too. But they each already have someone else, and neither has ever thought of the person they grew up with as a future partner.
So they agree to carry on as before: like brother and sister, nothing more.
Dikta keeps reminding her to study and helping her out of trouble, usually adding a few rules of his own along the way. Nadhira complains about the lectures and keeps coming back for help. They set the marriage plans aside. Neither expects that the hardest promise to keep will be the one about staying like brother and sister.

What He Hasn’t Told Her
In time, Nadhira starts noticing how long Dikta takes to reply. She begins waiting for him to pick her up. Sometimes he annoys her so much that she barely wants to speak to him, yet whenever something goes wrong, he is still the first person she thinks of.
Dikta draws close, then pulls away. He remembers every detail of her life, only to remind her, without warning, not to fall for him. On some days, she cannot reach him at all. When he returns, he acts as though nothing has happened.
Nadhira does not know that he spends those missing hours in hospital, undergoing dialysis. Dikta knows how ill he is, but he has never told her. He still asks about her schoolwork and arranges their next meeting. He says very little about anything further ahead.
Now a school assignment brings Nadhira to him again. Dikta agrees to an interview, on one condition: when it is over, he gets to ask her a question, and she has to give him a serious answer.
She has brought ten questions written on a sheet of paper. As for the things she wants to ask about him, she has not yet found a place to begin.
