Chapter 13 Intersection

 Chapter 13

Intersection

John was striding quickly toward the restaurant exit. Tension, determination, and pain were interwoven on his face. Just as he neared the door, two people walked in from outside.

Salih and Nathan.

As John passed by them, both men instinctively glanced at him. The tense, hurried demeanor of this unfamiliar man—and the emptiness in his gaze—caught their attention. But John said nothing, slipping past them and heading straight out. Nathan, having visited the place before as a tourist, had already witnessed a few tense incidents like this.

Salih raised his eyebrows slightly.

“Strange…” he murmured. For Salih, this was the first time he had encountered such a charged moment.

Nathan shrugged, though the curiosity in his eyes was hard to hide.

The waiter noticed them and approached.

“Gentlemen, your table is ready,” he said.

The waiter led the way, and Salih and Nathan followed him to their reserved table. As they sat down, the dim lighting of the restaurant made the atmosphere clearer. The place catered both to tourists and to locals working in the area.

Before looking at the menu, Nathan briefly scanned the room.

That was when he noticed Nadia—sitting alone at a table across from them.

There was a fixed calmness on her face.

Her eyes seemed locked onto a single point.

She showed no interest in the food, no awareness of her surroundings, no reaction at all to John’s departure.

Nathan stared a little too intently.

Salih noticed.

“What is it?” he asked quietly.

Nathan gestured subtly with his head.

“Look over there…”

Salih turned and looked toward the opposite table.

Nadia was still sitting in the exact same position, with the same unchanging expression.

It was as if time simply didn’t flow around her.

A flicker of surprise crossed Salih’s eyes.

“She’s not… moving at all,” he whispered.

Nathan replied without looking away,

“Yeah. There’s something off.”

The restaurant’s ambiance was normal.

Music was playing. People were talking.

But Nadia…

She stood out like a statue in the shadows, simply existing.

After a few more seconds, Nathan tore his gaze away and looked back at their table. He shook his head lightly and said, half-mocking:

“Looks like another abandonment case.” Then he added,

“Before coming here, I met a businessman. I think he came for his deceased brother. Had a robot made. But I guess he couldn’t accept it and had its memory wiped.”

Salih pulled his eyes from the opposite table and turned to Nathan.

“Could be,” he said. “It certainly looks that way. But what could the reason be?”

Nathan paused.

He fixed his gaze on Salih.

“So,” he said in a low, heavy tone,

“could you imagine a deceased loved one continuing to exist as a machine? Would you accept something like that?”

Salih’s expression immediately turned serious.

His eyes drifted to a spot on the table.

He seemed lost in thought.

He pressed his lips together slightly.

“I don’t think I would,” he said.

“Because I believe that after death, another life begins. So I don’t need an imitation. And I believe… that one day, I’ll be reunited with the people I love.”

Nathan smiled faintly—but there was a trace of sadness, a quiet ache, in that smile.

“Honestly,” he said, “I wish that were true for me too. Because, you know… I told you before…”

He swallowed.

“My father was my greatest hero. And I would want my father to truly… exist again.”

His gaze drifted, unfocused.

“And if there really is a transition… if there truly is another world… believe me, I would very much want to see my father again.”

A brief silence settled over the table.

Between Nathan and Salih’s words, a soft yet heavy emotion lingered in the air.

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