RUMA and JABARI

Chapter 4

Monday came with Jabari mulling over whether to tell her or not to tell her. When he arrived at the office, Ruma asked to see him.

"I want us to visit a traditional market today to get some tea ingredients. Perhaps we might come up with a better idea for our tea," Ruma said to him.. So they left after lunchtime. The market was quite sunny and busy as it was filled with different scents of leaves and herbs of various kinds.

They walked across the first street as Ruma sniffed some leaves and powders while tasting others. Some vendors offered her a small cup of tea to taste the flavour of a herb or leaf she was interested in. After going to the second street, Ruma encouraged Jabari to try some as well. When he did, he sneezed and coughed through it all. Seeing that he was sensitive, Ruma told him to wait outside, but he insisted on staying. By the time they were done his eyes were teary.

On their drive back to the office, Ruma stopped at a snack bar. Jabari was so engrossed in his thoughts that he did not even realize the car had stopped.

"How about we get something to eat?" Ruma broke his train of thought.

"Mmm?" he said, not getting what she said.

"How about something to eat?" she repeated.

"That will be great," he replied, 'here is your chance, you can tell her while eating. what if she throws up?' he thought as he had a debate with himself. He sighed audibly.

"Is everything okay?" Ruma asked.

"ohh! Yes, yes,"

They got out of the car and went into the snack bar. They ordered 2 sandwiches and sodas and sat outside the booth as they ate and watched people leisurely walk by.

Ruma took a bite and swallowed. "Why Tea with us?" she asked Jabari. She only knows he came from her business friend who happened to interview him and screened his documents, so she didn't get to ask him much.

"Why not tea with us?" he cleverly asked back instead of answering.

"That can make you lose your job, you know," Ruma said, looking at him squarely.

'My identity will make me lose the job', Jabari thought but didn't voice that thought.

"I really wanted to speak to you about something", finally Jabari started.

"Okay, I'm all ears," Ruma said, dropping her cup of soda on the table.

"Saturday was wonderful..." Jabari started.

"I think we should take a walk," Ruma said, catching him mid-sentence as she got up. She has been amiable with her past assistant, had lunches together. Still, she never invited them to poetry recitals, let alone kiss them on the forehead; she has been trying to make sense of what happened. Now Jabari was about to confront her, and it made her tense.

"Okay", Jabari agreed.

The streets were filled with other food stands and small restaurants. They walked for more than 10 minutes without saying anything. Jabari knew he should say something, but she seemed to be enjoying the silence, so he kept mute.

She broke his musings as she voiced and pointed toward a restaurant "that's my Mother," and he looked towards the direction she pointed at.

Before she could move further, she noticed Alan with her Mother. Ruma became bewildered as she watched them talk animatedly with an aura of familiarity.

When Jabari noticed Alan, he also was confused. Finally, unable to take it any longer, Ruma walked into the restaurant and stood inches away from them. She watched as her Mother handed an envelope to him, which was, from all indications, money.