Ride on Time

Chapter 13

"Thanks for today, Misao," Shri said when they arrived at Yumemite. "It was fun."
Misao chuckled. "And thanks for standing up for me at the train today, Shri."
"It was nothing," Shri smiled. "He was bold, though. He harassed you even when we were right beside you."
"I know right!" Shruti chimed in. "And you were talking to us too!"
Misao shrugged. "We have to be very careful of creeps sometimes."
They waved at her and started entering the apartment when Misao stopped them.
"Wait! I've got something for you!" Misao called after them.
The siblings turned around and saw her coming to them with a smile. "What is it?" Shri asked.
Misao pulled Shruti's hand towards her and put a small red egg-like object on it. It was an idol with a white face that reassembled a fierce man.
"What's this?" Shruti asked, looking at it curiously.
"It's called Daruma," Misao smiled. "This idol is made after the founder of Zen Buddhism and Shaolin Kung Fu, Bodhidarma. It's said to bring good luck and fortune to whoever that possesses it."
Shruti looked at it in awe. "Whoa... thanks, Neesan! It's really nice!"
Misao chuckled and took something else out and handed it to her. It was a long black floral pouch with a black tassel hanging from the opening. Shruti pulled at the tassel and gasped when a folded fan came out. She opened the fan and it was a pretty red fan with pink Sakura flowers painted on it. The black wooden skeleton went well with it too.
"Whoa... it's really pretty..." Shruti said in awe. "Thank you, Neesan!"
To Misao's surprise, the younger woman hugged her. Shri smirked, seeing how Shruti's hair had somehow gotten entangled in Misao's kanzashi. Misao had to take it off to get it unstuck before putting it back on. She then turned to Shri, who just stood there like a deer caught in headlights when he noticed her gaze on him.
"I got something for Shri too," Misao chuckled, digging in her bag. She pulled out an oblong case and handed it to him. "Go ahead, open it!"
Shri took it from her and opened it. To his surprise, a quaint silver fountain pen greeted him inside.
"Whoa..." Shri gasped. "It's... it's really beautiful, Misao. Thank you."
Misao smiled. "You're welcome. I thought I had to get you guys something after that train incident earlier. I must say, I really liked the way you handled it. The creep was so surprised to see you next to him instead."
"Yeah, especially since Shri is a lot bigger than him too," Shruti chuckled.
"Yeah, and that too," Misao chuckled. "You must workout a lot, don't you? You're quite muscular."
Shri felt his face going hot and quickly turned away. Shruti chuckled and waved at Misao, giving her brother a slight nudge to do the same. He nervously waved at her, bowing slightly. Shruti bowed too and they both entered the apartment complex.
"Shri, tomorrow we go and buy something for her lah," Shruti sighed, leaning against the handrail in the lift. "She went and bought for us so much and we bought for her nothing..."
"That's the thing..." Shri sighed. "What to buy?"
"How am I supposed to know, she your girlfriend, what," Shruti pointed out.
Shri frowned and gave her light backhand on the arm. "Stop lah. You and Ma keep saying that. Anyway, what we buy for her lah?"
"Accessories?"
"I've never seen her wearing anything besides her grandmother's kanzashi."
"Uh... sunglasses?"
"Why?"
"Summer, what?" Shruti pointed out, exiting the lift with her brother.
"Good idea also..." Shri nodded. "What else?"
"Necklace?"
"Good idea, but what necklace to get her?"
Shruti simply shrugged. "Don't know, you go and decide lah. I already tell, necklace, you choose lah. Whatever design you like, buy lah."
They entered their apartment and saw their parents sitting down and watching movies.
"Where you all went?" Shridhar asked. "So late already."
"We went to the city all lah, Pa," Shri informed sitting down on one of the couches. "We took the train and went there."
"How come y'all never sesat?" Suganthi asked. "I mean... y'all went to Gion City Centre itself don't know how to come back."
Shruti smirked and opened her mouth to speak but her father quickly cut in. "Wait wait, I think I know. That Miso girl came, right?"
"Pa, it's Misao lah!" Shri corrected again. "Miso is soup lah, Pa."
"But correct, right?" Shridhar smirked. "She only came right?"
Shri sighed. "Yeah lah, yeah lah. She did come. She entered the same train with us."
"And she got us stuff!" Shruti exclaimed, putting her fan and Daruma idol on the table. "See! She gave Shri fountain pen all!"
"Wah, she gave you all this ah?" Shridhar said in surprise. "Show?"
Shri grinned and handed the case over to him. The parents bent their heads over it in awe.
"So nice of her..." Shridhar commented. "For sure she like you one! Also, don't break this, okay? She buy nice pen and give you some more."
Suganthi chuckled, giving her husband a light tap. "If you write means, then for sure will break lah."
Shridhar frowned at his wife and handed the pen back to Shri. "Very bad lah, you."
"True, what!" Suganthi pointed out, smirking. "You always break your pen, then complain need to buy new one."
Shruti snorted. "Last week he came and curi my pen also."
Shridhar frowned when the others started laughing at him.

Shri sat down at the dining table again and carefully took the pen out of its box. He brushed a finger across its smooth silver body, admiring its slick design before pulling the cover off. He realised that it didn't have any ink in it and screwed the pen open, followed by the vial of ink that came with the pen. Shri submerged the nib into the bottle and pulled the tiny plunger to fill the chamber. He grimaced at his dirty hands and put the pen back together before touching the nib onto the surface of paper in front of him, writing his name as a tester.
Shri Mohan
It came out fine and neat, unlike the smudged mess that he had imagined.
Shri wrote a few more things and pushed his notebook forward to let the ink dry.
"What you doing?" Shruti entered again.
"Testing this pen," Shri said, frowning at the ink-stained tip of the pen and his hands. "Aiya now dirty already..."
"Go wash lah," Shruti sighed, shaking her head.
Shri sighed. "But I don't wanna wash the pen."
"Then wipe with tissue lah."
"No tissue..."
"What only you have lah?" Shruti rolled her eyes and went to her room to get a pack of tissues. She threw it at him and he sheepishly grinned before wiping the pen clean. Only then did he head for the bathroom to wash his hands. Of course, it wasn't easy to be rid of the pesky stain from his hands no matter how much soap he used. Shri sighed and decided to just wait for it to go off on it's own, going back to the dining table to carefully put the pen away. It seemed much more precious to him, considering that it was from Misao.

"Let me guess... you met that guy again?" Kumiko smirked as soon as Misao stepped into the living room.
Misao just sighed. "Yes... I saw him and his sister again."
"How do you keep meeting him?" Kumiko demanded. "Like... whenever you go out, boom! He's there. Where was it this time? In the streets?"
"On the train," Misao answered. "He saved me from Chikan."
"Those weirdos..." Kumiko groaned. "This is why I prefer walking or taking the taxi."
"I sat because there was space," Misao sighed. "And I was sitting next to Shri too. Bold of the creep to disturb me when I was with someone."
"What did he do?" Kumiko asked eagerly. "Did he punch him?"
"No, he switched places with me," Misao snorted, sitting down on the armchair. "It was funny how the creep still tried to harass me, but turns out it was him in my place."
"I'd love to have seen that," Kumiko chuckled. "By the way, when else are you free? It's been a while since I went out with you..."
"I don't know, but it's definitely not now," Misao shrugged. "I have to get to work in a few hours."
"Oh yeah, your ryōtei is open today, isn't it..." Kumiko nodded thoughtfully. "Alright, we're going this Saturday. How's that sound?"
"Sure," Misao shrugged. "I'd love to."
"Hey, maybe we can meet that Indian friend of yours," Kumiko grinned. "I wanna see if he's good enough for you."
Misao groaned and went to her room. She sat on her bed and sighed. Well, Kumiko wasn't all that wrong, she did have somewhat of a crush on Shri. She really liked Shruti too since she had always wanted a sister or a brother. But sadly, Misao had none.
Well, if Shri had heard this, he might've burst out laughing. Shruti was a good sister and all but he sometimes wished he had no siblings at all. But he eventually grew to love them, especially Shruti.
He didn't really like much of his big brother, Siddharth. He insisted on staying behind to take care of the company in Shridhar's absence. Shruti and Shri was secretly happy since he would be bossing them around for the most part.
Well, Misao didn't care if siblings are annoying or amazing. She just wanted at least one.

-sesat means lost or end up in the wrong place.
-curi means steal.
-nah is what we say when passing something to someone, something like 'here you go'.