Ride on Time

Chapter 25

Misao laid on her bed, blankly staring at the ceiling. She had no idea what she was feeling and not sure what she should do. There wasn't anything she could do, nothing to stop Shri from leaving Japan to go back to Malaysia.
It's not like she wanted to stop him either since she didn't want to interfere with his life, stopping him from returning to his motherland and going on with his life as a writer and continue being the Chief Marketing Officer of Shridhar Industries.
Misao sighed and got up from her bed, going over to her table. Shri had once told her that writing her thoughts in a diary would actually help him calm down.
No harm in trying, right?
So she pulled out a journal, an old one that her mother gave her. The year engraved on the cover was 1989 but she didn't mind as she opened it snd started writing.
Word after word then page after page. She soon found in shock that she had written more than five pages. Misao gasped and looked at the time to see that a whole hour had gone by.
She sighed and closed the book before going back to bed, finally turning in for the day.

Shri sighed, closing his diary after having written ten pages. His fountain pen had even run out of ink midway and he had to fill it up, spilling a few drops onto the dressing table. He looked at the smudge at the corner of a few pages in disdain. Shri put the things away, packing them into his bag, and took out a few tissues to wipe the table clean.
The pesky smudge wouldn't budge and he ended up pouring a little bit of water on the table to make it easier to remove the stain.
As he did that, his mind went on about the day he had with Misao. He had really enjoyed his time with her and had a lot of good memories to cherish too. Shri even got some info to write in the book he's been working on. He really valued the information he collected as it would add more realistic elements into his book, making it more realistic and interesting to read.
But then came the part where he had to leave the next morning. Would he be able to come over to Japan again or will it all be behind him?
Misao's smile and her personality made him think otherwise. He was going to return, he knew that for sure. But what he didn't know was when he would be doing so. Maybe Shogatsu? After all, Misao did invite him and his family to come over to Tokyo for osechi and all that good stuff. He was definitely gonna go.
Maybe he will invite Misao over too. For Deepavali maybe? That seemed like a good idea, she can even bring her whole family with her to enjoy.
Shri sat down on his bed and took his glasses off before turning the lights out.

***

Shri stood at the Yumemite sign. His eyes searched the road for the familiar red kanzashi to come into view.
But it didn't.
The big yellow taxi that Shridhar had called for arrived.
But Misao didn't.
Shri didn't want to leave without seeing her smile one last time before leaving for Malaysia but she wasn't anywhere within his sight.
"Shri, let's go," Shruti called, placing her bag in the taxi's boot. She turned to her brother and frowned, seeing how he was still searching for someone. "Shri, come lah. We must go already."
"Misao said she'll come to see me here," Shri said. "What if we leave and she comes?"
Shruti sighed. "Shri... it's almost time for our flight already lah. To go there itself one hour, then we have to be there an hour earlier some more. Come. You go to the airport and call her. You got her number, right?"
"Got," Shri nodded.
"Mohan, come lah!" Shridhar called, his hand on the door handle. "Oi! What you waiting for?"
Shri turned back to his sister and sighed.
"Shri, come lah," Shruti gently called, taking his hand. "Come. We call her at the airport, okay?"
Shri let her pull him to the car and got in, sliding to the middle so that Shruti could sit. Suganthi got in beside him and touched his arm.
"Don't worry lah, Mohan," Suganthi comforted. "You tell her at the airport."
The taxi drove towards the Kansai Airport in Osaka. Shri couldn't help but search for Misao in the streets throughout the journey.

The Malaysian family walked into the airport and checked their baggage in before going to a restaurant to have their breakfast. All of them ate hungrily but Shri merely poked at his food.
"Eat lah," Suganthi urged. "Morning also never eat anything. Eat lah."
Shri nodded and took a small mouthful of his porridge. Somehow he finished his meal, forcing it in since he needed the strength for the seven-hour flight to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Shruti felt concerned for her brother too and tried to make jokes as best as she could to make him laugh.
Eventually, they were making their way towards the security check to wait for their flight.
"Shri!" A voice called.
Shri turned around and to his surprise, it was Misao. Her red flower kanzashi bobbed as she ran to him, the dangling petals getting entangled into the silky strands of her hair.
"Misao?" Shri muttered in surprise.
"Shri!" Misao exclaimed, stopping in front of him. "Shri..."
"You... you actually came," Shri said, almost speechless.
"Of course I did," Misao smiled. "Kumi suggested that I see you at Yumemite but... I needed to see you till the last minute."
To Shri's surprise, she hugged him, burying her face into his chest. Shri just gaped, unsure of how he should react. Misao was sobbing too, her fingers gripping the clothing on his back. He hesitated slightly before patting her hair.
"Don't worry, Misao, I'll come back soon to see you," Shri said almost in a whisper. "You said Shogatsu, right? I'll come over before that."
Misao looked up at him, her face streaked with tears. "I'll come if you don't."
"Yeah, you can come for Deepavali," a voice suddenly said.
Shri turned around in surprise and saw his parents coming to him, Shruti right beside them.
"Huh...?" Shri uttered in surprise.
"You can come over for Deepavali, girl," Suganthi smiled. "We make Biryani with Rendang Chicken that day."
"Sambal udang and Petai also," Shruti grinned. "You can pack some of the snacks home too." 
Misao just smiled, not really recognising the names of the dishes they spoke of. "Sure, Auntie. I'll come if I can. You guys should try to come for Oshogatsu too. It's what we call New Year."
"When is your New Year?" Shridhar asked. "Same day as Chinese New Year?"
Misao shook her head. "No, no, it's on the first of January. What about... Deepavali? When is that?"
"When ah this year?" Suganthi asked, nudging her daughter.
"This year it's a little early," Shruti answered. "October something."
"Date?" Suganthi asked.
"Not sure lah, Ma," Shruti shrugged. "Don't know. Middle, I think."
"I'll confirm the date with you later," Shri said, turning back to Misao. "Take care, okay? I'll write to you whenever I can."
Misao nodded and gave him a goodbye hug. She hugged Shruti too, even playing with her curly hair a little.
"Auntie," Misao bowed at Suganthi before hugging her too. She then turned to Shridhar and gave him a deep bow of respect before shaking his hand.
"Misao!" Another voice called. They all turned to see Kumiko appear, breathless from running. "Oh my gosh, you wanna take the flight with them too?!" She groaned, grumbling in Japanese. She took in the company standing with her friend and gasped. "Oh, you're just in time to see them off."
"Who's that?" Suganthi asked.
"My friend," Misao chuckled. "I left her at the entrance."
"Yeah because you ran!" Kumiko muttered in English. She then gave the Malaysians a deep bow. "I wish you all a safe journey home."
"Thank you," the Malaysians bowed back.
Shri spent a few minutes with Misao before bidding her goodbye and entering the boarding gate to undergo customs checking. Misao watched him enter, waving at her before he disappeared among the crowd of people.
"Let's go, Misao," Kumiko said, pulling her arm. "Come on. You didn't even have breakfast."
Misao sighed and followed her friend.

-Biryani is an Indian rice dish. I'm sure most of you already know what it is since even my autocorrect doesn't have any issue with it.
-rendang is a type of spicy curry-like dish. Unlike curry, it's thick. We can't say it's a type of sambal too since sambal is traditionally just thick but rendang is more... rich. It contains a lot of coconut milk and finely grated coconut.
-sambal udang is literally prawn gravy. Sambal is a type of thick gravy while udang means prawns.
-petai is a type of bean. Some call it bitter bean, some say stinky bean, but we usually just say petai since that's what we call it in Malay lol.