Ride on Time

Chapter 85

Shree got out of bed and sighed, making her way to the living room. It was evident that she was the last one to wake up since the room was empty, save for the messed up bedding.
The first thing she saw was her brother sitting down and watching cooking shows on TV.
"Seriously, you watch all of these but never once do any of it," Shree remarked as she sat herself on her favourite couch.
"Then, you?" Vasu countered with a smirk. "You watch all those recipe videos but do you do them? No."
Shree sighed and turned to the TV. The Western cooking show that Vasu had been watching ended and a cheerful instrumental song started playing. It was a Japanese cooking show.
"Look! It's Washu Cooking!" Shree gasped, excitedly pointing at the TV.
Vasu made an annoyed sound and picked up the remote to turn the channel to something else. Shree sighed and got up, making her way to the bathroom instead.

Shree put her toothbrush away in the kitchen and went over to the plastic cloche to take her early-morning cup of Milo which her mother would've prepared. She scavenged the fridge for some buns too before making her way to the living room.
But to her surprise, her brother quickly rushed out of the living room, coming her way instead.
"What happened?" Shree asked her brother, concerned.
"Sherry and gang are here!" Vasu groaned, annoyed. "The whole family, some more."
"Aiyo!" Shree gasped. "Why they here now?"
Vasu shrugged. "Maybe they here because you expose her husband that day?"
Shree snorted. "Apology ah?"
"Who knows?" Vasu shrugged and made his way to his room.
Shree quickly took her tablet, phone, her breakfast still piled in her arms, and rushed to the master bedroom to take cover there instead. She looked out the window to see her grandmother and mother inviting them in, both the definition of 'I just woke up'. At least her mother had already taken a shower.
Shree decided to just sit on her bed and eat her breakfast over a video game on her tablet. She also decided to inform Mitsuo of the sudden uninvited guest.
All of a sudden, the door burst open and her mother peeked in.
"Nika, come," Chandrika said, much to her surprise. "Sherry is asking for you."
Shree's eyes almost popped out of her head. "What?! Why me?"
"Just come lah," Chandrika beckoned again.
Shree sighed. "Wait first. I change and come."
Chandrika nodded and closed the door. Shree immediately finished her bun and downed her Milo before quickly making her way to the vanity, cleaning her face up with a wet wipe before carrying out her face care routine, followed by some light makeup. After all, it was Sherry and fam. The family of pryers and criticisers. She had to look good.
After that, Shree changed into something a lot more presentable, followed by perfume, before making her way out to the living room to see what the case was.
"Hi," Shree meekly stepped out. "Mom says you guys were asking for me?"
Wang nodded and turned to Sherry as Shree sat herself down on her favourite couch.
"You and your Japanese friend saw me at work yesterday," Wang sighed. "When Sherry told you guys that I was retired."
Shree shrugged. "Well, I don't actually care if you're still working, just a little weirded out that you lied about it. I mean come on, you guys are only like fifty."
"Why you want to lie?" Devi piped up as her daughter entered the room with a tray of drinks.
"We just wanted privacy lah, a bit," Sherry sighed.
Shree snorted. "Says the one that pries on us..."
As soon as she said that, she realised that her mother didn't have enough time to move the Arteon. Needless to say, she inwardly started panicking.
"Whose car is that outside?" Sherry suddenly asked, pointing her thumb towards the entrance. "The Volkswagen. Yours ah?"
"No lah, it's my cousin's car," Chandrika said, a slight smile on her face. "He parked it here because he's out of town."
'Maybe this is why they both lie to each other,' Shree sighed to herself.
"Your car only, right?" Sherry saw through her lie. "You brought it once because the Viva in workshop, right?"
"Why you have to lie?" Wang asked.
Chandrika smiled tightly. "You guys lie about so many things, what. I just lie about my car, cannot ah?"
The Chinese couple grinned sheepishly.
"I guess there's nothing left to do but come clean, huh..." Shree shrugged.
Wang sighed. "I working the same job since before we got married."
"So you're still Chief Financial Manager," Devi nodded.
"In the same company also," Wang shrugged. "Actually, it was my father's job. He retired already and boss suggest that I take since I got all the qualification already." He glanced at his wife. "After that only I marry Sherry."
Devi nodded indifferently. "Yeah, you got tell. Many times got tell."
Wang looked a little sheepish.
"Ma, I think I should order something," Chandrika suddenly said in Tamil. "No time to cook for them."
"You're right... mustn't send them away without food, they brought us a lot of stuff too..." Devi's gaze fell on the two large tote bags that the Chinese family brought.
Chandrika suddenly called her daughter. "Nika, come for a while."
Shree nodded and followed her mother to the master bedroom. The older woman closed the door and took her phone out, handing it to Shree.
"Nah, help me order something," Chandrika said. "Order for nine people."
"What you want me to order?" Shree asked, taking the phone.
"Just buy nasi goreng from Blueberry or something lah," Chandrika shrugged. "You do first, I'll go and see what they doing."
Shree was about to stop her but she sadly left her alone. She sighed and went back to her mother's phone to see what she could order. Drinks wasn't a problem since her mother had already prepared iced sarsaparilla.

Shree suddenly made an appearance in the midst of the meeting between the Wangs and her grandmother. Her mother occasionally chimed into the conversation too while her brother was nowhere to be seen. Shree smiled at them and made her way outside to collect the food. She didn't have to pay since it was already paid online.
Shree then pulled her mother to the kitchen to serve the food. Devi eventually called the guests to the dining hall to eat. Shree was about to make her way back to her hideout in the master bedroom when she was suddenly yanked into Vasu's room, right under the Wangs' noses.
"Ah!" Shree exclaimed in surprise.
"Shh!" Vasu shushed. "What they doing?"
Shree frowned. "Eating."
"You guys cook that fast ah?" Vasu asked in surprise.
"No lah, bought from Blueberry."
"That's what I thought. Why suddenly y'all bought?"
Shree shrugged, gesturing towards the door. "Because no food for Sherry and gang and no time to cook."
Vasu sighed. "You all ah... for what wanna buy for them all?"
"I dunno lah, Mom and Awah only ask to buy, I just order only," Shree quickly said.
She realised that it would be hard to make a run for it now and decided to just sit around with her brother instead. She sat down on his desk chair and swept her gaze across his things, eventually stopping at a book titled Malaysian Bite-sized Stories.
"You took this book for Sem 1, right?" Shree asked, taking the book out of his shelf.
"Yeah, short stories," Vasu nodded, seating himself down on his bed. "You also took this one only, right?"
Shree snorted. "This one my book lah. I only give you."
She flipped through the stories and stopped at the one by Shri Mohan. Back then, the story didn't seem all that important outside studies but now...
"Eh, this story you got PDF ah?" Shree asked.
"PDF?" Vasu asked, confused. "For what? I have the actual book, what."
"I wanna send to Mitsuo," Shree snorted. "He big fan of this feller's books, what."
Vasu chuckled. "Can." He took out his phone and began searching, shifting his legs so that he sat cross-legged on the bed. "Wait ah... let me find. Baga got send."
In a few seconds, Shree received the PDF version of the book. Which she immediately forwarded to Mitsuo for some reason.
The siblings took cover in the room while the Wangs chatted with their mother and grandmother over their meal.