Ride on Time

Chapter 87

Mitsuo suddenly got an Instagram call from Shruti, much to his surprise. He quickly swallowed his mouthful of pisang goreng and answered the call.
"Hello?" Mitsuo greeted, rather anxiously.
"Mitsuo!" Shruti called. "Okay, I have a bit of a big request here. Are you free now?"
Mitsuo's gaze swept around the snacks strewn across his desk. "Uh... maybe?"
"Can I come pick you up now?"
Mitsuo's eyes widened in surprise. "Now?"
"Yes, now."
Mitsuo frowned slightly wondering if this was really a good idea. In the end, he agreed to come.
"Great, I'll pick you up in ten minutes," Shruti excitedly said. "Bye!"
Mitsuo bade farewell and hung up. He placed his phone on the table and frowned at the food around him. This better be good or he was abandoning his snacks for nothing. He wasn't even sure if Shruti would keep her word at coming to pick him up in ten minutes. From what he knew of the Malaysians' punctuality, it was terrible. Shree's family was always later than they promised.
Always.
He put the snacks away into the small mini fridge and fixed his hair before making his way downstairs. Mitsuo decided that it wasn't very nice to visit the older woman empty-handed, especially since she treated him to a drink from Sundeer when they went to AmCorp Mall together, and went to get her some matcha chocolates he found at the Japanese provision shop downstairs.

Shruti punctually arrived ten minutes after the call just as she had promised. Mitsuo bowed and got into the front of the black Mercedes S-Class.
"Where are we going, Ms. Shruti?" Mitsuo politely asked.
"To my place," Shruti simply said. "I need to ask you guys something and my parents suggested inviting you over."
'You guys?' Mitsuo thought in surprise. Who else was in the car besides him?
He turned around in his seat and to his surprise, Shree and Vasu were at the backseat.
"Wait, you guys are here too?" Mitsuo said in surprise, pointing at them. He turned to Shruti beside him. "Ms. Shruti, what's this actually about?"
"Well, it's a long story. I'll tell you at my place," Shruti simply said.
Mitsuo sighed. "I'm not being kidnapped or anything, right?"
"Mitsuo, please," Shree groaned. "Why would she kidnap you?"
"Then why are you guys here too?" Mitsuo asked, confused.
Shree shook her head, shrugging. "Don't know. She wouldn't tell us why, only saying that it might be a new dance gig."
"Then what about you?" Mitsuo pointed to Vasu.
Vasu just shrugged in reply.
Mitsuo turned back to the front and saw Shruti exiting the highway to Jalan Timur, passing the AmCorp Mall and Taman Jaya before heading straight to Jalan Changgai, passing the Assunta Girls' Secondary School which was painted in all brown and white.
Shruti then drove off to Jalan Gasing, then turning right into a hill road, entering the Gasing Hill.

Mitsuo was about to get out of the car when Shruti stopped in the driveway of a very beautiful mansion.
"Eh, wait lah," Shruti quickly said. "I'm gonna park inside."
"Oh..." Mitsuo nodded.
Shruti pressed the horn once and two guards came up and swung the giant gate open. Mitsuo stared in awe as Shruti drove down the driveway into her home and parked in an enclosed area next to the house.
"Okay, now we can get out," Shruti chuckled. "Come on, we have something important to discuss."
Mitsuo exchanged glances with the siblings, who looked just as clueless, and followed Shruti into the house. House was an understatement, it looked more like a castle.
"You have an exquisitely majestic abode, Ms. Shruti," Mitsuo remarked as he followed her.
Shruti smiled. "Thank you, Mitsuo. It was actually my grandfather's home, passed down to us."
Mitsuo nodded. "Fascinating."
"Your English is really good," Shruti complimented.
"Thank you!" Mitsuo was so happy for some reason.
Vasu suddenly patted his shoulder, grinning. "Don't expand too much, bro."
"Expand?" Mitsuo repeated, confused.
"Don't let it get into your head too much," Shree corrected. "Vasu direct translation from Malay."
Mitsuo was still confused but decided to just ignore it. Shruti led them to the house and the four of them took off their shoes before entering. Mitsuo noticed that this was a tradition that Malaysians followed just as the Japanese did.
"Come, let's eat first," Shruti smiled.
"Eat ah?!" The siblings repeated in surprise.
"I thought we had important matters to discuss?" Mitsuo asked.
"We must always serve food to our guests before talking," Shruti chuckled. "Come on, my mother personally prepared chicken curry for y'all."
The three exchanged glances before following her to the dining hall. They had to go through the living room, which was tastefully decorated in dark red settees and a wall-mounted flatscreen television. A glass coffee table sat at the centre, a runner adorning the top. For some reason, it looked as if there was a change to Mitsuo, like the place had looked different before.
"Why lah she call us here?" Shree whispered to Vasu. "She planning something ah?"
Vasu just shrugged, seemingly looking for something more important. "Madhavi where ah?"
Shree rolled her eyes. "This feller one more." She groaned under her breath.

"You wanted good Indian food, eat this curry by my mother," Shruti chuckled, putting large bowl of chicken curry on the table. "Don't eat in Kamala all, okay?"
Mitsuo nodded, more interested in the food than her speech. Shree and Vasu still looked a little reluctant but politely sat and waited for their turn to help some food onto their plates.
"Eat lah," Shruti urged, pushing the bowl over to the siblings. "Eat nicely."
"Auntie, what's this actually about?" Shree asked. "You bring us here and serving food all some more."
Shruti chuckled. "After eat, I'll tell. Eat first, later I tell. Okay?"
Shree reluctantly brought the bowl towards her but to her surprise, her brother snatched it first and took a helping before letting her. Shree frowned, a little annoyed at his excitement when she had her guard up. Mitsuo was just as bad too, even going straight into his meal with his right hand, Indian-style. Shree shook her head and decided to get a helping of the grated carrots instead before pushing that over to him and getting the chicken.
"Is it good?" Suganthi asked, appearing from the kitchen.
"Obaasan!" Mitsuo bowed, pausing his meal for a moment. "It's really good and spicy."
"You're okay with spicy food?" Shruti asked, seating herself beside him.
"It's not that bad, I didn't take too much," Mitsuo shrugged.
As they were finishing, Shruti suddenly rushed to the kitchen and returned with three bowls of dessert. To Vasu's delight, Madhavi was with her. Finally, a face he knew!
"Madhavi! Hi!" Vasu loudly greeted, grinning.
Suganthi looked surprised. "You know him?" She asked her granddaughter in Tamil.
"Yes, Paati," Madhavi replied with a smile, also speaking the same language which everyone with the exception of Mitsuo understood very well. "He's my classmate in school."
"Oh..." Suganthi nodded understandingly. "Then, he also talking STPM lah?" She spoke in English this time.
"What's STPM again?" Mitsuo asked, forgetting whatever Vasu told him earlier.
"Ma, who's this guy again?" Madhavi asked her mother in Tamil, putting down a wooden bowl of kesari beside Vasu.
"Akka's boyfriend," Vasu smirked, much to everyone's surprise.
Mitsuo looked at Shree, his eyes almost popping out of his head.
"Vasu!" Shree groaned giving him a hard backhand, earning a grunt.
"Friend... friend," Vasu corrected, holding onto his pained arm. "Boy friend. A friend that's a boy."
Madhavi shook her head with the slightest of smiles as she returned to the kitchen. Shruti smiled and placed a decorative ceramic bowl kesari in front of Shree. The latter noticed how the bowl looked a lot different from the others', having a familiar decorative design on it instead of plain wood.
"Ooo..." Shree said in awe, looking at the design of the bowl. "It's really pretty."
Suganthi smiled. "We only have one like that. From Japan."
"You guys got this in Japan?" Shree became excited. "So it's a souvenir?"
"No, it's a gift," Suganthi shook her head. "One Japanese girl send this to me for Deepavali."
"Oh..." Shree nodded, still examining the crane design on ceramic bowl. "Looks very familiar, the design."
She was suddenly interrupted by Mitsuo. "So Lady Misao sent you that?" He asked the oldest woman in the room.
Shree snorted at the way he referred to her as Lady Misao.
"Yes, she only send," Suganthi nodded. "It's a teacup, it seems. They call it chawan."
"But looks more like mangkuk only," Vasu added.
"What's that?" Mitsuo asked. "It's a chawan, a tea bowl. What's that you said? Mangko?"
"Mangkuk," Vasu repeated. "Means bowl. Cawan is cup in Malay. I guess it's a shared word since it technically has the same meaning..."
Though the kesari was good, Shree was still itching to know the reason why Shruti brought them here like this. Surely, a feast is not the reason.

-kesari is an Indian sweet.

Yummy... I kinda feel like having some now😂😂