Ride on Time

Chapter 91

Shree soon grew bored of the event and went back to the table upon Mitsuo's insisting. It's not like she didn't wanna accompany him backstage, but it really was getting a little boring being there alone for the most past.
She now happily sat beside her brother, eating a second round of biryani.
"When can your friend come down?" Vasu asked, much to his dismay.
"I dunno, I'm not the one who hired him," Shree nonchalantly said and quickly stopped short. She realised that she said it a bit too loudly, being only a few seats away from Shruti. She quickly turned to see the older woman, who seemed to be busier watching a Chinese fan dance performance that honoured the Chinese New Year season.
Shree heaved a sigh of relief and continued eating as politely as she could. Eating the curried chicken wing with cutlery was the hardest part and Shree wished she could just throw the silverware aside and tackle the chicken with her bare hand. But she somehow managed.
She suddenly noticed her brother looking a little uneasy, seated completely facing her with an elbow on the table, his head propped up against his right hand as he held his phone with his other.
"Eh, what lah?" Shree asked, nudging him. "Why you sitting like this?"
Vasu sighed and motioned with his eyes. "You see that girl sitting behind? The one with long ponytail?"
"Off-shoulder top?" Shree asked, spotting a bedazzled girl with said description.
"Ah, that one only Farhana," Vasu nodded. "That idiot is the English Club president in our school for our batch. Very irritating idiot."
Shree snorted. "Why lah? What she did?"
Vasu began ranting about Farhana, how she didn't even deserve to be the president, seeing how he, the Vice President, did most of the work instead.
"Oh, that idiot," Shree laughed as Vasu's prior complains came to mind. "Yeah, I remember. You got tell. But why is she here?"
"Someone's daughter, apparently," Vasu said, shaking his head before going right back to his phone.
Shree looked intently at the table where Farhana sat, trying to find out who her mom or dad is. That's when she spotted Mikail, who now rang in her mind as 'The Shed Feller'.
"Oh, there," Shree pointed her chin in their direction. "That Shed Feller's daughter."
"Shed Feller ah?" Vasu eagerly turned towards that table, amused. "Who lah?"
Shree snorted. "Remember just now Mitsuo mispronounced one feller's name as Shed instead of Syed?"
Vasu frowned for a moment, the cogs spinning in his head, and finally remembered. "Oh! That feller! One weird feller, right? Staring at Mitsuo like one kind and not even smiling to get his award?"
Shree nodded. "That's the one."
Shree then went back to her Biryani, happily eating as the event boringly went on. Vasu was snacking too, binging on the desserts. All of a sudden, a guy with slightly long hair from Mikail's table stood up and started coming towards them. For a second, the siblings thought he heard their conversation about Mikail and and Farhana and was coming over to confront them. What made it worse was he stopped right behind their seats.
The siblings exchanged worried glances as they turned to him, putting down their cutlery.
"Are you Shreenika Chandran?" The young man asked.
Shree winced slightly at the mention of her father's name but nodded. "Yes?"
"You're from STPJ, right?" The guy asked.
Shree nodded again at the acronym of hers and Vasu's Form Six College name. "Yes, I am." She looked intently at the man, trying to recognise him. "Who are you?"
The young man grinned. "Wow, you don't remember me?" Shree shook her head when he paused, looking expectantly at him. "It's me, Farhan!"
Shree looked at him intently again and finally recognised him as one of her old friends from Sekolah Tinggi Petaling Jaya. "Oh! Farhan! Sorry, couldn't recognise you... because of your hair."
Farhan chuckled and pulled a chair from the table behind him and sat down beside her, much to Vasu's dismay. "Yeah, I grew it out a bit. Also, what you doing now?"
Shree chuckled and pointed to the stage. "I'm a part-time dancer, as you saw just now. Also, I'm a Zumba instructor at Sheralbon Hotel gym."
"Ah," Farhan nodded.
"How about you?" Shree decided to pry too.
"I'm still studying," he chuckled. "Law student at Bangsar International College."
"Oh wow, that's far," Shree remarked. "Bangsar?"
Farhan shook his head, a slight smile on his face. "No no, it's not that far. Quite near, actually."
"Yeah, but Bangsar jam, what," Shree pointed out.
"My campus isn't even in Bangsar, Shree. It's near Sheralbon only."
Shree gasped as she finally remembered. "Eh, yeah lah! BIC! I forgot, there's the Menara BIC, right? Aiya, I forgot. They open new block recently also, right?"
Farhan nodded. "Yep. But my classes are still in the first block."
Shree glanced at her Biryani before turning back to him. "BIC is famous for its law course, right?"
"Yep. Hey, maybe we can meet sometime since we're actually so near to each other, practically the same street."
Shree smiled, nodding gently. "Can also. Very near." Farhan was about to leave but she quickly stopped him with another question. "By the way, is that girl your sister?"
"Yep," Farhan sighed. "My spoilt little sister."
Vasu let out a snort but quickly sniffed as if he had a runny nose and coughed. Shree held back a laugh too.
"What about her?" Farhan asked, slightly confused.
Shree shrugged. "She looks like you."
Farhan looked a little annoyed but promised to keep in touch. "My number didn't change and I think you still follow me on Instagram."
Shree smiled and watched him go back to his table. She heaved a sigh of relief and went back to her biryani as soon as he sat down.
"So Farhana is my age and her brother is your age," Vasu suddenly piped up. "Was he just as annoying as her?"
Shree swallowed her mouthful of food and shook her head. "Nope. He was actually quite nice. We were both the rejected ones from the girls' and boys' gang and ended up becoming friends."
"Reject ah?"
"The quiet ones," Shree sighed. "You know me, right? I prefer to keep to myself when everyone else were grouping up to fangirl about some KPOP idol or gossip about something. I usually just read my book. That feller also same. Some more, the teacher put him behind me in class, became friends lah."
Vasu nodded slowly. "So the brother good, sister like idiot. I see, I see."
Shree playfully shook her head and continued her meal.

Also, Chinese New Year season goes for like two weeks from the first day of the Lunar New Year right up to Chap Goh Mei, the fifteenth day and the full moon. It's this Sunday, which is a week from the day this chapter takes place.
Also, STPJ is Sekolah Tinggi Petaling Jaya which literally translates to Petaling Jaya High School. It's not high school for teenagers, more like HIGH school for those who have completed secondary school. If it was a generic high school that accommodates 13 to 17-year-olds, it would be called SMK which stands for National Secondary School in Malay. The Form Six college is called Sekolah Tinggi because of the certificate we get after completing the test, which is Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia which translates to Malaysian Higher Certificate Education as opposed to high schools only giving you SPM certification which is Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia which is the Malaysian Certificate Education. So yeah, STPM is higher, it's like a diploma or foundation while the SPM only gives you a ticket to college. So bottom line, STPM is public school diploma/foundation. I think it's similar to the British concept of Form Six college since I once read a book that centred around characters in the sixth form.

Also...

Meet Farhan and Farhana, Mikail's children. They're both Shree and Vasu's age respectively lol.