Ride on Time

Chapter 96

The trip went on silent until they passed the Petaling Jaya Old Town Wet Market.
"Also, about that book..." Mitsuo began again. "Do you like it? Is it good?"
"Sir, I appreciate you're anticipation of wanting to know about the book I'm reading, but that's my personal preference," Jonathan said as he stopped at the traffic light, much to their surprise.
Shree smirked. "Why? Does it contain something raunchy?"
"What?!" Both Mitsuo and Jonathan said in shock. Jonathan didn't notice the light had gone green, until an impatient motorist honked behind him, and turned right to enter Jalan Pasar.
"Is that book of yours raunchy?" Shree persisted again.
"Nika!" Mitsuo was offended.
Shree held up a finger to her smirking lips before turning back to Jonathan at the front. "Come on, just say it. What's the book about?"
Jonathan smirked slightly. "What if the book really is dirty?"
"No!" Mitsuo blurted out. "It does not contain anything bad!"
Jonathan stopped beside the kopitiam they wanted to go to and turned to look at him, smirking. "And how would you know that?"
"Because I wrote it," Mitsuo proudly said. "You should've noticed that the name on the book cover and the name in my Grape ID is the same one."
Jonathan gasped, the colour draining from his face. Mitsuo was about to argue further but Shree had already gotten out of the car and went to his side, opening the door and motioned for him to step out. He did step out, though while complaining that Jonathan should think twice before spreading false rumours about something.
"Don't ever spread false rumours about something, especially if you know that it's wrong. And especially if it has something to do with books. My books!"
"Mitsu," Shree tried to hide her amusement. "Come on."
"And I'm giving you a bad rating!" Mitsuo exclaimed before slamming the door shut.
Jonathan wasted no time driving away.
"Mitsuo, I'm sorry to have offended your book just now," Shree quickly apologised as they walked towards the Kopitiam. "I was just teasing him, not the book."
To her surprise, Mitsuo burst into laughter as he followed her into the coffee shop. "I know. I was fooling around too and darn was it satisfying to bully him. I think he deserved it, especially when he spoke wrong about my book."
Shree nodded understandingly, finding a spot right near the entrance. "True... his parents are practically crowbars prying at our life, especially my grandma. And I'm pretty sure he and his siblings actually talk about us behind our backs in Cantonese whenever we go there. Remember how they either leave or only hang around for a moment? During those times, they'd be mumbling and giggling, throwing glances in our way. Darn right he deserved that."
"Should I give him a bad rating though?" Mitsuo smirked as he took his phone out.
"Nah," Shree chuckled, shaking her head. "Give him a good one."
Mitsuo smirked and did that. Shree did the same too.
"I wonder how he's gonna react when he sees his two angry customers give him five-star ratings," Mitsuo snorted. He was suddenly startled when a waitress placed a menu in front of him and Shree. "Thanks." He nodded at the middle-aged Chinese woman.
"Alright, what you wanna eat?" Shree asked, looking through the laminated one-sheet menu. "Got a lot of stuff. Ooh! Wantan mee!"
"What's that?" Mitsuo asked, scanning the menu card. "I know wantan, but what's mee? And where are the drinks?"
"Wantan noodles," Shree explained, taking his menu and turning it over in his hands. "There are the drinks. Also, you want the wantan mee?"
Mitsuo frowned for a moment and shook his head. "No, that chocolate cake was too rich. Maybe something lighter."
Shree nodded. "Kaya toast?"
"That sounds good, I've tasted Kaya before and it's really good."
"It will taste better in a kopitiam, trust me," Shree smiled. "Oh! And you have to try the Hainanese coffee! I'm not sure what you should call it in English, since they since they just put that down as kopi, but it's freshly brewed coffee with a little bit of condensed milk. No milk, no sugar. It's really good."
Mitsuo took her suggestion and decided to go with the kaya on toast and coffee, chatting with Shree about music as they waited. The food arrived rather quickly too and Mitsuo thought the kaya on toast smelt amazing. He took pictures of the food and coffee before taking a bite. The bread was generously buttered on both sides with the crusts neatly cut away. What made it better was the added chunks of butter between the two slices of bread as they floated together with the thick warm coat of Kaya.
"Is it good?" Shree asked when he just silently ate his food.
Mitsuo swallowed before answering. "This is really good. Darn! How can I have missed this before?"
Shree chuckled. "It's nice, right?"
Mitsuo nodded. "Very. I'm so putting this down in my book. Tell me the name later so that I can write them down in my notebook. My hands are greasy from the butter."
"No problem, Mitsu," Shree smiled at his excitement.

Shree led Mitsuo, who followed cluelessly, into Section 2 so that she could get home and take the Perodua Viva to make their travelling easier. It was a peaceful neighbourhood, with a Chinese school and a playground. There was even a food court where hawkers sold various types of food.
"Ooh! The tau man open!" Shree gasped upon seeing an old man selling homemade taufufah and soy milk in the food court. "He's open today!"
Mitsuo had to run after her to catch up as she went to the stall and got a few packs of taufufah and soy milk to-go.
"How far more is your home?" Mitsuo asked as they continued walking through the quiet streets of Section 2.
"We're almost there," Shree said.
The house finally came to view and Shree's police neighbour was just leaving for work. He waved at the couple as they made their way to Shree's house.
"Mr. Sufyan!" Mitsuo greeted with a bow.
"How you know my name?" Sufyan asked, surprised. Mitsuo simply pointed at the name tag between his badge and left breast pocket and he relaxed. "Oh... sorry."
"That's fine," Mitsuo smiled. "Off to work?"
Sufyan nodded. "Yeah." He waved as he got into his car and drove away.
"Remind me how you befriended my neighbour when even we don't talk to him?" Shree asked, opening the gate of her home.
"I bumped into him one time while walking around Old Town," Mitsuo said. "He saw my book and told me that Shri Mohan was his close friend since high school."
"I see..." Shree nodded waiting for him to enter the gate with her hands on her hips. "Alright, come on, Mitsu. We need to take the car."
Mitsuo noticed the television screen illuminating the living room. "Your grandmother's at home?"
"Yeah," Shree nodded, making her way towards the grille, sliding it open. "She's watching Tamil dramas. Wait, it's still morning. She's watching that cooking show where the so-called chef never smiles."
Devi looked at them in surprise as they walked in. Mitsuo greeted her with a respectful bow. "Obaasan."
"How are you?" Devi asked, starting to stand up but Mitsuo quickly stopped her.
"No, no, it's fine, Obaasan," he quickly said. "I'm fine, what about you?"
"Okay lah," Devi smiled back.
Shree put down a few packs of taufufah and soy milk on the table. "Nah, Awah. I bought taufufah just now. He open today so I bought some for you, Mom, and Vasu also."
"Okay, okay," Devi nodded her head from side to side, Indian-style. "Later you going to pick up Vasu right?"
Shree nodded. "Yeah. I'll take the car. That's why I came actually."
Devi nodded and turned to Mitsuo. "Today for you last day in Malaysia ah?"
Mitsuo smiled. "Actually, it's tomorrow. Nika said it's better to go out today since it will be tiring for me tomorrow."
Devi gave her granddaughter a strange smile, causing her to look uncomfortable as she rushed off to get the car keys. "Awah, I go first ah. I'll pick up Vasu and maybe he'll tag along with us too."
Devi nodded. "Good, good."
Shree waved at her and Mitsuo bowed before the two of them left.

-wonton is pronouced and spelled wantan in Malaysia. I think that's the correct pronunciation and wonton is just the anglicised version of it.