The Metal Children

08 The Good Side

Taufik gasped loudly as he woke up. He was plastered in sweat, but he felt cold air hung onto his sticky skin, and it made him entirely awake. His chest heaved as he breathed, exhaling and inhaling as if he had tired himself running a marathon. His long, damp bangs clung onto his forehead, and the strands at it's pointy end poked annoyingly at the edge of his eyes and between his eyelashes. He closed them, and counted backwards from one thousand until his breathing finally had slowed down.

When his shot his eyes open again, an unfamiliar white ceiling had greeted him. That was when he realized that he was lying down on a comfortable black couch, pillowed by soft cotton pillows that felt like clouds. A pleasant aroma of lemongrass, chilli and prawn filled the entire room, and he sat up only to realize that his head was heaving, like he was going to pass out again in a matter of seconds.

"You're up," said a masculine voice, and across the coffee table, he noticed Adi, who had a lazy t-shirt on that says 'I Hate You, Don't Leave Me'. Adi had a square device on his lap, which projected a small set of holographic words and images in thin air, like it was set on a rectangular screen in front of him. There was also a lingering smell of tobacco as he spoke, and Taufik had only concluded that Adi had recently returned from a smoke.

Taufik rubbed his fingers on his temple. It felt like he had sat in a ridiculously high rollercoaster and went on the ride for a few continuous loops. His stomach lurched as he leaned forward, and he resisted the urge to puke by pushing his tongue against the upper inside of his mouth. He examined the room around him - the living room was neat and tidy, with only elements of black, white, and nude beige. There weren't many decorations, not even a single picture frame. However, there was a flower vase on the four-seater dining table, but they were clearly artificial flowers. Other than that, there weren't as many colours.

Light sounds of footsteps became apparent as Taufik's heavy head started to clear. Still sinking on his seat on the couch, he turned towards the dining table, only to find Brenda, carrying a hot claypot bowl with a pair of mittens. She was in her apron, so Taufik had quickly assumed that she was cooking - and from the tasty aroma he could smell from the living room, it was definitely tom yam. He hoped it would be seafood.

"Eh, you're awake!" Brenda said, placing the claypot bowl on the table and removed her mittens. She set aside those mittens on the table, and hung her apron on a chair, before joining Adi and Taufik in the living room. Her arm was bandaged, but he knew better than to ask an 'abuden' question.

"You crazy," Adi commented, as Brenda sank onto a sofa beside Adi's. "You should've called us to carry something that heavy," he raised one of his hands towards the dining table in a way a Malaysian uncle would.

"Hello," Brenda said rebelliously. "I'm still capable, I'm not that weak."

"Yeah, but you were groaning in pain since this morning about that wound of yours. You'd be lying if it doesn't hurt that bad!"

"It's something that I'll get over with in time, dude. As if you don't know me! We've been partners for what, seven years?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Brenda. We grow up together. And that's why I know your pain threshold now is pretty low because you haven't been seriously injured for like three, four months?"

"Is it even logic to have your pain threshold lowered just because you haven't experience physical pain for like, a short while?"

"You'll never know-"

Taufik gave a loud sigh, which silenced both Brenda and Adi. They turned their attention to him, but neither said anything. Adi got back to his work, and Brenda leaned back on the sofa she was sitting, legs crossed and arms open on the armrest. She gave Adi and annoyed look Adi didn't seem to notice, but Taufik knew it didn't mean anything. Growing up together in all those years, Brenda and Adi understood each other more than anything - and a small argument such as those are nothing but a filler, something to kill time. Sometimes, to distract someone else, for example, Taufik himself.