The Ballad of Citra Sidek and Her Terrible Taste in Men

7

The smell of fresh roti prata wafted through the door as soon as she stepped in. Saturdays were generally quiet unless you had the joy of being in charge of some uniformed group like the Scouts or, God forbid, the Brownies. "Here," Citra, said holding out the plastic bag of food and drinks. "You better eat it while it's hot."

Arjun was on the floor plugging in the various microphones into the computer. He grinned sunnily at her, brushing his hands on his bermudas. "You know I was just kidding, right?" He took the food from her anyway. "Thanks lah."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I better buy it for you before it goes around the school that I'm a typical Asian taskmaster," Citra sighed, taking a seat. Turns out, he didn't skip leg day. "Hey, what does your name mean?"

Arjun shrugged, brushing a dark lock from his face. Very casually, he gathered a bunch of hair and tied it back with a rubber band. Citra noted, not for the first time, that he had even and sharp features. High cheekbones sat under deep-set eyes. "I was named after one of the guys in the Mahabharata. My mom only had sons, so she thought it would be hilarious to name all of us after these brothers."

"She planned to have five sons?" Citra said, laying down some newsprint on the table as a makeshift table cloth. She sucked her teeth in annoyance and placed some under Arjun's food packet. "If we get curry stains here, aunty will kill us," she reminded him of the cleaners who were rather militant about these things.

He shook his head. "No," he said. "My parents had my brother and my father really liked the name Yudhisthir. And then, they had my second brother and they thought it would be funny if they just named him Bhim-"

"And then when they had you... they decided to just go with it?" Citra laughed.

"Apparently lah," Arjun chuckled along. "But thankfully, I was the last of that. Actually, I'm surprised the priest let them do it. My grandmother said they calculated our astrological signs and said it was okay but my mother 'closed shop' after me."

"What? You can't do that!" Citra responded in mock outrage. "The Pandavas are five. You can't just have three people and stop there!"

"It was the 80's and you know, it was tough on my parents," he ripped a piece of prata and motioned for her to begin eating with him. "The 'stop at two' thing was at its' height and my parents had to do without all the subsides when it came to me."

Citra nodded. "So you didn't have Edusave or any other of the other stuff then?"

Arjun shook his head. "My mom used to joke that I was literally her golden child. My parents paid through the nose to bring me up." He watched her swallow her mouthful before he went on. "How come you know about the Pandavas?"

"Have you seen my name?"

"Well, yeah... I thought you were Indian when you first came in last year," he told her. Another piece of prata, another dip into the curry.

Citra noted the veins that ran up his arm. "I get that a lot. Sometimes, I get asked if I'm Indian Muslim," she pursed her lips. "Obviously not. My face is as Malay as it can get." She poked herself in the cheek.

He narrowed his eyes as if really scrutinising her face. "Yeah. Nothing Indian about that nose," he pointed out. "The bridge is rather flat. What? I'm kidding! I'm kidding! You actually have a - and don't take this the wrong way- a nose that is a little upturned. It's cute."

Citra's hands flew to her face and shut her eyes tightly. "Ugh, stop it! I thought you wouldn't notice," she turned a deep red, feeling self-conscious. "They used to call me piggy in school. Didn't help that I was a chubby kid. I mean, I still am but ... never mind. It's not like being an adult is an upgrade." She took a sip of her tea and calmed down. "The word is not 'cute'. It's 'porcine'."

"Whatever," Arjun shook his head. "Anyway, you read the Mahabharata?"

Citra nodded. "Indonesia is very much into the Indian classics," she revealed with a small amount of pride. "So I grew up geeking out on these things. Fun fact? I used to have the biggest crush on Lakshman."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes! Have you seen the stuff he did in the Ramayana? Anyway, all of us have names that aren't too Melayu, thanks to my mom. She's from Indonesia and she made sure we didn't forget that. My sister's name is Indah and my brother is called Budi."

"You're the eldest?"

"Yup. And you're the youngest?"

Arjun nodded. "No wonder, you're such a nagpot," he grinned and added mischievously, "Kakak."

"Fuck off," Citra mumbled through a closed mouth as she swallowed her prata. "Fuck all the way off!" She laughed. "I already have one brother and that's enough. I don't need another 'golden child' to babysit." The conversation fell into a comfortable silence as they finished their meal. "Thanks for coming down and helping me out with this. I really appreciate it."

"Don't mention it," Arjun wiped his mouth. "Thank me once you pull off this stunt."

"Can you imagine how pissed Eddie would be if this didn't work?" Citra joked. "He was so into the concept but he hated the fact that he had to call back ninety 8-year-olds back on a Saturday morning."

Arjun ran a hand over his pockets and handed her a pack of wet wipes. "These kids are cute though," he said, taking a wipe for himself after she returned the packet to him. He eyed her thoughtfully. "How come you went into teaching?"

Citra took a deep breath. "Honestly?" she paused and balled up the paper wrappings so as to toss them into the trash. "I wanted to be financially independent as soon as possible. My dad was retrenched and my mother is the sort that worries. It's a long story. But teaching let me go to school and have a job that's pretty much an iron rice bowl." She bit the inside of her cheek. "And I could also start saving money for... well, I thought I was going to get married. But that thankfully didn't happen." She shuddered.

Arjun nodded. "I could never do what you and Eddie do on a daily basis," he smiled, injecting some levity back into the conversation. "It's amazing."

Citra smiled at him as the door opened. Marilyn's long shadow cut the music room's wooden floor into two. "Oh, hi, Marilyn!" Citra greeted. "We're just getting set up for the recording. Eddie should be here soon."

Marilyn walked in, wearing high heels even on a Saturday. "Good," she said, glancing at Arjun. "Did you ask the IT head if it was okay for you to call back his personnel on a Saturday?"

Citra felt her stomach twist itself into knots. "Uhh. No?" she winced, biting her lip. "I thought it was just like any other IT request. I just went straight to Arjun."

"I had time so I said okay," Arjun added, going back to the microphones. "I was going to be in anyway since you wanted me to install some stuff in Computer Lab 3. I'll do that after Citra's recording session."

Marilyn folded her arms and paused momentarily. "Well, as long as they are done. I'll need them for a class next week," she told him levelly before she smiled kindly at Citra once more. "Good luck on the recording. I'll drop in later to see how it's all going."

Citra nodded, "Okay. See you later." She dropped her shoulders and leaned against the wall a few seconds after Marilyn left. "What the hell was that about? Do I have to go to the IT head to ask for your help?"

Arjun shrugged. "Maybe it's just for formality's sake," he said, looking at the microphone jack before plugging it in and testing the sound. "Who knows." He sighed and tested a few microphones as their time alone together drew to a close. "We should be good to go," he said. "What are your plans for the day?"

Citra felt her ears grow hot. "I have a date."

"Ohhhh," Arjun chuckled. "Say no more. Have fun."

"You?"

"Anna's projector and Computer Lab 3."

"Ew."

"I know, right?"

Citra thought twice about patting him on the shoulder. "Well, I'll eat extra on your behalf."

Arjun made a snorting sound.

"Oh, fuck off."