Shree dropped Vasu off at school and got some nasi lemak for herself and her grandmother before returning home. She turned into her street and slowed down as she neared her home.
She spotted a delivery guy riding into the distance and didn't think much of it since it was normal for her neighbours to order takeaway online.
But what didn't strike her as normal was Mitsuo walking out of her neighbour's home.
"Eh, that one that Japanese boy, right?" Devi piped up as soon as she spotted him. "What he doing here?"
"I have no clue," Shree admitted as she parked in their driveway before getting out of the car, keys in hand. She made a beeline straight for Mitsuo, who waved at her with a grin. "Oi."
"Nika!" Mitsuo greeted with a slight bow. "I came earlier but there wasn't anyone home so I decided to wait."
"In the neighbour's house?" Shree pointed out.
Mitsuo realised how weird that must've seemed. "Sorry, I just wanted to ask Mr. Sufyan about Shri Mohan. You know they were old friends, right?"
Shree shrugged. "That makes sense, I guess. But why are you here?"
"I had breakfast at the food court nearby and decided to drop by," Mitsuo said. "It was very near too so I decided to come by and give you this." He shook the plastic bag of taufufah beside his face, grinning.
"What's that?" Shree asked as she unlocked the gate.
"Douhua," Mitsuo grinned.
"Oh, okay..." Shree chuckled and slid the gate open before inviting him in. "Come lah inside."
Mitsuo nodded and stepped into the gate. He waited for her to park before helping to close the gate since Shree looked like her hands were full.
"Thanks," Shree smiled and locked the gate. "So what did Uncle Sufi say?"
"You actually call him that?" Mitsuo asked in surprise.
"He's my friend's dad?" Shree pointed out.
"His son is your friend?" Mitsuo asked, surprised.
Shree shook her head. "Not his son, his daughter. She was my junior back in primary school, followed me to secondary school too."
"Oh," Mitsuo nodded. "He has a daughter?"
"Got two daughter lah," Devi suddenly piped up as she made her way towards the grille.
"Ah, Obaasan!" Mitsuo greeted with a respectful bow.
"Come, come inside," Devi invited.
Shree chuckled and motioned for him to come in. She was still a little freaked at how easily her grandmother had accepted him, even warmly inviting him to sit down now. But she just shrugged and made her way to the kitchen to make some drinks since Mitsuo was here.
"So, what's with the sudden taufufah?" Shree asked as she sat down beside Mitsuo with a cup of sarsaparilla.
"I had breakfast in that Indian shop at the food court," Mitsuo said.
"What you ate?" Devi asked eagerly. "Her thosai nice."
"I had something called idli," Mitsuo informed. "It was really good, with some type of curry. It tasted like dhal but the lady said it wasn't."
"It's sambar," Shree said. "It's similar to dhal, but it isn't dhal. It's made of a different type of pulse, I think. But yeah, her food is quite good."
"Yeah..." Mitsuo nodded slowly. He contemplated on whether he should ask her something, eventually deciding that he should. "Also, is it... normal to eat idli with... cutlery?"
"Normally can, I think," Shree shrugged. "But usually people eat with hand. Why ah?"
Mitsuo looked sheepish for a moment, tapping his index fingers together. "Does it depend on the cutlery though?"
"What cutlery you use?" Devi asked. "Spoon ah?"
Shree looked at him intently. "You use chopstick ah?"
Mitsuo's gaze lowered slightly, his mouth curling upwards. "Yes?"
"Mitsu!" Shree exclaimed in surprise. But then her look of shock morphed into a smile as she started snickering. "You ate idli with chopsticks? Oh my gosh!"
"Okay, what," Devi said, much to his surprise. "Good, what, he eat with chopstick."
"Awah." Shree turned to her grandmother, holding her hands up. "He ate idli with chopsticks. I thought fork and spoon was bad enough but this..." she chuckled and turned to Mitsuo. "It isn't a bad thing but... this is amazing." She paused to laugh again. "Did anyone else see?"
"Yes," Mitsuo nodded.
"What did they say?"
"Well, the shop lady didn't say anything, but just stared with her mouth agape, but then there was this guy," Mitsuo frowned as he remembered who said guy was. "He was trying to film me, but I made him delete the video. Also, guess who he is."
"Who lah?" Devi asked.
"Yeah, who is it?" Shree added.
"That Chinese boy," Mitsuo sighed. "That Wang guy's son."
"What?!" Shree exclaimed.
Devi looked at her daughter, confused. "Wang ah? Who's that?"
Shree frowned, shaking her head. "Your Sherry's husband."
"You don't even know his name?" Mitsuo asked in surprise.
"His name not James ah?" Devi pointed out. "His name James lah, Sherry got tell."
"I saw his name when we went to Shruti's office that day, and it's Wang Xiao Sheng," Shree pointed out.
Devi shook her head. "No lah, his name James Wang lah." But then she frowned as if considering the situation. "Maybe he simply keeping English name."
"That may be so," Mitsuo agreed. "I have a friend back at home, her name is Mutsuki, which literally means the month of love and affection— January. She thinks the name sounds a little masculine and has everyone call her Suki."
"Was she born in January?" Shree asked.
Mitsuo nodded. "On New Years Day, her mother was rushed to the hospital right when she was having her Osechi Ryori. Apparently there was some complications, she was born on the second."
"She okay or not?" Devi asked.
"Yeah, she's fine," Mitsuo said.
"For me also, what," Shree chuckled. "Mom went for a simple checkup on Christmas Eve but ended up being admitted. Well, here I am."
Mitsuo frowned for a moment, looking at her as if she just formed three heads.
"Why lah?" Shree asked, a little weirded out by his strange look. "Why you looking at me like that?"
"You came out prematurely too?" Mitsuo asked. "Like, cut out before the due date?"
Shree shrugged. "Yeah? But I wasn't premature, just a week or two before the due date. Why?"
"Because... it was the same for me too," Mitsuo admitted. "I wasn't supposed to come out till early January."
Shree looked a little uncomfortable as her mind unconsciously pieced things together but quickly shrugged. "What a coinkydink." She laughed nervously.
"Coinkydink ah?" Devi immediately piped up, promptly changing the subject. "That means?"
"Coincidence," Shree smirked. "Just slang."
"Oh..." Devi nodded. She turned her attention to the taufufah and decided to eat that.
"Awah, what about the nasi lemak?" Shree pointed out.
Devi frowned. "Oh, yeah ah..." but then she shrugged. "Never mind lah, Mitsuo here, we eat taufu first lah. We eat the nasilima for lunch later. Okay?"
Shree sighed and begrudgingly agreed
Another thing is you might see the term nasilima sometimes. It's literally just nasi lemak but it's a shortened version used among Indians. And I know it isn't just my grandma since I heard it a lot among other Indian people, even youngsters lol. It's also a running gag since lima means five and when sometimes one says naslima, some joke that they ate five servings of nasi lemak or five grains of rice,
Or five different types of rice in one dish.