Ride on Time

Chapter 92

All the guests left the hall, leaving only Mitsuo, Shree, Vasu, and Shruti's family behind. Mitsuo finally sat down to eat the biryani that was served.
"I saved some for you so that you can eat too," Shruti chuckled, watching him it. "How is it? Is it good?"
Mitsuo nodded enthusiastically as h ate. "It's very good, thank you."
Shruti smiled and pulled out her phone. She asked Mitsuo for his banking details and transferred the payment. He did and soon received a notification on his phone that she had indeed given him ¥34,649 which was equivalent to RM1000.
"Thanks, Ms. Shruti," Mitsuo bowed. "I have received the notification."
"Alright, now sign here," Shruti then took the clipboard that her daughter handed to her. The younger woman seemed to be a sort of a personal assistant to her. "Nah." She gave it to Mitsuo when he finished his meal.
Mitsuo pushed the plate aside and took the clipboard and silver fountain pen that Shruti handed to him. He signed the document and looked at the pen, polished matte steel. For some reason, the pen felt strange, weirdly heavy and... familiar.
Shruti observed his hesitation before signing the invoice. Mitsuo passed the clipboard back but not the pen, looking at it intently.
"Nice pen, right?" Shruti said, averting his attention away from the pen. "It was my brother's."
Mitsuo lit up at the mention of her brother. "You mean Shri Mohan?"
Shruti nodded. "Yes. Misao gave it to him as a gift for standing up for her when she was harassed in the train." She smiled. "But of course, there was another reason too."
"What reason ah?" Vasu asked, much to their dismay. He certainly knew how to ruin the moment.
Madhavi giggled but quickly stopped when her mother turned her glare at her.
"Shri really treasured that pen," Shruti said, turning back to Mitsuo. "I do too, especially after both Shri and Misao passed."
Shree kinda felt uneasy and cleared her throat. "Auntie, can transfer for me also?"
She even prepared a QR code that enabled Shruti to transfer her payment without asking for her account details. The younger woman signed the document and handed it back to her.
"Your performance was really good just now, Nika," Mitsuo praised with a smile. "I really liked it."
"Thank you," Shree said, attempting a smile.
Shruti smiled to herself and put her phone away before turning back to Shree. "Shree, you know that boy?"
"Which boy?" Shree asked, mildly confused.
"That boy lah," Shruti said again, amused. "Mikail's son?"
"Who's Mikail?" Shree asked again, still unsure.
Vasu rolled his eyes. "There, that Farhana's father lah."
"Oh!" Shree finally realised. "Farhan? He my schoolmate last time when taking STPM. Now the sister Vasu's friend." She gave him a light smack on the shoulder.
"I don't like her lah, she where got my friend?" Vasu groaned.
"But the brother is nice," Shree assured. "One of my best friends, can say."
Shruti nodded slowly. "I see..."
She then started talking about the day Misao gifted Shri with the pen, how they coincidentally met on a train, how Misao was harassed by a creep, how Shri switched places with her to save her.
"Misao thought he was gonna punch him," Shruti laughed. "Probably because he actually did when someone harassed me before that."
Mitsuo gasped. "Someone harassed you? Who?!" Everyone sat up in surprise at his statement.
"Oh come on, Mitsuo, that was more than twenty years ago," Shruti chuckled, waving a hand at him. "It was before you were even born!"
"Oh," Mitsuo relaxed. "Wait, your brother punched him? Wow..."
Shruti smiled as she remembered that incident. "Brave, right?" She sighed and lowered her gaze.
Shree looked pretty uncomfortable too. She turned to her brother and motioned her head as if to say 'let's go.' Vasu nodded and cleared his throat.
"Akka, shall we go?" Vasu asked. "It's late already, I got school tomorrow, some more."
Shruti quickly straightened herself. "Oh, yeah. Madhavi also need to go, right? Anything important tomorrow?"
"Well, we need to settle something," Madhavi shrugged. "Then again, the teachers aren't teaching much now that the holidays are coming."
"Yeah, they're supposed to teach the semester one stuff but they aren't teaching that either," Vasu supported.
"So you planning to ponteng tomorrow?" Shree rolled her eyes.
Vasu gave her the side eye and turned back to his phone.
Shree turned back to Shruti. "Auntie, we really have to go. If not, this feller gonna ponteng school tomorrow."
"Okay, okay," Shruti chuckled, getting up. "Let's go."
Mitsuo wanted to ask what ponteng meant but refrained. He decided to look it up himself and found that it meant skip. Mitsuo nodded to himself when he realised she meant skip school. He bade farewell to Shruti and her family and followed the siblings out. Shruti saw them off and looked at Mitsuo's signature, a star adorning the upper corner of his Japanese name.

Shree was silent all the while as they exited Kelana Jaya and rode to Sheralbon Hotel. Even Mitsuo sensed some tension in the car.
"Is something wrong?" Mitsuo asked.
"Huh?" Shree uttered, seemingly returning to reality only now.
"Nika, is something the matter?" Mitsuo asked again.
Shree straightened herself. "No."
"Akka, why you suddenly so quiet?" Vasu asked, also concerned. "Is it because I said wanna ponteng school tomorrow?"
Shree snorted. "What? No, lah. Nothing to do with that." She sighed. "I dunno lah, don't know why feel... weird."
"Is it because of me?" Mitsuo added, slightly hurt.
Shree quickly shook her head. "Eh no, not you." She shifted in her seat slightly and turned to look at him from the side of her seat. "Don't get the wrong idea, Mitsu, it doesn't have anything to do with you. I'm fine."
"Oh," Mitsuo nodded, feeling a little relieved. "Okay, then."
But Vasu still wasn't all that convinced.
He turned into the petrol station beside Sheralbon and made a u-turn so that he could go up the ramp. Vasu stopped in front of the lobby and Mitsuo bade farewell, giving them a bow as he waved them off.
"Akka, why lah?" Vasu asked his sister again. "Why suddenly so sad?"
Shree sighed. "I don't know lah. Maybe tired?"
Vasu seemed to agree. "Maybe... or maybe because of Farhana's brother? You like that feller ah?" He smirked and nudged her slightly.
"Eee, no lah," Shree shook her head, a little disgusted. "I never really saw him that way. That time itself that feller got girlfriend lah, why lah. He got crush on everyone, some more. Mostly Chinese girls only."
Vasu burst into laughter. "Okay. Then maybe you're just tired."
Shree shrugged. "Maybe. Wearing saree and a lot of makeup, jewellery some more. Face all feel weird..."
"Yeah, especially the eyeliner, right?" Vasu agreed. "And the hair stuff."
"Especially the hair stuff," Shree sighed. "I just wanna get out of this and get all the gunk off my face."
Vasu decided to stop by a petrol station to get some soda and chocolate to cheer her up before heading home.