It was two days after the tournant was over, and Sheva could feel that his brain was still like mush. After overusing it for the full eight days without any rest, the headache he suffered was enough to make him lie on the bed lazily without doing anything like a salted fish. Unfortunately, it was impossible to do, since his ho was invaded by four people who seed not to know how to get exhausted.
"Aunty, how do you shape this snack into a perfect round shape without any cake mold?" Claudia asked, her eyes shining at the strange snack in front of her.
"Which snack are you talking about, Ia?" Sheva’s mother glanced at the snack that Claudia pointed at. "Oh, that’s Onde-Onde. It depends on how you cook it. Is this the first ti you’ve seen one? If so, I will teach you how to make one." She explained gently.
"Really?!" Claudia’s eyes lit up instantly. It was clear that she liked that snack. "Thank you, Aunty!" Her tone was delighted.
"What about this Lumpia, Auntie?" Anna suddenly asked while also bringing a tray full of uncooked Lumpia. "Is this good and ready to be fried?"
"Wait, Dear, let check it first." Sheva’s mother took a glance for a mont. Sheva himself was dumbfounded when he heard that. Since when did his mother beco close enough with Anna that she called the girl ’Dear’? "Everything looks good except the two in the left corner. The filling stuff is too dense, and it will only make the tear get torn apart more easily. Put it out a little bit. Yeah, that’s good." She nodded satisfactorily once the woman saw that Anna did everything perfectly as she instructed.
"Gas, don’t just sneak all the cooked snacks inside your mouth! Help a little bit!" On another corner of Sheva’s ho, Sarah scowled in annoyance when she saw that her boyfriend did more harm than help here. "If you are that free, just go away with Sheva! Gosh, you boys are always so annoying!" She clicked her tongue in annoyance.
"Oh, if you want to go out, here is a list of things for you to buy for our monthly shopping. Do it for , okay?" Sheva’s mother added while giving the boys a piece of paper listing all the things they needed to buy.
Sheva could feel the corner of his mouth twitching, yet he was too speechless to make a comnt here. He didn’t know that getting invaded and having to face four won in his house would be this overwhelming. Hell, he himself still didn’t know why they were here, barging into his ho and helping his mother without any invitation. He also didn’t know how his mother could be this friendly toward the two girls she had just t. Everything was still mysterious here, just like won’s basic nature.
"Co on, Shev. You know you cannot win." Bagas chuckled as he rose from the floor, patting his shoulder knowingly. "Co on, let’s go out and take a breath outside."
Having been friends with the fat boy for a long ti, Sheva knew without Bagas telling explicitly that the boy wanted to have a talk. Indeed, Sheva also wanted to do the sa here, as he was concerned about his future tournant. So, he joined his best friend without hesitation, leaving the headache that was the four won in the house.
Right after they entered Bagas’s car which was parked 300 ters away from Sheva’s ho, since the ho itself was in such a narrow alley, Sheva let out a deep sigh, letting his body fall against the soft and comfortable chair. Looking at him like this, Bagas couldn’t help but chuckle and ask teasingly, "So, how does it feel to be a celebrity?"
"Besides my mom parading over the entire neighborhood? I guess it is not that bad." Sheva also let out a chuckle, albeit it was a bit weaker. "Anyway, what is it that you want to talk about?" He asked, going straight to the point.
"Well, it is not really that important..." Bagas scratched the back of his head awkwardly, yet still had his eyes on the road. Sheva waited for a mont, and in the end, the boy finally confessed. "We, Sarah and I, I an, have already announced our relationship to the public, and sohow, the reaction is pretty good." He grinned goofily.
"Really?!" Sheva was taken aback, not expecting those two to move this fast. "Damn! Congrats, man! I am happy for you!" He also grinned, patting the fat boy’s shoulder enthusiastically.
"Thanks! You are right, by the way. It is a good decision to jump into the sa world as her first before we announce our relationship. It definitely helps dampen all the negative impacts, since so of the people on the Internet are already aware of ." Bagas explained happily. "Also, Sarah’s decision to go and beco the host for the last chess tournant also helps. It allows her audience to get to know better, and so even tried to ship us before we announced our relationship."
Sheva whistled lowly, clearly impressed with how wild Sarah’s audience was. However, this was pretty much normal on the Internet, as everyone tried to pair their favorite male public figures with their favorite female ones.
"So, what about you, Shev?" Bagas suddenly asked, changing the topic. "I know by your gaze earlier that you are eager to talk to . Any financial problem again?" He asked a pretty sensitive question. However, since Sheva always told his best friend about the situation inside his house, it wasn’t that sensitive anymore for them both.
"Fortunately, everything is going alright," Sheva answered. "The money from the last Hanoi tournant is still there, and with the new addition from this tournant, we wouldn’t have to think about financial problems for a while. It is quite a good thing to feel, you know? Not having to worry about money or what to eat tomorrow."
"Yeah, I could tell." Bagas nodded, glancing at his best friend in the rearview mirror. "So, what is the problem?"
"You should’ve already guessed it, right?" Sheva asked knowingly.
"Is it about the future tournant?"
"Exactly." Sheva sighed once again, leaning his body back against the seat. "While I really appreciate Master Irfan’s help for sending abroad whenever I won the internal tournant, once a month wouldn’t do too much for my career. Also, I am not that interested in playing the local tournant around here, especially if it doesn’t help improve my rating. I need more experience playing against far better players and a way to earn more rating regularly, and the only way to do that is to aim for the tournant abroad. However, you also know what the problem is here..."
Bagas was quiet for a mont before following Sheva’s action, letting out a deep sigh. "It is going back to the money problem, right?" He smiled wryly. "Damn, who the hell said such a bullshit quote like money cannot solve all the problems? At least, it could solve 99 out of 100 problems, definitely!" He cursed loudly, eliciting a low chuckle from Sheva.
"So, any idea about this?" Sheva asked. While he knew that it was a bit too much to ask for sothing like this, he trusted Bagas here. The fat boy was a lot of things, but being poor and lacking resources were definitely not him.
They spent the next few minutes in silence as Sheva let his best friend think about this carefully. In the end, the fat boy heaved out another sigh and said, "I cannot decide this matter alone. Let ask my father first, okay?"
Reviews
All reviews (0)