Of leaf and teas

this is a continuation to this story, Why

Of leaf and teas

Ariff was woken up from his sleep by succession ringing sounds of the buzzer. Still dazed due to lack of sleep from the night before, Ariff slowly raised himself from his bed and looked at the prosaic Ikea clock hanging on the wall. He squinted and saw the bleary numbers pointing at half past eleven.

Sebelas? Malam? He looked out of the window and saw the sky was murky and bleak. Siang lagi. Rasa macam malam.

He then wiped his hand over his face twice, before he paid attention to the buzzing. The buzzer was pushed in rapid succession to the tune of Christmas carol, which can easily get on anyone’s nerve, let alone one who had just woke up from an insufficient sleep. Ariff walked towards the door wondering why in the whole world Akmar hadn’t brought his keys, before Ariff opened it. The buzzing suddenly stopped, followed by an impatient voice. A female’s.

“Akmar! Why . . . Eh you are not Akmar,” she said stating the obvious.

“Erm, he is not here,” Ariff answered.

“I see. He must have not come back. On the way probably,” she said as she edged her way in, subtly forcing Ariff to step back away from the door. She closed the door, rubbed her palms together to warm them before speaking to Ariff.

“I’ve never seen you before. Where are you from?”

“I’m from Malaysia,” Ariff answered.

“Okay. . . I mean where are you studying now? Leeds? Cardiff? Oh wait. Don’t tell me your Akmar’s brother,” she said before laughing at the notion. She hung her overcoat on the hook behind the door, rows of them which Ariff hadn’t noticed before. Then she asked him again.

“So, where are you from?”

“I’m from here,” Ariff replied.

“You mean you are local. Wait. You are Malaysian. So you are studying here. I never thought Akmar would take a roommate in. This room as it is, is already full of him,” she said. She was rummaging through Akmar’s stack of paper as she continued her conversations with Ariff, or rather questions.”So how long have you been here?” she asked.

“Urm, three days,”

“Wow, you’ve just arrived! Welcome to Manchester then,” she said. She was about to speak again when she pulled out a paper from the stacks she was going through and sat herself on one of the bed. She began to read in silent. The room actually went quieter as if all the air slowed down along with the movement of the girl. She was up till then constantly moving and Ariff can barely follow her movement but when she stopped, it made him feel restless. So he looked at her.

The oval face was graced with sharp nose and small lips but what stand out the most was her thick slanted eyebrows. Ariff couldn’t see the colour of her eyes, he believes there are brown like his, or maybe slightly brighter, but anyone who looked at her would likely focus on her brows anyway, as they tweaked and danced when she speaks and talks. Somehow it occurred to Ariff that the name Jasmine would suit her well, before realizing that was from Aladdin. As she read with her brunette hair falling over her forehead, the eyebrows knitted with concentration.  She read silently for a while before suddenly she raised her head and saw Ariff peering at her. She opened her eyes wider, as if she had just noticed where she was, while he was surprised being caught looking at her, that he continued staring.

“Is something matter with my face?” she asked.

“Owh..erm.. no,” Ariff stuttered. “You are sitting on my bed, “he suddenly blurted.

Adoi, apsal aku cakap camtu . . .

“Oh, I’m sorry. My bad. It’s just I am used to sit here every time I come,” she said.

“On my bed?” he blurted out again.

Dem! Amende aku cakap ni?

“Yeah, I do . . . Hey, hey, I sure hope you are not thinking anything else, are you?” she said as she pushed her hair behind her ears. She then bent forward with her chin supported on her palm, before she moved closer and peered back at Ariff. Ariff was embarrassed enough to be inspected with his sleepy face, but her questions that followed made his face flushed.

“You are not,” she paused, “’thinking’ of anything, are you?” Upon seeing his red face, she burst into laughter and it was long before she could speak again. “I am just kidding. You sure are different. Akmar and you. I wonder how you guys would get along. I’ve never seen him blush, or shy away for that matter,” she said before repeating, “Very different, you guys.”

“Do you know Akmar long?” Ariff tried to change the subject to exclude him.

“You mean have I known him for a long time? Yes, you can say that. I know him quite well,” she answered.

Ariff then wanted to ask if she was his girlfriend before he decided against asking it. Instead he asked whether Akmar was easily angered.

“Is he . . . Is he pemarah?” he asked. Dem! Ape ek pemarah dalam English. Evil?

“Pemarah? You mean bad tempered?” she said before laughing upon seeing Ariff’s expression. She then explained, “Don’t be so surprised! Haha . . . I am from Singapore, so I understand Malay words. Okay. Back to your question. Hm . . . I wouldn’t say he is,” she stopped in mid-sentence as she heard the key turned.”Speaking of the devil! Akmar is back!” she said before she smiled slyly at Ariff and did something he didn’t understand, until it was too late.

The door opened and as expected, Akmar stepped into the room. The girl quickly rushed to him, who was surprised to see her, moreover her shirt was partly unbuttoned and her shoulder was exposed. Between sobs she called Akmar name, and pointed accusingly at the bewildered Ariff. Akmar closed the door and marched towards him, demanding Ariff to tell what happened.

“What have you done?! Tell me! Speak!” Akmar’s voice was threatening.

“I .. I didn’t..  Aku tak buat ape-ape,” Ariff flustered.”Betol!”

“Jangan cuba tipu aku. Tell me the truth!” Akmar raised his voice.

“Aku tak buat ape-ape pon!”

“Jangan nak tipu aku!”

“Aku tak tipu. Sumpah! Aku tak buat ape pon...” Ariff said with his voice resigned and sad. He bowed her head down, his head in his hands.

“He’s lying. Let’s report this Akmar,” the girl interjected. Ariff quickly raised his head, hopelessness in his eyes as he thought of the consequences. Charged of felony, before he is dispelled and disgraced. Ariff looked beseechingly at the two of them when the girl put her hand on Akmar’s, pulling her towards the door. Akmar brushed her hand away and said in a completely different tone than before.

“Weh, why are you touching me? Enough, enough. I am tired already. Stop it with the drama,” Akmar said. The girl also stopped crying

“Awh man, we could have gone further. You are such a wet blanket,” whined the girl.

“Bengong. What wet blanket? I played with your games right? You tell me, who would come into his room and see a disarrayed girl, who was sobbing her lungs out, and act along? Tell me Lili, who would?” he said.

The girl only grinned.

“Why are you here anyway?” Akmar asked Lili.

“Didn’t I told you in my SMS,”

“My phone ran out of battery,” he said.

“Jeez, you’re hopeless,” she said.

“Yeah, so are you. Coming around to ask for my help.”

“How would you know?”

“As if I wouldn’t know. Akmar, Akmar, can you help me with this?” Akmar mimicked in a high voice.

“Shut up! My voice is not like that and I don’t ask like that too!” she protested.

“Yeah, you should treat me to dinner if you want to ask anymore help,”

“Fine, fine, whatever,”

“Really? That’s quite easy.” Suddenly Akmar remembered about Ariff and said to him, “Ariff, nak pergi makan tak?”

Ariff, who was trying to comprehend what really happened, did manage to put all the pieces together in the end and by then, he was very furious and hated Akmar vehemently. Thus he declined.

“Aku kenyang,” he replied curtly.

Lili who forgot completely of her tricks, quickly rushed to apologise to Ariff, “Ariff, your name is Ariff is it? Good. Ariff, I am sorry I did that to you. I didn’t mean you any harm and I would have stopped anyway. Sorry okay? Please? I am really sorry Ariff..”

“You stayed in the room for what? An hour? And you didn’t even ask his name? Then you go play some joke on the bloke who..”

“SHUT UP MAR! I am trying to apologise here,” Lili cut short Akmar’s patronizing lecture, before addressing Ariff.”I am really sorry, Ariff. I won’t do it again. I’ll treat you, okay? Please.”

It was not an everyday event where a girl with such lovely eyes stares at him, let alone looking up and apologising to Ariff, which he finally agreed to her as he wanted to stop her apologising and to get himself out of the situation. Thus it was settled that they were to go out to eat and Lili’s paying. The lunch was to make up to Ariff and was a treat for Akmar to help her with her works. While Ariff was in the lavatory, Lili showed Ariff works that need to be done.

“By the way Lili, you remember the small Malaysian girl, Eja?” Akmar asked as he read

“Yeah, the one with the stern face and thin glasses,” she answered. Akmar frowned.

“What a weird way to remember people. Never mind. Yes, that one.”

“Yeah, what about her?” Lili asked.

“Well, Ariff is her boyfriend,” Akmar said,” ex-boyfriend to be exact.”

There was a few seconds of silent before Lili said anything.

“Oh. My. God.”

Continued here