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Together

  The smell of rendang made my heart sing, especially after it was left in the pot for so long that the water had all dried up, leaving the delicious mixture of aromatic paste and meat. ‘Don’t!!!’ A warning paired with a gentle punch deterred my attempt to steal a spoonful. Mom glared at me and pointed at the pile of ketupat in the tray on the floor. I immediately sat down to peel off the leaves wrapping and cut the ketupat into smaller pieces for easier consumption. As I started the task, I took a quick glimpse of the clock on the wall. It was 3 am. Huh. We actually had spent the whole night in the kitchen. Meanwhile, dad was also awake then, ironing our festive clothes in the living room while belting out Siti Nurhaliza’s songs out of tune. After some time, he appeared at the kitchen door, offering his help, but mom declined as there was little left to do. Nevertheless, us three cleaned up the kitchen a bit and went to bed. While I was falling asleep, I reminisced about the day.
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Unexpected

  ‘Who are you?’ Her dry, wrinkled lips barely moved as I awkwardly adjusted my hands so that I could reach hers. I looked into her eyes but there was mere emptiness. That’s when I was sure. I’d lost my grandmother to the merciless grasp of Alzheimer’s. Mother patted my shoulders from behind, and I quickly kissed her weak, balmy hand and went away. I sighed softly. This is Hari Raya Aidilfitri, the day for celebration, Dina! For God’s sake, get rid of the gloomy cloud above your head! I looked all around me. A lot of relatives came to pay my grandmother a visit, after all Nek Kuntum was the oldest one alive in her lineage. It was not particularly noisy, but there was the continuous hum of people chatting, eating and basically existing. Mother was still with grandmother, Father was feeding the little twin brothers, while Dani, my older brother was in the midst of a heated argument about some gaming stuff. I guessed he found his fellow gamers among the relatives. So, yeah, this is
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Loserboy

 “I’m a bit late today so there’s not much food left. I bought you a packet of nasi lemak and a boxed juice. I hope that’s okay.” I placed the food gingerly on the table as it was already filled to the brim with study notes and stationery. Noticing there was absence of her usual smart reply, I looked up to see just the exact moment a teardrop ever so slowly made its way down the nooks and creases of Nadia’s face. She was gripping the book so hard I could see the blue green veins of her hands.  “Are you seriously crying now? From reading the novel?” She turned to me, biting her lips. Perhaps she’s also pissed that I disturbed her reading. “You’re a boy, you won’t understand.” She sighed as she carefully placed a bookmark between the pages and put it on the table that we shared. She wiped her eyes dry and opened the small pack of nasi lemak in front of her.  “If it isn’t because you buy me lunch every day, I would be so mad at you right now.” she meekly said as she started spooning the f
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Trouble, Trouble, Trouble

  “I hate you brat.” (she did not say ‘brat’ FYI, she said a meaner version of it) She uttered the words as if it didn’t contain venom, frowning as she stared down at me. I should feel afraid, unease even, but strangely I didn’t. I was more amused with the fact that my life was slowly becoming the plot in The Glory. A schoolmate, harboring deep feelings of hatred, gonna do unspeakable things to me, huh? I was not wondering about the probability, I’ve heard of numerous bullying cases happened throughout Malaysia. But, why? I looked back at her, increasingly growing more curious of this unexpected attack. At 7.30 in the morning nonetheless. Can’t a girl just try to finish her Biology homework in peace? “Um.. what did I do?” “You know what you did.” Her eyeballs bulged, as in disbelief that I had the audacity to ask her that. Wow. What the heck did I do to her that pissed her off this much?   “Obviously I didn’t, hence the question…” She leaned forward, hands on the edge of the st
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