Chapter 34
"I am deeply sorry for the controversy arising from the picture I posted. It was a digital art made by a talented friend who loved Pokémon since long ago. It has no relation to any real person and/or animal, dead or alive. The animal in question was certainly not abused since it is just a digital graphic in the first place. Thank you."
The response from the crowd were lukewarm at best; the post was totally ignored. Netizens loved drama. They rather mindlessly shared an interesting click-baits rather than a grounded reality-based truth.
The post received very few likes and were not reposted extravagantly like the one before.
Some netizens even bashed the post for fun.
Not long after, they then realized the viral picture which were posted in forums and shared in social media were systematically deleted, one by one. It garnered another round of public outrage! Who has the gall to do this?! Some who saved the picture into their personal cloud account also found the particular picture was inaccessible!
The moderators and administrators of the social media sites and forums deny their involvement and push it to illegal hacking activities.
Hadi browsed through a number of influential forum sites with high traffic and popular social medias to observe the effect of his call.
[He is so hardworking! Efficient!] Hadi gave a thumbs up to his buddy in his heart. It seemed that he needed to tapau (1) his buddy a nice dinner later today. Which one should it be? Roti Tissue (2) or Roti Nan Cheese (3)? He knew the guy had an unhealthy obsession with roti (4) besides anything eggy. Offering him expensive steaks will only make him offended; well, because he's a lacto-ovo-vegetarian. Until now he still couldn't fathom how the guy could turn so big when he'd just been munching on vegetables and eggs. Maybe because of his unhealthy lifestyle. The guy sat in front of his desktop nearly 24/7. On other times, he's a true blue couch potato; always find ways to avoid Hadi's invitation for a day out in the sun.
A new trend swept the internet world after the intentional deletion of the pic, now known as 'Abused Pokemon-like Petsnake'. Pet owners were starting to go to the extreme to groom their pets with added accessories. Cat s.h.i.+rt or Dog sweater were things of the past now. The first picture in Instagram showed a ginger cat being partially shaved and crowned with a yellowish metallic head accessories and a twirly extension for a tail, with the caption {I have a Meowth!} not forgetting to
[The internet world is really a ridiculous place!]
He changed the gear while sighing helplessly, knowing that it started from his very own family member. While he was driving home, Hadi was thinking how to explain all of these issues to their mom later.
....
"Wake up guys! Who wants to go eat outside!" Arash cheerily woke his daughters up after all the hubbub.
Hearing the word 'eat out', his eldest jumped up and down and said, "Me, me, me!!" while flailing her arms from left to right while dancing on the bed. The drowsy little sister was awakened with all the noise and copy-catted her sister's action without knowing the significance, while chiming like a parrot, "Me..me...me!"
Arash only laughed and asked them to get ready.
They rushed to Hana's makeup table and asked for some grooming from their daddy. Not knowing what to do, the cheeky eldest one taught Arash what to do with a 'holier-than-thou' att.i.tude which p.i.s.sed him off internally. It was basically a brush of hair, some hairclips or hairband, a little bit of petroleum jelly lip balm, and a sweet fragrant hand cream.
They drove to the nearest mamak restaurant and choose a seat under the fan. The weather was swelteringly hot as usual; a normal environment without aircond. Without deodorant, the armpits will easily sweated only after a short ten minutes.
That was why Hana hated eating out (although she didn't skip on wearing deodorant). Thus, the girls rarely ate out. They were very excited and would sometimes climbed on the table to dance. It was a headache, especially if Hana was alone without Arash helping with ordering and backup.
Arash caught himself thinking of his wife again. He stopped himself so that he could focus on the kids. He still didn't reply Hana's message, but he was sure it'll be alright after the kids had their fill first. Arash checked the time.
It was nearly five, yet the weather is still so hot. Shall I just tapau and eat at home? He pondered with a wavering heart.
However, when he looked at how excited the kids were, he quickly extinguished that thought. Since Hana was away, this was one of the rare moments they looked so happy and excited.
"What do you want to eat dear?" Arash asked his eldest.
"Roti Tissue!" She made a number one sign while looking left and right for the anneis. It seemed that she wanted to immediately order from the anneis herself. Arash was speechless!
"Hey, don't order yet. Let's discuss. Roti Tissue is just like a dessert. Although it is crunchy, sweet and delicious, it is unfulfilling. Why not you go for Roti Nan? Let's get your favorite, Roti Nan Cheese. How about that" Arash counter-offered with a more fulfilling version of savory based bread.
The little girl thought really hard as if her life depends on it. She was muttering under her breath while considering the pros and cons of the choices.
"Hmmm...hmmmm.." After two minutes of making the same sound with a serious expression, she re-countered Arash's offer, "Let's order one Roti Nan Cheese, then a Roti Tissue by the side for everyone to share?" with a twinkling pleading eye.
Arash made an exasperated look! "Okay! Deal! But you have to finish up at least half of the nan before you can eat the roti tissue okay?"
She nodded triumphantly while making the 'good' sign with both hands.
Arash called for the annei to take an order.
"Two Roti Nan Cheese, One Roti Tissue, one chicken tandoori, and one Mee Goreng Mamak (5), two warm water."
"Oh! One pink juice (6) please!" The cheeky girl added.
Both the annei and Arash looked at each other speechlessly.
...
Author's note:
(1) tapau = takeaway. A standard local slang originated from Chinese. Everyone use it, n.o.body said 'takeaway'.
(2) Roti Tissue = A thin and crunchy bread shaped into a cone. It is sprinkled with course sugar on the inside and doused with condensed sweetened milk on the outside. super sweet, crunchy, and delicious (laugh)
(3) Roti Nan Cheese = A soft doughy bread filled with cheese the size of a personal pizza, usually cooked in the 'tandoor'. So, it was actually excellent when paired with tandoori chicken.
(4) rotis = you guess it right, it means 'bread'
(5) Mee Goreng Mamak = stir-fried noodles, mamak-style. It had soft fritters inside, a bit on the spicy side. If cooked right, it's delicious!
(6) pink juice = no, it is not the pink guava juice, its known as 'Bandung', a cold drink made from the rose-scented flavor (known as syrup, usually red in color), and evaporated milk (white), condensed sweetened milk. To go another level, usually people add gra.s.s jellies known as 'cincau'. So it became Juice Bandung Cincau.