The mamak guy brings over the drinks. Kazu takes a sip of his black kopi-o. His face twists into an exaggerated look of agony.
I laugh. "Too sweet again huh." He can never get used to the sweetness.
His face breaks into a grin, satisfied that he's made his point without uttering a word. He pushes the glass of black syrup to the middle of the table as he leans towards me, resting his arms on the side of the table, a grave expression replacing the grin as quickly as it came. It reminds me strangely of a person bracing himself before pulling off a band-aid from a raw wound.
"My flight back to Japan is on the 31st of March. In the afternoon." He clasps his hands over his elbows. The water from the glass condensation was trickling slowly towards him; it starts to wet the hair on his arm, but he ignored it, his eyes still on me. I break away from his gaze, staring determinedly instead at the small pool of water gathering at the base of his glass, tracing it all the way to his wet right arm.
I can see the tanlines on his forearms, from hours in the sun playing golf. He must've been so much fairer before he got sent here, I think randomly to myself, twirling the straw in my own glass of mango lassi more out of habit than anything.
He lowers his head to my eye level, peering at me cautiously. I know he's worried about how I would react, given my award-winning one-woman drama series the first time he told me about his going back.
I have a choice; I always have a choice, whatever and whenever it is. To give in to the sinking feeling at the pit of my empty tummy (I glared at the passing waiter, trying to hypnotize him through telepathic waves - Where. Is. My. Tosai. Ghee. Bring. Me. My. Tosai. Ghee...) and turn into a pessimistic mess, or to accept what I can't change and force myself to remember that there are bigger things out there besides my emotions... He shifts in his seat, a look of concern and slight apprehension spreading across the face I have gotten so used to day in and out...
I look up from the fading tanlines to meet his eyes, smiling. "OK. Wanna try my lassi? It's not as sweet."
