He looked at his face in the cracked mirror. His eyes were black with a tinge of utmost joy and he had a satisfied grin on his face. His white singlet and sarong were faded, but otherwise he looked rather neat and immaculate, decent-looking and seemingly harmless.
"Hopefully good-looking too," he told the image in the mirror cheekily, inspecting himself in the mirror. He just had to be good-looking today! Because 21st July, like every other day, was a day where he got to see Lila...
"Lila, Lila," he muttered under his breath, the lopsided grin never leaving his face, as he prepared his equipment like he did every other day. Lifting the ketupats out from the boiling water and hanging them onto his stick, whipping up the peanut gravy, and poking the marinated chicken and beef onto sticks. He made sure that the peanut gravy was not too thick, because he knew that Lila did not like thick sauces. She liked them light but not too watery, or so she told him.
Ah, Lila...
He imagined her sashaying down the street, her soft bouncy curls tied up in a loose bun, with a radiant smile on her face. No make up, no fancy, harlequin clothes. Just herself. So conservative and demure. She would even feed the stray cats and play with the kids ever so sweetly. And...
"OW!" He yelped as he accidentally poked his own finger with one of the sticks. He grimaced at the droplets of blood that landed on the floor. Sighing, he quickly tied a piece of cloth around his finger tightly, gathered all his items and headed out the door.
The sun was blistering down upon the asphalt road, heat bending down from above and sizzling up from the ground. There was not much circulating air except for a faint breeze that occassionally brushed their cooling lips against his oval face, but only slightly.
But that did not stop him from smiling, because he was too excited to see Lila! Today, 21st July, would be the day he would FINALLY ask her out! He had mustered up all his courage and had prepared his speech since last week, and he had practised in front of his mirror all night, so he just HAD to ask her out, or it would eat away at him, somehow.
He went to his usual selling place, under a shade near the road, and sat down, arranging all his equipment and food. He expertly started the fire and placed the sticks on the hot coals, careful not to burn his bandanged finger.
"Satay Man is here!" After some time, he heard the street urchins gather at the side of the promenade further down and whisper excitedly. He waved at them and beckoned them to come over. Giggling among themselves, they rushed over and surrounded him.
"Free, take it," he said with a small smile, handing one a stick to each of the six children who were standing around him. His English was not very good, and he could only speak one or two liners, but they were much more convenient for him as long as he got what he wanted to say across. The children understood what he said and they accepted the free satays shyly.
He laughed and they laughed along. He was in such a good mood that day, he felt like giving out free satay to everyone! But he couldn't--not yet, at least.
"Morning!" He yelled to the group of Malay men that walked past his "stall". They smiled brightly at him and waved. "Where are you going?" He wanted to know.
"Maulut Rasul," one of them replied with a smile. "We are going to commemorate our Prophet's birthday. Aren't you going to come too?" another asked kindly.
"I forgot all about it!" He slapped his forehead and shook his head. "I will join you guys in a while," he added with a promising nod. The group smiled in acknowledgement and went off, muttering Muslim Prayers under their breaths.
He smiled. He wanted to wait for Lila to come by his stall first. She would NEVER fail to visit his stall every week, he knew she would come by. And he would ask her out. And they would get married and have two children, one named Alif and another girl named Minah, and then they would live happily ever after....
"Samad!" a familiar voice called out to him. Music to his ears!
He turned around and saw her. There she was, her bouncy curls now swaying as she rushed to his stall. She was excited to see him, he noted silently, grinning. She was smiling brightly too, dressed in a pink baju kurung with elaborate red designs on the front!
Oh wait. She wasn't smiling... And the red designs looked random...
Oh no, what was going on? "What happened?" he asked frantically, worried for her safety. He hoped she said something minor, like somebody giving birth in the neighbourhood or something. ANYTHING that was not related to her. He did not want her to get hurt in any way!
"Somebody threw things while they-they were d-d-doing the Maulut Rasul," she said, her eyes bulging and anxious. Her hair was plastered to her head and her baju kurung clung to her back, and she was near hysteria! "They threw things at us!" she wailed.
He shook his head. NO WAY would that ever happen in Singapore. Everybody was considerate. No one would dare to disrupt another religion's practices or anything... Would they? He wondered grimly. A scary thought.
"I don't know... I didn't see who threw those things at us! But I heard them complaining about us being too noisy... it-it is NOT FAIR!" she sobbed, tears streaming down her cheeks. He hushed her and tried comforting her. She shook her head. "Then they threw things, and then some of them weren't happy, and.... things got ugly," she said wistfully, looking at the ground sadly.
"And so? How is the situation now?"
"People killing each other, blood blood blood," she said wearily, pointing at the blood stains on her blouse. She shook her head in disbelief. "It's so ugly, I don't like all the violence!" she went on, stifling her sobs.
"Wait, Lila.... I have to ask you something."
"Not now, you HAVE to hide yourself! Before they see you!" she hissed, grabbing him by both shoulders and shaking him vigorously. The look in her eyes indicated that she was being very serious about all this, and she wasn't playing games. But he just had to...
"Will you go out with me?" he blurted out.
Lila stared at him in shock. Then she regained her composure and swallowed. His heart sank. Tears rolled down her cheeks. He sighed. Forbidden love story? he thought gloomily. Then a faint smile. He raised an eyebrow. Oh, a bright smile! He smiled too.
She smiled brightly and laughed. "Of course!" she exclaimed, and reached out to hug him. He grinned. Just then, he felt something in his stomach, a sharp pain... Dang, was it his satay stick poking into him again? He wondered, annoyed. Always ruining the moment, he grumbled silently, reaching down to pull it out.
He pulled it out. It shone in the sunlight, sparkling brightly. And dripping with blood.
His blood.
Wait, where? Who? What?! His brain was spinning. He felt dizzy and watched as the blood gushed out from the wound profusely, splattering unceremoniously onto the uneven ground. He looked at Lila. Lila...?
She shook her head. "No, no, no.... This can't be happening!" she screamed and turned around.
He saw a Chinese man standing a few feet from there. He couldn't make out his features.... His vision was blurred for some reason... And his mind hurt. He dropped to his knees, yelling in agony, and then to the ground, his head hitting the ground with a loud thud...
Lila, where was she?
"YOU MORON!" he heard her yelling. Then an evil laughter. "How could you kill him? He was... Argh! Oh god, ow..." Her frantic screams were suddenly cut short by the sound of a blade slashing something, and he guessed the words.
Time was running short, death was at his doorstep! Lila, he wanted to scream. But his mind hurt very badly, and he couldn't see or move clearly anymore! "Oh," he whispered, tears welling in his eyes. 21st July was supposed to be the best day ever... What went wrong? he wanted to know. NO! he wanted to cry out in frustration.
Just then, he heard a voice, not too far from him... A soft whisper... "I love you, Samad..."
Music to his ears.