Red-capped Girl [UNFINISHED]

Merah tucked her hair behind her ear, feeling a new sensation washed over her just by being independent. The wind of the approaching night at Kuala Lumpur wasn’t the same with the one of the afternoon. It was chillier. She walked to a shopping complex. She wanted to buy something for her grandmother. It was her grandmother’s 100th birthday today.

The nineteen years-old girl didn’t usually walked outdoor. Most of the times, she was in the house. Doing something by and for herself like watching television, reading novels, and playing online games. She didn’t like going outside. Too much people. They made her conscious of her own actions. They made her think before she act, and always she thought what she was doing was wrong to them.

As she went into the shopping mall, she tried to rid off the self-conscious feeling today. She wanted to be free now. To feel free. To ignore the eyes of the surrounding. And the most important, to be sure of yourself.

She strode, her chin high and her posture firm, and headed through a desert shop that provided varieties of cakes, pastries, and ice-creams.. Her grandmother loved cakes even when her teeth could be counted by now. Merah didn’t want to buy her other present when she knew what she liked. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to taste something sweet once or twice, would it?

She went to the Cakes section and upon inspection, saw a nice decorated vanilla cake. It was just like her grandmother would like. She asked a young Indian man in charge of taking care of the section to pack one for her. After receiving a box filled with the cake, she paid for it. She went out of the shop with a smile on her face.

In front of her was a bar, separated by the walkway. Her eyes couldn’t go away from it. From her spot, she could see yellow incandescent lights brightening the place with. They did a poor job on that since it was dim there. It didn’t look unappealing, however. She went nearer to it. It had the vibe of a cozy bedroom. It made you sleepy and somewhat enchanted. It was warm.

She hesitated. Did she want to go in there? She had never went in one. It sold wines and beers and other drinks that made you drunk. They were haram, illegal to be consumed as said in Islam. You would commit a sin even when you drank a drop of it. She didn’t mind that. She never liked anything that made her dizzy or out of control of herself. Even if it tasted good, she’d heard you would felt like it burned your throat once you took a gulp of it. She didn’t like that, either.

But surely... the place was not illegal. She could see a bunch of young adults - three men, two women - laughing and chattering at a table nearest to the walkway. The men were foreigners - likely from the West with their pale faces and hulking frame, not to mention the apparent blond hair one of them had - but the women... they were certainly Malaysian. Malays, in fact, judging by the headscarf covering the hair of one of them. The muslimah couldn’t possibly order a wine. Her drink was colourless.

Merah realized she was getting close to the bar. She caught one of the sitting customer there glance at her for a second, and realized she had been standing at the edge of the place a bit too long. She had to decide.

This would be my first, she thought. I should try this.It might be worthwhile, who knows? She was an adult. She could do whatever she pleased.

Her heart continued to hammer, however, when she went straight to the counter and took a seat. This was new to her. She needed to keep her hands in front of her, away from everyone’s view. They were formed to fists and were trembling. She couldn’t stop them.

She looked around. Really, the people there were not as bad as she thought they were. There was no bar fight or loud people yelling vulgar words. They were controlled lot, socializing with considerable manner with each other while taking sips of wine occasionally.

They’re experienced, she thought. They know when to stop, when it’s just one more drop away from being drunk.

She still didn’t understand why they drank that liquid. The bartender, a young man with fair skin and spiky hair approached her. He gave her a polite small. He asked her if she wanted anything to drink. He spoke Malay language with an accent she associated with that of an Ibanese. It was similar to an Indonesian speaking his language. The precision of each syllables said by the bartender was clear.

She looked down to his name tag. Karl Igor. She looked up. She said she wanted anything that would not make her drunk. His unaltered smile put her at ease. She decided to go with a strawberry juice. He chuckled and commented she didn’t need to come here if she wanted that. He also said, however, it wasn’t uncommon to get orders like hers. He went back to his place, making her drink.

After five minutes passed, he came back with a strawberry juice filled into a wine glass. She realized uncomfortably how the drink looked elegant when presented that way. She shooed her uncomfortable feeling by deciding that what was haram was the intoxicating drink, not the transparent glass in which it was filled. With that in mind, she took a sip, her hands no longer trembling.

After five sips, she saw at the corner of her eye a man taking a seat besides her. Hearing him ordering a red wine, she looked at him and resisted the urge to part her lips in awe. He was handsome with the cropped black hair, tan skin and eyes with the colour of night. The piercing at his left ear and a neat beard outlining his jaw made him look rugged. He replied her glance with twinkling acknowledgement in his eyes. She assumed he was in his early twenties.

He greeted her and introduced himself. His name was Adam - she couldn’t decide whether he was Christian or Muslim, the name could be use by either one - and noticed he had never seen her here before. His voice was refined and soft, and there was not a hint of any accent in it. It made her consider Malay as his race - he looked definitely like one - but she dismissed it. Everyone no matter what race he was could speak Malay perfectly without accent.

Adam turned out as a friendly companion. He talked a lot about himself and asked a lot about Merah. It was like they were best friends who had met after years of separation. He talked with gestures, his voices full of emotions - sad when he mentioned his deceased mother, happy when he won a lottery. By the time he finished his part of the conversation, his glass was empty.

It was Merah’s turn to tell her story. Adam was a good listener, never interrupted her when she talked about the difficulties in her life. How she was never allowed to use the car to places other than school and how she should go straight to home after school. She talked about how her parents always judged her friends by interrogating them and further commented on each of them when they were gone. They were trivial matters but she didn’t like them.

After what felt like hours, Merah finally excused herself. She remembered her mother’s reminder to arrive at her grandmother’s place before sunset. After that, she should spend the night with her grandmother since apparently her mother didn’t trust her drive the car at night. It’s KL, Merah thought. The roads would be busy. I’m not going to be alone. Who’s going to hurt me, really?

Before leaving the bar, Adam asked of her the address of her house. She hesitated for a moment but decided he was a nice and trusted gentleman. She gave him the address of her grandmother’s house, telling him she would be staying there for a night. With eyes gleaming with mischief, he told her he would surprise her when she wake in the morning. With a smile, she left the bar.

From there, she went to some other shops to buy things for herself - she figured it would not hurt to be late a little - her mother wouldn’t know. She saw a nice red cap in a pop Korean boutique. The Chinese girl employee saw she wore the cap in a wrong way, and pushed the tip of it upward a little so that when someone saw her, they would see the bottom surface of it. The girl explained to her in a serious tone that that was how you wore a cap Korean-style.

For half an hour, she had bought a red cap, a pink lipstick, a purple dress and a cute handbag with small love patterns. She used her saving money on all of them.

She exited the shopping mall and took a taxi. His father had sent her here but he told her she would need to go with a taxi to her grandmother’s house. She was annoyed a bit. He could’ve waited for her at the shopping mall and sent her to her grandmother’s place after that.