Ashma avoided looking at her mother. She turned her face away from her and looked out the window. The car was moving smoothly but inside the car a storm was brewing. The whole car went silent. It was the silence before the storm.
Vidhi tried opening her mouth and asking Ashma what she knows about Young-Soo's condition, but she knew she won't get an answer, so she kept quiet. She kept fiddling with her fingers and glancing at Ashma but was not brave enough to talk to her.
After travelling for some distance, the silence was pierced by the ringing of a phone. Ashma checked her phone. The number she was pondering over saving on her phone was calling her.
"This annoying girl," she said under her breath, rolled her eyes and picked up the call.
"Hi!" Bong-Cha's voice chirped.
"Hi!" replied Ashma indifferently.
"Where are you?" asked Bong-Cha.
"I am in the car, moving towards the house," informed Ashma.
"What time will you reach?" asked Bong-Cha excitedly.
"I have no idea."
"Then ask ajhussi."
"Who?" asked Ashma confused.
"The driver," explained Bong-Cha.
"The driver is called ajhussi?"
"No ajhussi means mister."
"Ohh," she replied to Bong-Cha and then addressed the driver, "um… Sir, what time will we reach?"
"It will take almost 40 more minutes, ma'am."
"Thank you," she thanked the driver and then spoke on phone, "did you hear that?"
"Yes, and no one recognised you?" she asked with worry.
"I am wearing a mask, so half my face is covered," replied Ashma.
"Good, good. Are you sure you can find the way?" asked Bong-Cha with concern.
"Yes, I am sure."
"See you at home, bye."
"Bye."
The phone disconnected. She was about to put her phone back in her pocket when Vidhi said, "have you informed your nanaji that you reached Korea?"
She just looked at her mother without speaking a word. She dialled the number to India and her grandfather picked up the phone within a few rings.
"Namaste, Nanaji!" greeted Ashma.
"My blessings, dear. How was your journey?" asked Surya.
"As fine as you can expect," responded Ashma.
"Did you reach? Or still in transit?"
"Landed in Korea, inside the car, moving towards the house."
"Still not talking to your mom?"
"No."
"She will need you when she sees Young-Soo, you know that right?"
"I am prepared for that, that does not mean…" she stopped mid-way as she didn't want to hurt her mother.
"…that you need to talk to her." Surya completed her sentence for her.
"Right."
"Tell me everything after you reach his house and take care of your mother," requested Surya.
"Sure. I will do that."
"Good girl, and do eat or drink something on the way," ordered Surya.
"Uff… not feeling like it," replied Ashma.
"Ash!" Surya raised his voice.
"Okay, I will try," replied Ashma, defeated.
"Do I need to give the phone to Madhu?"
"No," screamed Ashma and continued, "I will definitely do what you say, just don't hand the phone over to Madhu Maasi."
"Ha-ha," Surya laughed out loudly.
"Bye, Nanaji," Ashma was slightly annoyed at his tease.
"Bye dear, take care." He continued laughing.
She disconnected the phone, but this time chose to carry it in her hands. She looked at the driver and spoke, "Sir, could you stop the car near any café?"
"Yes, ma'am," replied Dae-Hyun.
"Thank you." She again turned her face away from her mother and kept staring outside the window. The cold morning air was playing with her long hair. Her brain was struggling with what was about to happen in the near future. She didn't want to be angry at a dying man and be disrespectful of his last wishes but was getting angrier and angrier every moment her car was nearing her destination. More than being angry, she wanted to cry badly. All her bottled-up emotion was making her throat dry. She kept gulping but was of no use.
Now, she was thankful to her grandfather who suggested she have something to drink on the way. While she was in her thought, the car stopped slowly and smoothly.
"This is a famous café, ma'am. All youngsters go there."
"Thank you." She nodded at him and then addressed her mother, "what do you want?"
"Anything."
"Black coffee, two sugars?" she confirmed.
"You know it." Vidhi smiled at Ashma but there was no response from Ashma.
Ashma exited her car, again rolled her eyes and exhaled loudly. She placed her wallet in her pocket but kept her phone in her hands and went inside the café. The brightly lit café was swarming with college students. Some melodious Korean song was playing softly on the stereo. The strong aroma of coffee and sweets hit her nose. She took in all the smell and sound and closed her eyes for a second. The white noise calmed her down.
There was a long line at the counter. She stood in the line and kept patting her phone on her palm. Few people stared at her. She noticed that and adjusted her self-designed cloth mask and avoided every stare.
"Please don't recognise me, please don't recognise me," she kept muttering under her breath and praying to God.
Finally, it was her turn at the counter. The café server bowed down and greeted her in Korean. All she could understand was 'annyeonghaseyo' which meant 'Hello!'. She had heard this word multiple times during her visits. The rest of the sentence was lost in translation.
She politely informed the server that she doesn't understand Korean, "Hello! Uh… sorry, I don't understand Korean. But I would like to place an order."
"No worries, I can speak in both English and Korean," replied the barista with a sweet, polite smile.
"Wow, great!"
"Your order, please," requested the barista.
"Um… one black coffee with two sugars, one americano and one cappuccino with chocolate powder."
The barista kept typing on her computer. She raised her head and asked, "anything else?"
"No, that will be all. Thank you," replied Ashma courteously.
"That will be 10600 KRW."
"Here." She gave her credit card to the barista.
The server swiped her card and gave her a token. "Please wait for your order."
"Sure." Ashma picked up the token and sat on a chair waiting for her order to be ready. She waited for her turn and after some time collected her coffee and came back to the car.
"This is for you," she addressed the driver.
He turned and graciously said, "there was no need."
"Please," Ashma insisted.
He politely took the coffee from her hand. Vidhi smiled at her daughter's kindness. The driver placed his drink in the cupholder and started the car. They had moved a few kilometres when another phone rang. Ashma checked her phone, but it was black and silent. Vidhi inserted her hands inside her purse but couldn't get a hold of her phone. She fished left and right but was unsuccessful. Ashma understood that her mother needed both her hands to find the phone. Before she could offer her help, Vidhi absentmindedly placed her coffee on the window and the coffee flew away in the air.
The next moment they heard a loud screeching sound. Ashma saw everything. How her mother placed the coffee on the window of the car, how her coffee flew away and landed on the windshield of the car that was passing by next to them. "What was she thinking? Who does that?" thought Ashma.
"Stop the car, now," shouted Ashma.
The driver immediately pumped the brakes and the car stopped with a jerk. Ashma immediately jumped out of the car and ran towards the stranger's expensive car. She removed her mask and approached him. She folded her hands in namaste and slightly bowed her head.
A strict-looking old man exited the car. He was sharply dressed. His silver hair had a few patches of black in them and was slicked back. He looked regal but due to the mild accident, not only his car but also his face and his white suit had stains from the coffee. Vidhi too ran towards them and shouted, "we are sorry. We are very sorry. Please forgive us." Vidhi bowed down multiple times in front of the old man.
The old man harshly screamed, "are you an idiot? Look at what you did. My car, my dress. You stupid tourists."
Ashma was already angry and the attitude of the old man and his treatment of her mother kicked her anger up a notch. The storm approached. Who shouts at someone who says sorry? There are other ways to express anger like not talking. It's better to not talk than spew hate. "Hey! she said sorry," she screamed back at him.
"You think it would make everything alright?" the old man kept screaming.
"Yes, because acknowledging mistakes can really wash away some of the guilt." Ashma realised whatever she was saying applied to her situation too. She was angry at her mother and she already apologised to her yet she was not talking to her. She needed to get rid of her anger and try to forgive her mother.
"Not in my book, she deserves punishment for littering or at least a fine." The old man's eyes were throwing flames.
"Who do you think you are? Police? And it was a mistake. We will pay any amount. Just name it."
It was as if the old man heard nothing after the question 'who do you think you are?' he narrowed his eyes and spoke with flair, "Oh, you have no idea who I am."
"Oh, I can see. You are an old man who thinks he is still relevant. You belong in the Jurassic era. Go back to your time, old man. Your friends are waiting for you. I meant dinosaurs if you didn't get it."
For the first time ever someone replied back to him. He was taken aback. All he could say was, "you… are… rude."
"Learned it from you. Just now," replied Ashma with attitude.
"Just now?" the old man had no idea how to reply to the girl.
"Yeah, I am a fast learner unlike you." She took out her wallet, removed two notes of KRW 50000 and placed it before his eyes. "This will be enough for your car and your dress, keep it."
The old man just kept staring at her, perplexed. He had no idea what to do or what to say. "How dare you?" he said.
After seeing that the old man was not accepting the money, she threw the money inside the car and addressed her mother, "come on, Mom." She pulled Vidhi and they walked towards their car.
"Hey! You! Come back," shouted the old man, took out the money from the back seat and looked in her direction but Ashma sat in the car and the car drove away.
The old man stood in the middle of the road, baffled.