"Hi, I'm Michael." he flashed his killer grin. "Nice to meet you."
"Dr. Suganthi." she said, accepting his handshake. She didn't seem too big on smiling.
DOCTOR Suganthi? Mike wondered if he should have introduced himself formally as well.
Sub Lieutenant Stone, Royal Malaysian Navy. Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering, 501 Air Squadron.
"So, tell me, Doctor," Mike lowered his tone. "What are you up to this weekend?"
"I'm on call," she said as if she had just been asked about her choice brand of toothpaste.
This was a tough nut to crack. Mike would have to pull something out of his ass real quick or this was going to be chalked up as another snub-off.
Mike squinted his eyes at her like he was reading fine print on her face. He did it just long enough for it to start being awkward. Then finally he said, "Your favourite flavour of ice cream is durian."
"No, it's strawberry," she said. "Why?"
In his head, Mike pictured a fisherman slowly reeling in his catch.
"Well, you see people who like durian ice cream are few and far in between," Mike said. "They are usually the ones who are different from the rest and they're not afraid of being that way. I thought you looked the type, that's why I asked."
"Really?" her eyes widened.
The fisherman started to reel faster, his rod beginning to bend.
"I tell you what," Mike said. "I've got a hectic Monday to Friday coming up, but we'll talk about it over ice cream next weekend."
She was taken aback, certainly not expecting Mike to cut to the chase so soon. She tried to think up a response while keeping her poise, but Mike could tell she was fumbling in her head. He wasn't gonna wait for her reply.
He drew his handphone and punched in '01' and handed to her. She instinctively accepted it, looked at the screen and looked up at Mike's face to see if he was serious. He smirked. There was so much coyness in his demeanor, he was practically doing the backstroke in it.
For the first time since they had met, she broke into a smile and proceeded to type in the rest of her number.
The fisherman's rod curved wildly, drawing his catch out of the water and into the air.
"Give your phone a missed call," Mike said, as if it was so that she would have his number as well, but it was really his way of making sure that her number wasn't a dummy.
She complied. As she gave Mike his phone back, she checked hers and read Mike's number back to him. It wasn't a dummy.
"Hey, I gotta run, Suganthi, but I'll talk to you real soon, ok?" Mike said, extending his palm. "It was great meeting you."
She blushed as she took his hand.
Mike was about to leave when she called out, "Durian is my second favourite flavour."
The fisherman posed for a photo with the fish in both his arms.
* * *
As they walked past the endless rows of stores, Suganthi once again - accidentally, of course - bumped shoulders with Mike. For a girl whose job involves working with blood and pus, she certainly smelled fruity.
"Woi, apa langgar-langgar orang nie?" he elbowed her playfully.
She giggled and smacked his arm repeatedly.
"Wah, gangster ah you." Mike teased.
"Hey, I have a black belt in Shito-Ryu Karate, ok?" Suganthi said. "I got a silver medal in women's sparring at national level once. Don't play-play."
She seemed to have the habit of reciting her resume a lot. Mike couldn't really tell if she was trying to intimidate him by showing she was out of his league, or maybe she was trying to qualify herself to show that she was good enough for him.
"Hey, my kid sister is also in karate," Mike said. "I bet she could kick your ass."
They chatted about their families and what it was like growing up. Like Mike and I, Suganthi was also the eldest kid from a suburban family. She had 2 younger brothers - one, who was Mike's age, was training to be a Sub Inspector in the Singaporean Police Force. The other was doing his Pre-U in their hometown in Johor.
"Does your family observe the caste system?" she asked.
It was an odd question, but Mike didn't think much about it.
"Nope." he said. "In fact, I don't even think my parent's are of the same caste."
Suganthi looked surprised.
"Heck," he continued. "If you were to ask me what cast I was, I'd prolly need to go ask my grandparents."
"You don't know your caste?" there was disbelief in her voice.
"Nope." Mike went on, oblivious. "Think about it: in this day and age, do we really need more imaginary barriers to draw us apart? I think it's really silly how seriously some people take that rubbish."
Suganthi furrowed her eyebrows, teeth clenched. She took a while to try and digest Mike's point of view - and failed.
Mike finally realised he was prolly gonna need another doctor to surgically remove his foot from his mouth.
"I need to go to the washroom," she blurted after an awkward silence. She took off and never came back.
The way Mike stood there blinking, he could have gotten a part time job as a hazard light at a JKR road construction.
