"Come on, everyone! Add more! No need to be shy! Laysa, why are you taking so little rice?! You are so thin, girl, try to eat more!"
It was the afternoon after all the shenanigans in the federations were finally over, and right now, they all gathered in Sheva's home for the invitation the boy threw. Having seen so many of his friends like this, of course, his mother was ecstatic. She didn't hide her ability anymore; cooking in a big number like this was the biggest business in the world.
She made so many dishes, from the infamous yellow rice, spring noodles, stir-fried vegetables, and even fried chicken, and everything was made by her own hand. There was no harmful chemical, no additional coloring food, or anything like that, just pure homemade cooking from an old woman who had been cooking for the rest of her life.
"Aunty, the fried chicken is so phenomenal!" Nayaka grinned, gnashing over the food like a healthy kid that he was. "I mean, you did it even better than the fast-food chain! You can make a living by this!" He praised Sheva's mother to the sky without even blinking.
"Oh, hush you! Flattery will not bring you anywhere!" The old woman hushed with a smile on her face, kept adding more food to Nayaka's plate. Then, she took a glance at the others, frowning at the sight of the girl taking so little on their plate. Come on, Devi! Add more! Why are you so shy?! I mean, just look at Bagas, he is already on his second plate, you know?"
Right after that, all the eyes turned to the fat boy who was in the middle of scooping another portion of the yellow rice. Some of them had a sweat drop on their faces, too speechless to say anything else to describe the boy's shamelessness.
"What? Aunty has already said I can eat as much as I want! It is rare for her to cook this much, you know? You'd better take advantage of it, because there is no better cook than her outside!" He retorted.
Sheva just felt the corner of his lips twitching silently when he heard that. Bagas sure knew how to please his mother's ears. True enough, her smile spread wider than ever as she added more to the boy's plate.
It took them about half an hour before everyone was finally satisfied. They had their stomach so bloated, enough to make them unable to move anymore.
"Damn, Shev! Your mother goes all out this afternoon!" Bagas grinned while patting his stomach in satisfaction.
"Yeah, and you are as shameless as I thought you would be, Gas. Damn, you know how to eat!" Sheva shook his head in exasperation.
The others didn't have any energy to bicker anymore, just sitting around in front of the fan to combat the hot temperature of Jakarta while also playing with their phone. At this point, their conference press before had already spread in the community, and the main characters there, Nayaka and Anna, couldn't help but grin when they read about themselves.
Then, a gasp from Claudia suddenly shifted their attention here, as everyone turned their head to that girl immediately.
"Sister Medina gets second place in the Asian Women's Championship!" She exclaimed excitedly. "She secures a spot in the World Cup on her own!"
Silence followed for a moment, as not everyone could process the news quickly, not when their stomach was too full to do that. However, just a few seconds later, they all started to get excited, with them all getting their phone to go to the news immediately.
"Fuck! Sister Medina is so awesome!"
"Does that mean we will have three players in the women's section?! Man, I am so envious!"
"Still, who would've thought that she could get this spot here?! I mean, she didn't even talk to us about this, right?"
While everyone was chatting, Sheva also opened the news, finding out that Medina indeed did well in Uzbekistan right now. The woman managed to get 7.5 points out of 9 rounds, only losing from the tiebreak point against the young Indian player whose rating was lower. Still, the result was enough to allow her to get second place in the tournament, which was the last ticket for her to go to the World Cup next September.
"Well, at least, you will have a familiar face there, right, Sister Dita?" He smiled, feeling happy for the women's community in this country.
"Yup! Yup!" Dita Karenza nodded, ecstatic for this news. While she herself didn't mind going with Sheva, what with him being kind enough to invite her to his elite group study, it would be better if there was someone she knew for such a long time to join the journey. However, the woman paused for a second, a slight worry flashing on her face. "Would she still go for that thing, though?" She murmured before opening her phone, making a quick call to Medina.
This move made everyone stop for a second, wondering why Dita Karenza did that. However, none of them really said anything, just waiting for the phone to get connected. Once the person on the other side of the phone accepted it, a familiar voice suddenly echoed throughout the room.
"Dita? What are you doing, calling me this time?"
"Sister Medina!" The first one to squeal here was Laysa, as the girl was probably the most outgoing person in the room. "Congratulations! I didn't expect that you could get second place in that tournament! Damn, you rock, Sister!"
"Don't be rude like that, Laysa!" Claudia frowned while slapping the older girl's back quite hard. "No one wants to hear your discordant voice on the phone!"
"Good afternoon, Sister Medina… Congratulations on getting the ticket to the World Cup…" The three other kids just greeted the woman on the phone politely.
For a moment, all they met was an awkward silence, with the subtle background noises that could be heard on the phone. Dita Karenza herself just sighed amusedly, not expecting that her call would be hijacked before she could say anything else here.
In the end, Medina finally responded to the call with a flat question. "You guys… What are you doing there?!"
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