Pleased

So I noticed something different in her last evening. And yes, Mom had noticed it much earlier, and it was finally evident when I could have a long chat with her, again.

The way she talks, the way she thinks, and the way she responds to things... Ah, she has changed quite a lot now.

For the better, I say. I've seen a more mature part of her yesterday, and I'm glad to see that.

However, I was deeply embarrassed that her sister, and hence Melody too, knew the content of my birthday SMS, which contained some very sweet words to her.

How did they know? Damn, she must've confided the content of SMS to her Sis!

They repeated a particular phrase in the presence of my Mom and hers, and uhh... I guess I flushed red.

Thank God she wasn't in the living room when they teased me with that phrase. And Mom came to my defence by saying that indeed it's normal for me to say such a thing to her, since she and I are friends and "siblings" anyways.

Yep, Mom saved the day, methinks.

When she finally came into the living room, I asked her regarding how many birthday presents has she received that day, and she answered, "Only from you and your Mom"

"And you're the first to send me that birthday message, T.." she quickly added.

I smiled knowing that.

So I guess she and I are playing on an even field, then.

She was the only friend on earth who gave me a birthday present (on my 18th birthday), and now, I have become the only friend who give her a present on her 16th birthday.

Or perhaps the others are late in giving her presents.. who knows?

"So where did you buy the presents?"

"Guess."

"Where were you this afternoon again?"

"McD in Pondok Indah"

"So...you bought it in PIM?" she grinned.

"Nah, somewhere else"

"Poins Square?"

"Nope. Somewhere closer"

She thought about it for a while yet she seemed clueless. Her sis added that the presents were bought in vendor stalls, to which I jokingly replied, Correct!

And we laughed.

She still seemed clueless after several minutes, so I gave her another hint, "Today is Ladies' Day, eh...?'"

"Ah!" and her guess was correct.

Then I asked her to open my gift in my presence, to which she said, "Well..we're not supposed to open gifts in front of the giver, are we?"

Yes, right.

Now I understood what my Japanese-taboo-of-opening-present-in-front-of-giver entails.

We confabbed for hours with the accompaniment of kacang Garuda and a birthday cake until Uncle R, Tante Nana, and their bunch of primary-schooler kids (read: my cousins) came around.

Dad came around to pick me up at 8 PM, to which I left her home feeling inherently pleased.