Chapter 12

The hotel’s restaurant had closed and many of the chefs had gone home too. Muaz and a few others were the only ones left there.

The others were doing other stuff while Muaz was checking the supplies.

He checked the time and it was almost 10 PM. “Sigh…” Muaz sighed as he continued with his job. He felt sorry for his children and family, especially his mom but he already accepted the job.

‘Maybe I should give this to others after a week,’ he thought. If he wanted to give this job to others, it was better for him to do this for at least a week.

‘I should give this work to the singles. The one with the family will be met with the same problem as me,’ Muaz was thinking of a good candidate to nominate to the head chef.

While checking on the stocks, “Hmm?” he found something weird. “Is this fish usually this expensive?”

“These mushrooms too… Are the suppliers lacking in the supplies that they spike the prices?” Muaz mumbled as he checked on the other ingredients.

Many of them were at the normal price range while a few of them were pricier than normal.

“Maybe these few ingredients are indeed in short supply,” he decided to not question it much and continued checking in the supply.

After he got everything, he put in the order and headed to the head chef’s office. He showed him the list for approval.

The head chef added a few things before he gave the approval and Muaz emailed the order to the suppliers. After that, he went to pick up Danial and Danish.

“Ibu, Ayah, I am sorry that I am late,” Muaz apologized to his parents. He looked at his kids who slept soundly on a small mattress laid by Zainab in front of the television.

“Are you going to be late tomorrow too?” Said asked.

“Well…” Muaz was embarrassed as he would be late tomorrow too.

“It is okay since it is us taking care of the kids but I don’t think your caretaker will like this,” Said spoke.

“...” Muaz was silent as he was aware of this too.

“Abang, it is fine, I can help Along take care of the kids,” Zainab said.

“I didn't mean to berate him. It is his job and I understand his difficulty. Still, his caretaker will not understand this. Even if they are paid a lot, it is tiring taking care of someone’s children.”

“Cough, cough, how about this. I am retiring soon and I will not have much to do at home either. Just stop the caretaker’s service and send the kids here. With me and your mom, it will not be hard taking care of the kids,” Said said.

“...” Muaz and Zainab stared at Said speechlessly. He was long-winded about it but in the end, he just wanted to hoard his grandchildren.

Still, Muaz was thankful for what his dad was doing. “Thank you, ayah, but when is your retiring date?”

“In two weeks. I am already very free at the office too. Even if I don’t go to work, it is fine too but it will not look that good to others. Also, although I don’t have any important work, I can still help the others doing miscellaneous stuff.”

“That soon?” Muaz was surprised.

“Why are you so surprised? I told everyone about this last month. Are you forgetting about it so soon?” Said glared at Muaz.

“Well… I am too busy about it…” Muaz spoke sheepishly.

“Hmph. That’s right, I am too mean to all of you throughout your life that you are ignoring many things about me now that all of you are successful,” Said snorted.

“Ayah…” Muaz felt more tired now but he still decided to apologize.

To make sure his dad’s mood became better again, he suggested, “Why don’t we eat big that day? Should we eat out or do you want me to cook? Just say what you want to eat and I will cook it for you.”

Said glanced at Muaz and said, “All of us can cook, no need to eat out. It is a waste of money. Since you insist on cooking, I don’t want western food. I want Malaysian traditional dishes. Maybe something that used kampung’s vegetables.”

“If I can get a sambal petai, or masak Lemak petai, or sambal jering, or sambal tempoyak or,” he wanted to list more but Muaz stopped him.

“Ayah, you can cook those better than me…” Muaz was speechless. Although his dad said Malaysian Dishes, he listed the side dishes instead.

“How about Pulut Kuning with Rendang or Chicken Rice?” Muaz suggested.

“...Just do what you want. I will cook those I list myself,” Said replied.

“...” Muaz was speechless. His dad can be quite stubborn.

“Then, how about we add some kuihs and cookies too?” Maisarah came to the living room too. She heard the noises and saw they were discussing celebrating their dad’s retirement.

“Ibu can do the kuihs and I will handle the cookies. I think Marwan will finish his presentation right around that day. He can do the cakes,” Maisarah suggested.

“Yeah, I can do the cakes. Just tell me what kind of cakes you want and I will do it,” Marwan was right behind Maisarah.

“Aren’t we overdoing this?” Zainab said. There were like eight of them including the Danial, Danish, and Aleeya but they were planning to make a kenduri level celebration.

“...” Everyone was silent. They thought about it and it made sense. It was just a small celebration and no need to overdo it. Just one or two dishes were enough or they would waste a lot of them.

“Then, let’s not overdo it. I will make some chocolate cookies, Ibu will do a simple kuih, maybe kuih talam or kaswi. Marwan will do some cupcakes. Ayah will do whatever one or two side dishes you want to and Along will do Mee Goreng or something similar. How about that?”

“Let’s do that,” everyone agreed.