Normally on the nights that we have prenatal checkup, Shahril & I would have our dinner before seeing Dr. A but tonight we decided to postpone our dinner until after.

So after the checkup, we went to a kedai mamak and I ordered cheese & garlic naan with tandoori chicken while Shahril asked for nasi goreng kampung.

My order arrived about 10 minutes later, so we shared that first. Tiba2 datang sorang makcik jual kerepek2. Without really looking at her, I gave her my default reaction which was geleng2 kepala and cakap terima kasih. Entah kenapa, malam ni lepas buat macam tu, terasa menyesal pulak. Tapi by the time nak panggil makcik tu semula, she had disappeared.

So I silently prayed: kalau sungguh la rezeki makcik tu and mine, I prayed that she would come back to our table.

Shahril's order came very late. Naan dah habis 10 minit agaknya, baruuuu la nasi goreng sampai. Shahril habis je makan nasi goreng tu, tiba2 makcik tu datang semula. Alhamdulillah, sukanya hati saya! Cepat2 saya panggil makcik tu.

She came to our table...bila saya pandang aje muka makcik tu, MasyaAllah! Berderau darah saya!

Ummi!

There was something about her face that reminded me of Ummi. I don't know what it was exactly. Maybe it was the way she smiled or the soft way she was talking to me or maybe it was her sad eyes. For a few seconds, I just looked at her, mesmerized.

With tears in my eyes, I handed her some money for the kerepek I bought.

Then it hits me: today is December 19th, which means tomorrow would be Ummi's 63rd birthday.

Semoga Ummi tenang di sana, Mi. Doa Uda tak pernah putus putus buat Ummi.

Al-Fatihah.
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