Chapter 57: Home Sweet Home
"Ah... I swear, there is no better place compared to this bed..." Sheva groaned weakly, stretching his upper body as the sun peeked from the curtain. "I cannot believe that I would say something like this, but I really miss this place..."
It was a day after he—and any other players who went to Vietnam—came back to Indonesia, and honestly, the first thing Sheva did right after arriving at his home was to sleep like a log. Well, it was understandable, considering how bad his condition was on the plane. Coupled with the fact that they traveled at night, exhaustion was bound to happen for most of them, including him, so no one could blame his laziness right now.
He blinked his eyes repeatedly, still trying to get used to the lighting around here. Honestly, he couldn’t believe he would say this, but somehow, Sheva missed this cramped building where he almost had no privacy from his mother. No, don’t think weird about it. There was nothing dodgy here, just Sheva missing his childhood house, no matter how dilapidated the building was.
After finally regaining his consciousness, Sheva went straight to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. Honestly, it felt surreal that just last night, he was at the podium for being in first place in the U2000 section, receiving the prize of 400 US Dollars, and here he was now, back to poverty as if it was nothing.
Well, not that Sheva would do anything drastic with that amount of money, of course. 400 Dollars weren’t that bad, but it wasn’t enough to change the entire family. Moreover, he also had to give 15 percent of the prize to Master Irfan, which was about 60 Dollars or 900.000 Rupiah, to fulfill the agreement they had beforehand. Honestly, Sheva still felt it was a pity for him to lose that much amount of money. However, in the end, Sheva shook his head quickly, not wanting to delve too deeply into this matter.
Also, while 400 US Dollars were not a lot, those numbers were still above the monthly minimum wage of workers in Jakarta. For a poor family like his, that amount of money was enough to feed them for two months if they spent it wisely, so there was nothing to complain about.
’I mean, I went to Vietnam without spending even a single quid from my wallet. All of them are getting paid by Master Irfan, even the chessboards and the time clock that was used as well. With that amount of investment that he poured into me, fifteen percent isn’t that mad. Hell, I think he just asked for that money so that I wouldn’t feel bad for scamming him.’
Brugh!
"Um?!" Sheva was startled when he felt a napkin being thrown at his head. He didn’t even have any time to dodge it, just letting it fall on top of his hair. Not that he had to, of course, since it was just a napkin. When he turned around, though, he could see his mother with both hands on her hips as if she was annoyed with something, and Sheva cowered instinctively when he saw that. "Um... Mom... Is there anything I could help with?" He squeaked.
"Well, just because you have become a successful chess player, that doesn’t mean you can be lying around lazily all day like this! Come on! Get up and help me bring these snacks to the market!" She started nagging.
Sheva narrowed his eyes suspiciously for that. Honestly, this was the first time his mother asked him for help with these snacks. Not that he wouldn’t help her, of course, but Sheva could feel that his mother had an ulterior motive here. Unfortunately, for all the brilliance his brain could think about chess, women’s mind was still a pretty much mystery for him, so in the end, the boy just shrugged, handing his fate to his mother’s hand. Helplessly.
True enough, her motive was revealed instantly right when they went out of the home. Just like the usual, their neighbor would start greeting them, asking how they were doing or something trivial like that. Normally, he and his mom would just answer it politely with a warm smile. However, this time, his mother went far beyond. Every time someone asked about her son, she would always answer with another question.
"Oh? How do you know he has just won a big chess tournament in Vietnam? It is abroad, you know? The prize is big enough to feed our family for a month!"
"Yeah! How do you know about his win?!"
Sheva could feel the corner of his mouth twitching, not expecting his usually composed mother to just go out and parade him around the neighborhood to brag in front of the other people. He also squirmed uncomfortably when everyone turned their head at him, especially when the prize was mentioned. Honestly, it was so embarrassing that all Sheva wanted to do right now was to get swallowed by the ground.
"Mom, don’t you think it is a bit exaggerated?" He whispered furiously.
"Oh, pish posh!" Unexpectedly, she just waved his concern nonchalantly. "This is something that has been happening for a while! Anyone whose son or daughter won something would always be paraded around the neighborhood like they were the second coming of Jesus! Just get used to it! Also, this is the first time I have had a chance to brag about you! Don’t you know how uncomfortable it was to hear the others bragging about their children when my only son is as lazy as a salted fish?"
That.... Sheva could only scratch the back of his head sheepishly. Also, this was something new here. He didn’t expect that there would be this kind of bragging competition around the neighborhood. Well, maybe that was for the moms, since he hadn’t seen any adult males during the parade.
"Anyway, you can go back now." As they arrived at the market, his mom snatched the snacks that she would sell from Sheva’s hand. "Or... Maybe not. Look who is coming here." She pointed her finger at the entrance of the market, where Bagas had been waiting impatiently for his arrival.
"Um?" Sheva frowned, not remembering having a promise to meet his best friend here. "Bagas? What the hell are you doing here?" He asked.
Bagas’s eyes lit up instantly when he saw Sheva, and without hesitation, the fat boy threw a piece of newspaper at his face. "Here! Just read the news on the second-to-last page."