Chapter 62 - Not Supporting Your Ships

Present time, 2019.

"Luna," Jamal calls her name when they passing by another city.

Back to reality, Luna shakes her head a little, she unconsciously remembering the night when she conceived Alex, the night when it was the last time she met him, having him in her embrace. The last memory of her when he treats her nicely.

"Yeah?" Luna asked while looking at the outside of the car window. They already in the town area, but she doesn't aware of where they are right now.

"We're in the city of Pahang. Do you eat Durian, 1 Luna?" Jamal asked again while glancing at her.

"What? Already in the state of Pahang? Did I doze off?" Luna look at her watches. Yup, it's been several hours after the conversation before.

Jamal at the driver seat chuckled, "Yeah..eh..no, you're just spacing out. Maybe you already reach the mars?"

Luna laughs. "My bad. Sorry, I was a bad co-pilot." She feels at ease talking with Jamal. "Oh, by the way... I do eat durian. Been here for the past years, I think I eat it a few times with my colleagues, erm, for each year." She tries to recall back her memories of eating durian.

"Really? That's surprising. Now its season, you wanna try it out? I heard durian from Pahang has its own taste." Jamal looks all excited when Luna said she do eat durian.

"Oh, is it a seasonal fruit? I had no idea."

"Ah, yes. It is a seasonal fruit. So, wanna try to eat it?"

Luna looked around and asked, "Where? I don't see any stall here."

"I know a place. Let's make a quick stop for a while before we continue and look out for our dinner." Jamal steers the car to a different road.

Ten minutes later, they arrive at the front of a stall, line up with so much durian inside the basket and on the display wooden rack. At the side of the stall, there's a few tent fill with table and chair under it.

There's a lot of local people and even a few tourists which she assumes from Japan or Korea, eating durian under the tent.

"Wow.." Luna mesmerized with the capacity of people inside the stall. She has never been to this kind of stall that sells durian to this many in her life.

"Yeah, I know right." Jamal park the car at the car park and rolled down the partition window, "Uh..is it okay if we make a quick stop?" Jamal asked the other two men from the backseat.

"Is it durian?" Alex looks out of the window, feeling excited as his mother. He also a fan of that fruit. But not for Lily, she's not a fan but it doesn't bother her to watch people eat it.

"Yes, dear. Wanna eat there?" Luna asks him energetically. She ready to unbuckle her seatbelt and open the car door.

Brian at the second-row backseat just shrugged his shoulder. Not objecting to what Luna wants, as long as she's happy, he just follows her decision.

While Raymond at the first-row seat is already uneasy with the idea. He totally not a fan of this fruit as it has a strong smell and he always thinks its a disgusting fruit ever.

'Is she for real? How did my son turn out to like this kind of fruit?' he grunting from the inside but put on a poker face on the outside.

He opens the car door and follows them from behind. Avoiding to be near the fruit. The smell almost makes him puke. But looking how happy Alex is when he even tries to hold the fruit with his bare hand, he chuckles a little and walks to the little guy.

"You shouldn't hold the durian like that or you'll hurt your hand," Raymond said while taking the fruit by its stem. Holding it far from his face and hold his breath.

He looks at the little guy and he winks at him before the stall worker smile at them both. "Yes, kid. Listen to your father. Use gloves if you want to hold it next time." The worker takes the durian from Raymond using gloves to cover his hand from prickling by the thorn.

The word 'father' caught Luna's attention and she immediately grabs Alex's hand gently, "Dear..don't go too far."

She glances at Raymond before they move to the empty table under the tent next to the stall.

Raymond stays calm. He is not offended if Luna acts that way, whether she denied it or not, he is sure, Alex is his son. The truth will come even if she tries to conceal it.

While the others eating durian, Raymond could only hold his breath and control his urge to puke which makes him sweating a bit for trying harder than before.

"You're no adventurer, Uncle jerk." Alex murmur as he eats the durian beside him.

Raymond scoffs hearing that from his own son. 'Did he want to stick that name on me? I am your father, brat!'

"I am just a mere 'brahmin' 1 guy who does not eat things that I don't eat." Raymond state it calmly.

"Yeah..the same meaning as, you're no fun." Alex keeps eating and averts his eyes to Lily who silently watched all of them. She also doesn't eat durian.

"Honey, you want to taste it a little?" Brian shows his daughter the durian he took from the hard and thorny shell.

"No, thank you, daddy. Maybe someday, when I can overcome the smell." She politely rejects his father's offers.

"Alright." Brian smile at her before shifting to Luna and converse with Jamal and Luna about the durian in here.

While Lily looked at Alex who staring at her, "What?"

"Boo.." Alex teasingly booing her for not eating the durian. Without further ado, Lily smack his head using her 'rainbow dash ' pony doll.

"Say that again?" She whispered while glared furiously at him.

Raymond startles before he softly laughs.

"Oh, you do have someone you fear, huh? Brat.." Raymond whispering at him.

"Tch!" Alex clicked his tongue and turn his body around, savoring the durian and try to engulf with the adult conversation.

Lily then took out a gum from her pocket and give it to the man sitting in front of her.

"Here."

Raymond lifts up his eyebrow a bit.

"It's for distracting the taste and the strong smell."

Raymond took the gum from her. "Thank you."

"Uh, no..I'm not supporting your ships. I just do it because you're in the same boat as me right now. Only for now." She swiftly said to which Raymond found it odd.

'How come four years old kids act like they were….adult? Just..why did these two kids don't seem like they're a kid?'

"Wow…thank you for your..honesty." Raymond opens his mouth and puts the gum inside before he chewing the gum she just gave him.

A tropical fruits which have a thorny and hard skin on the outer, but it has a creamy (sometimes a bit yellowish, and golden) color and soft texture. It has a strong smell and not many people know how to eat it. There's a lot of videos about this fruit in youtube channel, you can search if you never saw this fruit before. A rich and socially important person. The word is originally from India, stating a member of the highest Hindu caste.