A Milky Rose Drink
He noticed her sitting by herself at the dinner table, hands placed on top of the other while her legs swung about underneath the table. She was clad in a plaited, red and black shirt with a no sleeve denim vest and black jeans, rather unsuitable for the weather currently but he did not want to ask as she would probably be offended by his criticism on her fashion sense. Her long, black locks were tied into a simple ponytail by a black scrunchie, bouncing and swaying about with her legs. On her feet were neatly laced red and black checkered Converse (he noticed the iconic huge star in a circle logo on the outside), completing her retro style look.
As he approached the girl, he saw a carafe glass sitting on the table right in front of her, filled to the brim with some sort of pink liquid. He could see swirls of white staining the sides of the drink, as if something white was just poured into the glass. The rather tall liquid holder was filled to the brim with that pink water, fringed by tiny bubbles at the top which were threatening to overflow out of their confinements and slide down the sides of the glass. The girl then picked up a long spoon, which was seated directly beside the carafe, and inserted it into the drink, stirring quickly but carefully. Ribbons of white and pink skirted the sides of the glass, melding together as if dancing into one solid pink colour. The ice which she must have poured in earlier hit against one another, making loud, clinking noises as the spoon was turned.
Unable to contain his curiosity, he stalked up to the girl's side and banged a fist onto the tabletop, "What are you doing? Some sort of experiment that I'm not supposed to know about?" He purposely added the last line as he knew she was a rather mischevious girl. Last time she tried an experiment, it blew up just as he walked into the room.
The girl literally jumped out of her seat in shock, the seat's legs dragging against the marbled floor making a deafening screeching sound, "Walao, I thought what! It's only you, ang mor," she cursed disapprovingly, facepalming as she dropped back into her chair.
He shook his head, cursing her in his head as he pulled out the chair next to her and took a seat in it, "I don't understand you at times. Why do you keep calling me this blasted name? 'Ang mor'? It better not be a word that will make me send you to the depths of hell like the last time."
The girl sighed, "It's none of your buisness, Arthur. I can say what I want about you, okay? You are not my father anymore, don't tell me what to do!"
The man, Arthur, held back a sigh. They had been through this many times, especially whenever she came to visit (she claimed that she was forced to do so every time). Not wanting to relive the moments again, he shook the thoughts of retorting back away in his mind.
He decided to change the topic, "Seriously though, Sierra. What is that-," he paused as he tried to find a word to describe her creation, "pinkish abomination that you have stuffed into a glass?"
Sierra huffed, "It is not alive, and it's a drink that I love and not available here. It's damn hot in here and I need a cooling drink. It's a good thing I know how to make it." She smiled to herself as she removed the spoon and replaced it with a white straw she produced from her vest pocket.
Arthur took one glance at the drink. It looked rather scary; it was too pink for the Englishman's liking, but at the same time refreshing, with the amount of ice the glass contained. As if on cue, sweat drops formed on his forehead, which he wiped away discreetly. However, the blond's curiosity was still burning inside him, "It's very... pink. What is it called?"
"No, it's black," Sierra commented sarcastically, and earned a smack on the head, "It's called Bandung. It's made of rose syrup and milk."
"Rose syrup? Last time I tried, rose doesn't taste like anything."
"Then something must be wrong with your tastebuds," Sierra commented, "Probably died from your disgusting scones or poisoned from too much black tea."
Arthur's face turned red with fury, "Don't you dare go there, you scumbag Singaporean!"
Sierra rolled her eyes as she took a sip out of her drink. Her frown melted, replaced by a small, sweet smile. Arthur watched as she took another sip, the pink liquid crawling up her straw and into her mouth, her healthy, pink lips rounding the opening and savouring the drink. He tore his gaze away from there as Sierra's irises darted to his. She sighed and pushed the carafe over to the Englishman, "Want some?"
"No," the blond automatically replied.
Sierra shurgged, "Suit yourself." She continued to take small sips from the straw while gazing at Arthur from the corner of her eye. His face was tinted light pink, like her Bandung drink, and his eyes often met hers, which would dart away as soon as they made contact with her own. She noticed him fidgeting in his seat, as if uncomfortable. Her military-trained eyes focused on the sweat drops forming on the blond's hairline that were getting larger by the passing second. She clenched a fist. If he was hot, he could've just said so.
Reaching into her vest pocket again, she produced another straw similar to hers and inserted it into her drink. She then pushed the carafe in front of the Englishman once more, "Here. Have some. You look like you're gonna die."
Arthur glanced at the carafe. It looked tempting. He could see wisps of mist evaporating into the atmosphere. He suppressed a gulp and sucked in his lips. Must resist, must resist...
"C'mon. You can share with me. If you're saliva-conscious, I can understand," Sierra said, tapping the tabletop with her fingernails, "If that's the case, I can get you a cup of tea instead. Then again, it's hot here so tea probably won't help in any way."
"Fine, fine! I'll drink it if it gets you to shut up!" Arthur sighed exasperatedly, watching as a smile of victory creep across the younger's face. He reached for the untouched white straw and positioned his lips on the opening, such that only a small area of his lips would come in contact with the pinkish thing (he was rather afraid to tell her he still feared that 'pinkish abomination' as he had called it). He heard the girl scoff silently.
"Hey, one of your people brought this over here from my place. So, there should be no reason why you should be afraid of it. I mean, it's just rose syrup and milk!"
Arthur considered this for a minute, "Yeah, yeah. I'm drinking it now." After Sierra gave the okay, he sucked up the pink liquid. An explosion of sweetness spread around his mouth, a mixture of what tasted like evapourated milk and sugar teasing his tongue and freezing his teeth. He savoured the unique taste, closing his eyes as to fully enjoy the pleasure the drink had to offer. The quaint smell as well; it tickled his nose teasingly and went well with the sweet drink in his mouth. He took in more, hungry for more of this amazing mild sugary-ness. Bursts of roses appeared in his mind's eye, pleasing him. Ah, it tasted so good. Why didn't he accept her offer earlier?
Oh, Sierra! I almost forgot about her!
He opened his eyes, to find a pair of closed eyes right in front of his. The world that he had shut off from for the few seconds suddenly came crashing back like cannonfire. Sierra's face was uncomfortably close to his. He could smell a soft scent of orchids and it tingled his nose, just like the rose had. He took in details of her face; plump cheeks, unmarred pale skin, her rather thick eyebrows and her long, lady-like eyelashes. Wow, she's gotten really beautiful over the past few years. He held his breath as not to startle the girl in front of his face.
The eyes then opened to reveal a pair of stunning black irises, gazing into his emerald greens. They then widened, startling a gasp. Arthur flinched back in surprise, but did not let go of his straw. The other did the same, and the two stared into each other's eyes, as if trying to read their partner's minds. The atmosphere thickened in awkwardness, the two too frozen from the sudden change in scene to move.
After a while, Sierra whined, "You were taking so much of my drink! I was yelling at you to stop but you weren't listening! So, I had to start drinking some too!"
Arthur chuckled as he commented with his straw wedged between his teeth, "It's really good."
Sierra blinked, then laughed, "See? It's not a pink creature that I stuffed into a glass."
The former stared down into the carafe. The drink was almost gone, only a thin layer of pink blocked his view of the bottom of the glass. The ends of their straws were hovering over the layer, like needles waiting to pierce into skin. He looked up to face Sierra again, the girl also staring back into his eyes.
"You want it?"
"... Yeah."
"Me too."
A moment of silence passed between the two, before Arthur inserted his end into the remains of the liquid. Sierra followed soon after, not wanting the lasts of her drink to be taken by someone else. Their foreheads grazed against one another as they did so, Arthur's thick eyebrows brushing against Sierra's. At the same time, their cheeks touched, the corners of their lips nearly coming into contact. The two individuals stared the other down in surprise, before blushing profusely, the girl turning a much brighter red than the male. Another second of silence that felt like infinity passed. The both of them stayed in that position, frozen yet again to move.
After what seemed like forever to Arthur, Sierra shrugged and slurped up the remaining liquid, quickly letting go of her straw and leaning back into her chair, "Too slow."
Arthur released his straw from his pair of lips and reached into his pocket for a hankerchief, wiping his mouth like a gentleman would. He huffed but thanked her for the drink as he replaced his hankerchief in his pocket. Sierra gazed back at the Englishman from the corner of her eye, smiling carelessly and giving him the 'so-so' gesture with her head. She then picked up the spoon she used previously to stir the drink and dropped it into the carafe.
"Glad you like something from my place for once," she commented shyly, standing up.
Arthur pushed back his chair, dusting off his shirt and adjusting his tie, "I loved it. I might consider going back to Singapore for another one."
Sierra laughed, "You don't have to!" She then ran off, disappearing down the hallway, leaving Arthur alone in the dining room with the carafe still unwashed on the tabletop.
"You scumbag! Come back here!" the Englishman yelled, but Sierra was gone from his sight. He sighed as he picked up the carafe and started walking towards the kitchen. What does she mean by I don't have to?
As he entered the kitchen, he noticed something foreign sitting on top of the counter, next to the stove. It was a small swing top bottle filled with a red liquid. Curious all over again, he placed the carafe into the sink and picked up the peculiar bottle. Pasted on the cap of the bottle was a rose decal. A piece of paper was stuck onto the bottle by tape. He carefully detached the piece of yellow paper and read its blue markings.
Hey Arthur.
This is the extra rose syrup I made earlier. I'll give it to you so you can make Bandung whenever you want. I put the recipe I used and instructions on how to make rose syrup if you ever run out of it in your cookbook. Hope you'll think of me when you drink it! :)
Hugs from Singapore.
Hey everybody! I've been loving Hetalia like mad recently and I couldn't help myself but write this. Coincidently, I've had this idea for a while now and I was drinking Bandung that time. XD
If you don't know what Bandung is, its a pink drink made of really sweet rose flavoured syrup and evapourated milk. It was brought to England by a Englishman who did not like the local tea that time (which was really long ago). I believe you can only get it in Singapore and Malaysia (I'm not sure about the rest of Asia) and it's really refreshing on a hot day. The recipe that Sierra put in Arthur's cookbook and the one I had in mind throughout the entire story is the one by Tastemade on Youtube (you can go Google it). Oh yeah, it's also my favourite drink. :)
Hope you guys like it. Special thanks to English-illiterate for editing (I didn't change it much though, haha). Please R&R! CC is always appreciated! If you have any queries (especially with the Singlish), please feel free to PM me and I'll answer them as soon as possible! Another thing, I might make this into a series but I'm not entirely sure yet. So, please stay tuned!
PS: Sierra is my OC for Singapore. I did not copy from anyone else. Only Arthur belongs to his respective owner. Oh yeah, and Sugiyama-san is awesome!
Until next time, have a nice day!
~nadiamirah