Old Life's Words

"I am. My mission for today is to welcome this new girl to the area of Campania. She is an up-and-coming Mage that wants to join the Arks. But first, I need to show her where to get the best breakfast in town," explained Bryan, giving a bright smile to the woman.

"My place is far from the best. I can't satisfy the Mages' hunger and taste buds too well. My lineage is from the Eastern part of the world, not the typical breakfast you get here. Folks don't like it too much. So you're the only customer that comes in multiple times," smiled the woman.

"It's good to be unique, you know? I'm sick and tired of the typical cuisine I've been living with for the past two decades, and I am also willing to try any dish you'd like to sell. So don't worry about folks not liking it. Give it some time, and your place will flourish," replied Bryan.

"Thank you for your kind patronage. But I wouldn't want to have too much attention on us, and little Melissa is having problems seeing newcomers, let alone many customers. She's still trying to get the hang of this place despite us living here for a few years."

I silently agreed with the woman. Just because the place isn't busy doesn't mean the owners want it to. They haven't got enough human resources to do a whole house, and she is training a younger with no experience. So it won't be perfect in the long run.

"Would you like to order the regular? Or shall I surprise you again?"

"Get me the regular order for my guest, and I will have the surprise. I'm looking forward to what you've got for me today. But make sure it's not too heavy on the stomach, that curry nearly destroyed my bowels before patrol," answered Bryan, raising his eyebrows.

"Sure, not to worry, today's meal would be a traditional family recipe that my husband and I used to do. And it won't be too spicy. And ma'am, I hope you will enjoy the breakfast for today. What would you like to drink?" asked the woman, smiling at me.

"I'll get an iced coffee, extra, condensed milk if you use that. If not, a normal iced coffee with milk would do," I replied.

The woman looked at me with widened eyes and broke into a big smile. I was so lost for a second before realizing what I had said. I didn't notice that I was ordering my drink back in my previous life out of habit. But she looked pretty happy that I was asking for a simple drink.

"Mels! One Kopi Gah Dai!" yelled the woman, running to the room behind the counter.

I took a sip of my water before choking on it after I heard what she had shouted out. Hokkien and Bahasa Melayu. They were fluent in those languages as the woman continued speaking loudly to the girl named Melissa to make our breakfast.

I knew Hokkien slightly, and Malay or Bahasa Melayu is our national language. We may be known as one of the countries that don't have a proper primary language like others, but our national anthem is sung in Malay.

I mostly used and spoke English, and a bit of Mandarin since my race is Chinese. But it was indeed surprising that this mother and daughter duo knew how to speak my old life's language. Because it was a very distinct accent and choice of words.

Bryan looked concerned as he passed me some napkins.

"What's wrong? To my knowledge, they've always been speaking in those odd words and shouting here and there. At first, I thought they were fighting, but then they told me it wasn't the case," said Bryan, looking at the smiling woman and timid girl.

Ah, the art of Hokkien... He is lucky he hasn't heard Cantonese before. He would think that a murder had happened.

"There's nothing wrong with them, and it's the language they are using. I'm familiar with the words they are shouting. Kopi Gah Dai means coffee with additional condensed milk. And she is making your usual drink, Kopi O Beng, meaning iced black coffee, no milk," I explained.

As the gleeful woman rushed towards us, she placed our drinks down.

"I'm impressed, I've only known you for a day, and you know my regular order while I'm sat here trying to figure out what they are saying," said Bryan, shaking his head in bewilderment.

He might look Asian, but he knows nothing about the other side of the world. So unless his lineage is in Korea or Japan, I can't blame him. But he doesn't look like it, so I'm guessing his grandparents might've migrated here early.