Ain't you hate that, girl?

I know being ladies have their perks most of the time, especially when it involves carrying heavy weights or anything that has to do with strength, because gentlemen (not just any men) would lend you a hand.

Nonetheless, it is more than annoying to get the perceptions that women can get away with almost everything by the power of seduction. Not just that, to feel inferior because somebody is making you feel like you can't do something just because you're a woman - that is ridiculous. Now, I am not merely being emotional and feminist. I had long developed this thinking that I can do (most of the) things on my own, which maybe because I'm the eldest in my family. For instance, I rarely asked for help when carrying heavy things i.e. bed bunk, luggage, drawers etc. as long as I can handle it.

So, when one fine day, my car had a punctured tyre, I felt angry. Why couldn't I handle this on my own? 

You know, the typical thinking that goes "Ah girls, they know nothing about cars".

 I'm actually irritated that it's the truth. Luckily, Abah was with me at that time. Although he changed the tyre into the spare tyre that we have, I felt guilty all the way to make him sweat and do all the hard work under the scorching sun. An Indonesian labour suddenly appeared out of nowhere and offered to help. Still, Abah got most of the job done.
And I just stood there, trying to help and the most I did was only getting the spare tyre in and out of the car.

That was my first time ever. When I drove the car down the hill out of my residence area, the car was shaking, and left side of the car vibrated harder. I asked Abah what's wrong. He replied, it's the road and went on complaining how the road has just been tarred recently and still not smooth when cars are on it. I was unconvinced, but suspected nothing. To shake off my uncertainty, I asked if I should turn around (it wasn't far from our house still) and get another car instead. He disagreed and so, I continued driving.

After about 2 km, the left side of the car gave off the vibrations again. It's so obvious that I felt like crossing the thick yellow lines on the road real quick, the ones that make you slow down at potential hazardous roads. I was sure this isn't alright and then my nose picked up a burnt smell, that my dad didn't notice.

"Abah, kita kena berhenti ni." I pulled over at the curb of a closed road. Abah thought something is not stored properly at the boot, but I had a different thing in mind, and I was correct. I pointed the tyre to Abah and he went, "Ohh! Hallahhh!"

He was not suspecting it to be a punctured tyre at all! I told him I thought he'd know because it has happened to him before, and I didn't go on with my gut feeling because the one with more experience denies it.

Imagine we drove all the way when we already had the 'clue' from the beginning. Thank God nothing serious happened.

That was 2 months ago. And last week, my uncle came to KL to send off his in-laws for umrah. Mama took the chance to show them bring them to places. And of all the days, it was this day that my car decided to have a punctured tyre, again. It was fine when we came but when I got out from my parking lot, the ride went bumpy on one side it reminded me the first time this happened. So I pulled over at the side and too bad, it happened on the same tyre *sigh

I was a little panic (not too much, because I had experience already *flips hair), fairly because my mom wasn't in the same car. She went with my uncle so that he wouldn't get lost in the KL traffic. To put a little suspense in this already drama-fied situation, there was no signal in the car park, or maybe it was just my phone, because after a few minutes, I could get through the line. So, my mom, uncle and auntie went inside inside again (we all already paid for the tickets).

I remember my dad told me about this stuff that can pump air into the tyre by using the engine. I checked and it was in the car. Only thing is I never use this before. I tried plugging in the cable, it is easy. But because I wasn't confident, I had to call my dad. (I got the answers I already could think of, I think I just wanted someone to calm me down).

While I was on the phone, going here and there, my cousin, who happened to be the only young man did all the work. (I was a bit despised with myself, I mean, I could do it by myself, they're so easyyy eghh.) All I did was giving instructions.

My mother and auntie was busy worrying, my other cousins were girls in school so they have no idea, and my uncle let his son took over. While this wasn't something entirely bad, it doesn't go well with the way I usually do things, on my own.

When everything was done, we thought we could talked the safety guard who guarded the exit about our problem, and let us out of mercy, without having to go through the fuss of going to the auto pay again. But, nope. He nonchalantly said he couldn't do anything and told me that we have to pay for the extra time we spent (panicking over the tyre and pumping it because we want to).

So my cousins went upstairs, for more than 15 minutes. Only to find out the tyre was loosing its air again... We're not gonna pay again so we decided to change into the spare tyre outside the parking lot. I hesitated to go for that idea because changing the tyre is hard work, and I thought I'd take the whole week to change it. Despite the fact that I don't like saying it, I told my cousin I wasn't strong enough to change a flat tyre on my own when asked why I didn't do it at the first place. So he and my uncle handled it (thank God they know how, tho they're not used doing it).

The sky was pouring drizzle when we got out and turned into heavy fall while we're still in the midst of the process. How epic. While my cousin did it all, his sister looked out for him, holding an umbrella for him. My uncle was needed to plunge the jack, he's stronger but the umbrella could barely fit a full grown adult, let alone another one with a bigger build. Then, I heard a whistle from behind the car. I turned and saw another car, probably waiting for someone too. A man's hand from the driver's seat suddenly popped out of the window, holding a huge umbrella, big enough to shelter two adults.

I took it and bore the duty of a mere umbrella holder for my uncle. It was raining cats and dogs, my legs were drenched in wet. After a little struggle, we managed to solve the problem *phew.

My uncle asked me to escort him to his car with the umbrella and afterwards, I returned the umbrella to the man from the car behind and mumbled thanks under the heavy splatter. May Allah bless you with more blessings and forgive all your sins amin. (The car arrived after few minutes we pulled over, divine intervention of some kind...)

Then, we all ran into the car,  drenched. The rain didn't stop along the way back. After some time, my cousins were all quiet, I guess they dozed off. It was cold outside and our clothes were wet, I tried to speed a little but the tyre wasn't balanced and the road was slippery. What a day.

Nevertheless, we still went to IKEA and I-City as requested after that (tho we were stuck in traffic for an hour because it was peak time *yawn) and went sight seeing.

I have to say I deserved all the curry puffs, soft cream and almond cake I gobbled in IKEA from today's hard work. And late night supper in the form of fried noodles haha *cries

P/s: I ALWAYS write novels. Just so you know. I sometimes hate myself.

*this has been in draft all this while