In an instant, the atmosphere on Randa's porch grew awkward as everyone fell silent—completely at odds with the carefree laughter spilling from Raka's mouth.
For a moment, Eren only blinked in shock.
Once she felt everything was under control, Randa's mother turned away, not even bothering to watch the youngsters embarrass themselves.
Let them have their fun. As far as she was concerned, she had already joked around enough for a parent. Anything more would feel excessive.
As soon as Siti left, everyone—except Eren—smirked and joined in the laughter.
"Hahaha! Eren! Now we've got bird's eye chilies. Come on, try it!" Andi teased, smearing chili paste onto his fried banana.
Eren froze. He wished he could smack himself for speaking so recklessly. Sweet bananas with fiery chilies? That had to be terrible. He didn't even like sambal that much, let alone whole chilies.
But even knowing how awful it would taste, he couldn't back out now. All he could do was grab one small green chili.
"Ehem, guys... actually, I've got diarrhea—" he tried.
"Yeah, right. Excuses!" Henky cut in gleefully.
"Boo! Don't even think about dodging this! Randa's mom went out of her way to bring them. Don't waste her effort!" Yusuf added slyly, piling on the guilt.
"Relax. Lucky for you, my shop also sells diarrhea medicine," Randa chimed in with a grin.
Everyone exchanged mischievous glances, their curiosity mounting.
Meanwhile, Agung and Andi were still happily munching on their fried bananas.
"Man, this is heaven on earth!" Andi said with satisfaction.
Curious, Agung finally gave in and spread a little chili paste onto his banana.
At first, he thought it would taste awful, but surprisingly, it wasn't that bad. Still, not exactly to his liking.
Watching him closely, Andi asked, "So? Good, right?"
"Hmm. Edible," Agung replied flatly.
Eren, who had been watching the whole time, grew more conflicted. But seeing Agung survive, he finally decided to give it a try.
After some thought, Eren's pride flared up again.
"Alright! Watch closely as I eat this!" he declared, grabbing three chilies at once.
He wanted to show off—to prove he could eat fried bananas with three chilies in one go. Sure, he was used to having chilies with fried snacks, but this was different. These were sweet bananas.
Everyone held their breath, waiting for the stunt.
Without hesitation, Eren bit into the banana along with the chilies.
At first, the banana's sweetness covered everything. But as the flavors mixed, he lost control and spat it out.
At first, they thought he had given up because of the strange taste—until they saw his face turn as red as a boiled crab. Something was clearly wrong.
"Huuh—hah—hah! Randa! What kind of chili did your mom bring? Why is it this insanely hot?!" he cried, panicking.
Randa was just as puzzled. For a moment, he thought maybe Eren was faking it to avoid being mocked. But one look at that agonized face proved otherwise—if Eren could fake it that well, he'd have already won an Oscar.
Carefully, Randa bit off the tip of a chili. Immediately, a searing heat numbed his tongue.
The others who tried also reeled back in shock, staring at Randa as though his mother had committed a crime.
But Randa had a hunch. Judging by the shape, the chilies looked freshly picked—probably from his mother's half-hectare herb garden.
If bananas could taste heavenly with her fertilizer and tirtha water, then of course the chilies could grow unbearably hot. Still... this level of heat was absurd.
Randa rushed inside to fetch water diluted with tirtha.
Siti came out in a hurry when she heard what had happened. She tried a chili herself and was stunned by the outrageous heat.
With an apologetic look, she explained, "Oh dear, I'm so sorry. I had no idea they'd turn out this spicy. I only planted a few for self-sufficiency... who would've thought they'd be this extreme?"
Suffering the most, Eren could only stammer with a numb tongue, "It's okay, Auntie... uh, just a little spicy..."
Siti helped Randa prepare warm water for everyone until the burning finally faded.
Once the chaos was over, everyone felt relieved—including Eren, who had finally recovered.
As if to take revenge, he devoured the remaining bananas greedily.
After that, the group went back to chatting happily, with no more mishaps until night grew late.
Some even got calls from their wives telling them to come home.
Eventually, it was time to part.
"Alright, here's a bunch of bananas for each of you. Thank you for worrying about me and coming by to cheer me up," Randa said sincerely.
"No, Randa. You're selling these—we can't just take them for free."
"Yeah, we can't accept that."
"Come on, relax. We're like family."
"No way! Even family should know the difference between personal and business."
"Exactly. Let us pay."
In the end, each of them paid a hundred thousand for their bunch of bananas.
Randa smiled warmly, grateful to have such good friends.
Once they left, he tidied up the porch before finally resting.
...
The next afternoon, Randa was back to selling fried bananas—more efficient than ever now that he'd grown used to the work. That left him with more free time.
While idly sitting around, his phone buzzed with a notification.
Curious, he checked and found a message from Rizky—asking if he wanted to buy chickens.
It turned out Rizky's wife, who had once been excited about raising chickens and maggots because of FOMO, had finally given up. She couldn't handle the feeding, the cleaning, or the awful stench of maggots any longer.
To Randa, though, it was intriguing. He had been wanting to raise chickens, especially since his tirtha water would otherwise go to waste.
Even though he only collected about a liter a day, when diluted 1:100 it was still effective. It'd be a shame not to use it.
He also wondered how chicken and eggs raised with tirtha would taste.
So, he agreed to Rizky's offer.
After finishing his banana sales for the day, he went home to wait for Rizky.
A while later, Rizky arrived with chickens, maggots, a coop, and all the equipment.
Randa teased, "So, did you manage to get your wife to FOMO about cooking instead? Otherwise, she might just FOMO over something worse—like raising alpaca, or something pricier, like luxury handbags!"
Rizky scowled.
"I tried, but no luck."
"Well then, just pray she doesn't take up the ideas I mentioned," Randa said with a grin.
Rizky nodded, then explained, "Alright, here are ten chickens with all the equipment, plus a box of maggots. Just give me a hundred thousand for gas money."
"No way! Chickens cost way more than that. Let me pay you two million," Randa insisted, though still half-joking.
"No need, we're like brothers. You don't have to."
"Wrong! Even with family, business and personal matters must be kept separate!" Randa shot back.
Rizky paused, déjà vu washing over him. He wanted to argue, but Randa shoved the money into his hand.
After a short chat, Rizky headed home.
Randa set up the coop and maggots in the backyard. When Siti and Faisal came home, they were surprised at first but didn't really mind once Randa explained.
...
The next morning, just as Randa was about to head out selling, his phone buzzed again—another message from Rizky.
This time, Rizky said his wife's friend, who had also bought chickens, now wanted to get rid of them too.
Not sell them—just dump them. The socialite wives couldn't stand it anymore, and they refused to slaughter them either, afraid of food poisoning after one chicken got sick.
Randa couldn't help but scoff.
"Unbelievable. These women are something else."
He told Rizky he was willing to take the chickens, though he didn't have space yet.
Rizky reassured him: no rush, his wife's friend was still undecided and would likely get rid of them in five days.
Randa frowned slightly, once again marveling at how much free time these socialite wives seemed to have.
Still, he agreed—already planning where to house the new chickens.
...
Later that afternoon, after closing up early, Randa discussed the matter with his father.
"Dad, where do you think I should raise these chickens?"
Faisal frowned. "Isn't the backyard fine?"
"No, I mean there'll be more chickens soon. It won't be enough space."
"Oh, so you're buying more? Planning to start a serious chicken farm?"
"No, not exactly. Here's the story..."
Randa explained everything.
Faisal was stunned.
"Seriously? People nowadays really waste money like that?"
"Who knows, Dad. Maybe it's just a trend. So what do you think—should I take the chickens or leave them?"
"Up to you. If you take them, put them in the pine and teak forest."
Randa nodded.
"Good point. Why didn't I think of that? Alright, I'll build a coop there."
Faisal agreed. They went out to the land to take a look, made some calculations, and then headed home, greeting a few villagers along the way.
Back home, Randa saw a group of women gossiping. He just smiled and walked inside, not intending to join.
But unexpectedly, they pulled him in.
"Oh, is this Randa? You've grown up so much!"
"Yes, and so handsome too!"
"Hey, Randa, why are you always at home these days? Didn't you use to work at that famous company? Were you fired? Why'd they fire you?"
Randa listened calmly, not really caring.
But his mother, Siti, grew visibly tense, her face darkening.
The air grew heavy.
Randa, suddenly the center of attention, wasn't sure how to respond.
But seeing his mother so uncomfortable, he felt uneasy himself.