Kek Coklat Feuilletine that Took Everything Out of Me

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

Nothing feels quite like a Friday evening kan? There is something about the quietness that comes after a long week and it has a way of reminding me that life was never meant to be lived entirely around work. It is for us to come back to our fitrah, our purpose and ultimately, Allah. 

Sometimes, Allah hantarkan pengajaran dengan cara yang paling tak expect and paling halus. I recently had it through something as ridiculous as . . . kek coklat.

My mom had been talking about this one particular kek coklat moist from a TikTok seller. They basically go on tour and these cakes are seriously popular! Dah beberapa kali diorang tour Kulim tapi tak sempat kitorang nak pergi, dah sold out. 

Satu hari tu, saya balik kerja almost at 6 p.m. plus traffic lagi memang 6:30 p.m. jugak lah sampainya. Masuk rumah je, my mom terus cerita pasal kek coklat tu. Apparently, they were in Kulim that time cuma the cake had already sold out 40 minit before I even got home. 

Sambil dok tengok live seller tu, we noticed chats from this one personal shopper going up. Katanya dia ambil orders and still ada a few boxes with them. Saya pun terus WhatsApp. Takkanlah tak yakin kan bila diorang dah tunjuk the list, location and photos. Everything looks very convincing.

Again, when your mother wants something, otak you macam focus in one direction which is to get that kek coklat, regardless of whatever comes your way.

Sambil drive nak ke location tu, the scammer kept rushing my mom to pay tau. She was already about to transfer the money.

Yet, I still wasn't suspicious, okay. Haha, now I know what it feels like when you got scammed and you rasa macam kena pukau. 

We scanned it and there was no visible name on the QR PNG. When we tried to transfer the money, the recipient name that appeared was . . . pelik sangat.

That's when, Alhamdulillah, I rasa macam I got my sense back.

We decided to play along for a little longer, thinking we would eventually see the cake anyway. Ko nampak trust level, even though at that point I already had a strong feeling something was off.

Sesampainya di market Kulim, which was supposed to be the meeting point, we texted the person and told them we were there. 

Boleh pulak the scammer told us that s/he had to leave because they needed to feed their child? Seriously. We ended the conversation and blocked the number.

No cake.

No money lost.

Just me and my mom stuck in the car with a growing suspicion that perhaps this whole evening had been one giant plot twist.

But saya fikir macam since we were already there, I told my mom I wanted to go down and queue. Not because I thought I would get the cake. But more because I genuinely wanted to see what was so special about this kek coklat moist?

Curiosity kills the cat.

So I queued. There was one kakak in front of me and a few minutes later, ada sorang uncle queued behind me. Masa saya tengah beratur tu, seller dah announce yang kek dah habis. Fair enough. I could have just left, but for some reason, I just kept standing there because there was this tiny part of me yang still fikir, mana tahu la kan . . . .

And then suddenly, the seller tu cakap there was one extra.

Apparently, it was supposed to go to the kakak in front of me lah, but Tupperware tu pecah and had leaked a little bit of chocolate sauce, so seller tu serba salah nak jual.

Without even thinking, I terus cakap, "Saya nak."

But almost at the exact same time, the uncle behind me said, "Bagi saya, takpa."

Honestly, I wasn't about to fight an uncle over this kek coklat moist, so I said, "Takpe la, bagi la abang ni. Dia cakap dulu."

And then the uncle turned around and said, "Takpa la, saya dah beli dah tadi."

. . .

After the potential scam. 

After knowing it was sold out. 

After all the uncertainty. 

After that weird little negotiation where I was already prepared to give it to someone else. 

IT IS MINE. The kek coklat moist! 5 ringgit discount.

And masa tu, I just stood there thinking, Ya Allah.

It is literally just a chocolate cake. But somehow, the whole sequence of events felt like a little lesson wrapped in a Tupperware container.

And that's when it really hit me of why don't I trust Allah with the bigger things in my life the same way I apparently trusted Him with a box of chocolate cake?

That thought really humbled me

Because manusia ni memang mudah lalai. We say we believe in qada' and qadar. We say rezeki tak pernah salah alamat. We say that whatever Allah has written for us will never miss us. 

But bila life gets complicated, tiba-tiba semua benda yang kita kata kita percaya tu kita lupa. 

We panic. We overthink. We chase. We worry. We try to force doors open. We become restless over things that were never ours to begin with.

Sometimes, Allah gives us a gentle reminder. Not through some huge, dramatic miracle, but through something as simple and as silly as a kek coklat.

"Know that whatever has befallen you could not have missed you, and whatever has missed you could not have befallen you." Surah Al-Hadid, 57:22

Maybe that's the whole point. Because if it's really written for you, you don't have to fight the entire world for it. Alhamdulillah.