The sun was a giant fried egg hanging over Selangor, making the air thick and sticky like teh tarik. At the base of the Batu Caves, the massive 272 concrete steps stairs gleamed so brightly it made Arjun squint.
“Arjun! Don’t just stand there like a blur sotong,” his mother called out, fanning herself with a brochure. “Start climbing. We meet at the top. Don’t play-play with the monkeys, ah!”
Arjun sighed. 272 steps. It was a lot of work for a Saturday morning. He adjusted his backpack and started the climb. The stairs were painted in bright, rainbow colors—red, yellow, green, and blue. Usually, he would have loved this, but today, his heart felt a bit heavy, like he’d swallowed a stone.
He was ten steps up when he saw a familiar shock of messy black hair and a faded Star Wars t-shirt. The boy was leaning against the railing, catching his breath.
Arjun froze. It was Malik.
Malik used to be his best friend. They had done everything together—shared keropok lekor after school, played football until their shins were bruised, and traded cards under the desk. But six months ago, a silly argument over a lost library book and a misunderstood WhatsApp message had turned into a “Cold War.” They hadn’t spoken since.
Malik turned around. His eyes widened. “Arjun?”
“Oh. Hey,” Arjun said, trying to sound cool, like it didn’t matter. “You also here?”
“My cousin’s wedding visiting,” Malik muttered, wiping sweat from his forehead. “You?”
“Family outing lah.”
An awkward silence stretched between them, louder than the pigeons fluttering nearby.
“Anyway, I’m going up,” Arjun said.
“Me too,” Malik replied.
They started climbing. Not together, but not apart. Just two boys, three steps away from each other, surrounded by hundreds of tourists and the smell of incense and humid limestone.
The Halfway Point
By step 100, the monkeys had arrived. One particularly chunny macaque was sitting on the handrail, baring its teeth at a woman holding a plastic bag of snacks.
“Watch out,” Malik said suddenly, reaching out to grab Arjun’s arm as a monkey lunged for Arjun’s side pocket.
Arjun jumped back. “Wah! That fellow almost got my phone!”
Malik chuckled, a small, rusty sound. “They’re pros, man. You cannot bring plastic bags here. It’s like calling them for a buffet.”
Arjun looked at Malik. For a second, it felt like the old days. “Remember that time at the school canteen? When the crow stole your nugget?”
Malik laughed properly this time. “Don’t remind me. I cried for twenty minutes. That was a premium nugget.”
The tension eased, just a little bit. They kept climbing, their breathing getting heavier as the stairs got steeper. The view behind them was opening up—you could see the city stretching out, hazy and blue.
The Confrontation
At step 200, the shade of the limestone cliffs finally hit them. It was cooler here, the air smelling of damp earth and ancient stone. Arjun stopped.
“Malik, why didn’t you just tell me?”
Malik stopped two steps above him. “Tell you what?”
“That you didn’t lose the book. I found out later that Tommy took it by mistake. But you were so angry when I accused you, you just blocked me on everything. You didn’t even give me a chance to say sorry.”
Malik looked down at his shoes. “It wasn’t just the book, Arjun. You called me a liar in front of the whole class. We were brothers, man. You should’ve known I wouldn’t steal your stuff.”
Arjun felt a pang of guilt. “I know. I was ganjong. I just panicked because it was a school library book and my mom would be very angry at me.”
“And then you didn’t say anything for months,” Malik added, his voice quiet. “I thought you didn’t want to be friends anymore. I thought you found new friends in the debate club.”
“Debate club is boring!” Arjun protested. “They just argue about things that don’t matter. I missed playing football. I missed… you know. Our talks.”
A group of tourists pushed past them, chatting loudly in English. The boys moved closer to the edge, looking into the deep green of the jungle trees clinging to the cave walls.
The Top
They reached the final step—272. They stood at the entrance of the Cathedral Cave. The ceiling was massive, soaring high above them with holes that let in shafts of golden sunlight like divine spotlights.
Malik looked at Arjun and gave a small, lopsided grin. “A bit malu (embarrassing) lah, actually. Six months of silence over one book and some ego.”
Arjun held out his hand. “Friends again? No more blocking? Even if I’m a bodoh (fool) sometimes?”
Malik grabbed his hand and shook it firmly. “Only if you buy me a fresh pack of nuggets when we get down.”
“Deal. But you’re paying for the coconut water!”
As they walked into the cool darkness of the cave together, the echoes of their laughter bounced off the ancient walls. The climb was hard, and the sun was hot, but the view from the top—and the friend by his side—made every step worth it.
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noodletale.com
January 28, 2026
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We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience,
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This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific
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Screen-reader and keyboard navigation
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with
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Disability profiles supported in our website
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Notes, comments, and feedback
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