Damn it. He thought.

They walked side by side along the silent lonely roads. But post the kiss, it was much more awkward.

Damn it. He thought again.

She watched him get tensed and make expressions on his own.

“Don’t get so worked up. It was just a kiss,” suddenly she said.

He looked at her and returned her faint smile. 

“Have you never kissed just for the sake of it?” she asked him.

He looked at her as if she was weird and replied, “Not really.” 

“Oh. Okay,” she nodded knowingly, “I mean, it wasn’t even that great.”

“What? But you said it wasn’t bad,” he asked her.

“Exactly. I said it wasn’t bad. It was okay…” she shrugged her shoulders.

“Ouch!” he exclaimed, he said holding a hand over his heart. She just laughed at this.

“Hey! What is that?” 

Noticing a light at a distance, they walked faster. It seemed like a street stall. Getting closer, they noticed a man standing next to it. As they approached, she greeted the man, “Hey there.”

The man turned to them. He was of much older age. As soon as the man saw them, he greeted back with a smile, “Hello.”

“Is this your shop?” she asked the man again.

“Yes!” the man replied, “Would you like some tea?”

“Tea?” she repeated. 

Her friend who was silent until now started questioning the man.

“Are you British?”

“No.”

“Chinese?”

“No.”

“Indian?”

She pushed her friend aside and said, “I’m sorry he is being stupid. We’ll take two tea.”

“Okay!” the man nodded and with a smile got into preparing the beverage. Meanwhile she turned towards her bespectacled friend and asked, “What is wrong with you? Did one sleepless night fry your brains?”

But he wasn’t listening to her. He pointed at something behind her back. She followed his finger and saw a few pictures. She saw photographs of that man, but they were creepy. Why you ask?

No. 1 The photographs of him were with various women. All different. 

No. 2 They were taken over many years because some were sepia, and some even black and white. 

No. 3 All the pictures had him standing next to the very same food truck.

She turned to her friend who was pointing at the man yet again. And this time shew noticed something else.

No. 4 He was wearing jewelry, that most definitely, did not belong to a man.

“You know what? We really don’t need tea. I don’t even drink tea!” she let out a nervous laugh as she suddenly said to the man.

“Don’t be silly. Give me two minutes,” the man replied.

Her friend poked her and signaled towards his working table. 

No. 5 That’s where she saw, a knife. A big meat-knife. 

“Tea is ready!” the man turned to them and saw two kids with bulging eyes, staring at him. 

“Ah…” while no words came out of her lips, her friend suddenly kept some money on his table and said, “Thanks for the tea. Keep the change.”

As he took the two cups of tea from him the man, while she was still lost for words, the man said, “No need for money. It's for free.”

Our spectacled boy stood with an open mouth for about 2 seconds to let that sink in. He blinked a few times and said, “Uh-huh. Thanks!” he said as he gave her one of the cups and dragged her away from that man.

Making sure that they were out of sight and earshot of the shop, he slowed his pace.

“Oh my god. What was that?” he said leaving a sigh of relief.

“I…I have no idea…” she said, finally recovering from the shock and moving the cup of tea to her lips.

Immediately he snatched it away from her hand and said, “Are you nuts?” 

As she watched, he walked away with his and her tea, and threw it in a nearby waste bin.