Chapter 3

Vihaan Kashyap

I don't really want to take any phone calls but I don't have any choice. If I don't pick it up then Charlie will keep on calling me. I didn't want her to keep on disturbing me. This night, or morning, whatever, is nothing less than a date for me. A date with a pretty stranger.

"I was missing you Vihaan. So I thought I'd give you a ring," she mumbled. She is definitely half asleep.

"That's sweet of you Charles but I guess you need to fetch some sleep," I replied.

"Were you missing me too," she asked completely avoiding my previous statement.

"I'm doing some work, Charlie," I said. She can get cheesy way sooner than expected.

"You can't be that busy. We're actors. We live life as we want it. You behave like a freaking businessman."

I laughed at her remark. "Shush, Charles. Why don't you doze off now and I'll send you the morning's greetings in the form of a red velvet cake?"

"You will," she is pumped up with excitement.

"Yep," I confirmed."But that's only if you hang up and go to sleep."

"You're a shitty person but I will take that back because you're giving me a cake," she muttered. "Goodnight Vihaan. I'll meet you at work."

"Bye Charles, take care," I said and hung up.

I noticed her staring at me. I could see the question mark on her face.

"Who was that," she said.

"Charlie," I answered. "My best friend."

"Best friend," she raised her brows and gave me a mischievous look.

I chuckled, "Yea. Best friends only."

"I wonder which best friend calls up at 4:30 am."

"Really? I think all of them do. I think their sole purpose in life is to call us at an ungodly hour. They get this intuition, a sudden urge like 'hey, I think this dumbass is between something or is sound asleep, let's bother them a bit'," I replied. "By the way, since when are you here?"

"12:30 am. Why?"

"Aren't you hungry?"

"I am but there's no shop open at this point of time," was her reply.

"You're expecting a shop to be open especially for you?"

"No, I didn't mean that..."

"Well, then, you should have had the tea from there," I point at the tea stall nearby.

"You wanna drink tea from there?"

"Don't tell me that you think it's not hygienic and all," I yell at her.

"No, it's not that. Just that my tongue demands taste," she responded.

"Then, my dear, you need to drink the tea that kid makes," I said. I didn't wait for her to respond. I turned towards the stall and said loudly, "Dev, two cuttings, please. Make it special and make it fast!"

"You know the boy's name?"

"Mhmm," I nod. " I'm a regular customer. He is a good kid. We talk many times about random stuff and how hard our days were. Well, his days are worst than mine."

She turned towards me, tilted her face, and innocently asked, "Then why don't you help him out?"

"I tried but he won't take it. He said he wanted to be independent. He wanted to be someone but by doing hard work and on his own. He says it's gonna be worth it in future."

"Wow..., the boy seems to be brilliant," she remarks looking at Dev making the tea.

"He is," I joined her looking at him.

"How old is he?"

'Twelve," I replied. Her face fell. I know she felt sad for him but we can't help it. Dev is a determined lad. I'm sure he'll make his own way out.

"Here," Dev said walking towards us with two small glasses in his hands. "Special cuttings for sir and ma'am are ready!"

He handed us the glasses. "Done with the homework, kid?" I asked him.

"No. Two more exercises to go. Then I'm done," he answered.

"Great then. You can ask me if you get stuck anywhere."

"It's a division of numbers. It's old-school for me since you taught it," Dev said. I gave a laugh and then slipped my hand in my pocket and removed the money and handed it to him. "I hope you're okay with me paying?" I asked her.

"Well, I don't have my wallet on me anyway. It is in the car. You'll have to pay," she ppouted.

I handed him the note. "It's 100 bucks. Don't you have 30 change?" he asked.

"Who wants the change? Keep it. You earned it."

"Boss, you always do this. I don't want extra money. I just want the money charged for the tea," he said.

"I'm not giving you the money as a form of sympathy. I respect you. So take it as a loan and return it to me when you're well settled, okay?"

"When I'll be a big man, as big as you are, I will return every penny you gave me. I promise I will," he said and took the money.

"I'll be waiting for the day to see you as a big man, bigger than I am," I said. He smiled and left.

I noticed her looking at me. "You're a nice man," she said and took.a sip of her tea. "And this is the best tea that I've ever had!"

"Why don't you tell him?"

"Hey Dev," she gave a shout. "This tea is awesome!"

"Thank you," he said taking a bow in the same way great artists do in front of their audience. "Thank you so much!"

It was 5:30 already. The color of the sky was turning into lighter shades of blue. There are a few people on the road, mainly joggers. I look at her drinking the tea. I don't want this to end. Me, her, this tea, at Marine Drive, I want all of this to last forever.