I was standing in the line for a cup of mocha. The cute shop was the famed Blue Bottle brand, located in the middle of a very hip shopping area.
A man and a woman came and lined up behind me. They were busy fast talking and laughing like a couple of old friends, and I just eavesdropped on the finished sentence of the man.
“… you are full of surprises!”
“Am I so?!” The woman stood closer to me, and I heard her chuckle with a pleased tone of genuine surprise.
There was a short silence. Something moved in the air.
I started shifting my weight between my two feet as if I had been standing there still for too long.
Then the woman spoke again in a noticeably lower voice and slower pace.
“I do have a surprise for you, though. But there is a caveat. If you want me to tell you, that would be my last time to speak to you.”
The surroundings became soundless and motionless for a moment, at least for me. The only moving thing left was the echo of what the woman just said.
I wanted to turn around so I could watch their expressions. That’s when the cashier gestured at me to start ordering.
When I finally finished and turned around, these two friends were already laughing and moving on to other trivial pleasantry topics.
What a great moment I missed! I kicked myself mentally.
I made a big slurping sound on my iced mocha, walked away from them, and decided this was something that totally qualified for the overarching storyline of a suspense novel.
