Once Mary had left the room, and the door has been closed, George turned his face towards Malee.

“Where are you from?,” asked George.

“Far from here,” replied Malee with a straight face, hoping she would not have to admit she practically lived in the dump site. She doubted someone like George would understand the smell and the rats crawling around you as you try to sleep at night.  Or that her clothes have not been washed for months in the drain besides her hut. There are things one shouldn’t admit to others, skeletons in the closet, or in her case, rats in the sewer since she never had a closet in her life.

George wondered where is that far from here because he had been to everywhere, from Paris, Milan to New York. He couldn’t imagine Malee coming from any of these places. For once, she didn’t have the French accent. He had never seen pushcart sellers around his place, so he also couldn’t think of her as one.

“What is your full name?,” he asked another question, trying to divert from his confusion where she came from.

“Malee,” replied Malee in the confused tone. She couldn’t understand what is the meaning of full name because her parents had always called her by “Malee”. What other name would a person has, she wondered.

“Your family name? Oh nvm. Hello Malee, you can call me George. My full name is George..,” said George, but was interrupted by the sound of the door opening just as he extended his right hand towards Malee. It was just as well because Malee wouldn’t have wanted George to feel the blisters on her hands from pushing cart all days.

It was Mary, and she was back with 2 cups of tea as ordered and a plate with assorted cake slices. It was routine tea time for George with one extra guest that day. Mary handed over one of the teacups to the young master and the other to Malee, albeit with suspicions in her eyes. She still couldn’t believe that her young master was having tea with one of the push cart seller from the road. She, who had always taken care of the young master since he was a baby, wouldn’t even allow herself to sit beside him.

Malee took the cup to her lips and finished it all in one mouthful. After she had swallowed it one gulp, she found both George and Mary looking at her with opened mouths and their eyes wide. They had seen no one else drinking imported tea like mineral water before. Malee was shocked at their reaction but noticed some part of the tea dripping from her side of her lips. To their further amazement, Malee wiped off the droplets off with her hand.

“Oh my, that tea is..,” started Mary but before she could finish, both of them find George rolling on the floor, laughing uncontrollably once more. It was a while before he could stand up and to add to Mary’s shock, he too took up the teacup and emptied it in one mouthful before wiping his lips with his hand.

“I never thought of drinking tea could be so fun, heh Mary?,” asked the young master with a twinkle in his eyes and smeared tea on his mouth.

Then they heard the door opening and turned around to see the person in front of the entrance.