I passed the NIGHT with a stranger I met during my seaside getaway. Upon heading back to the office, I STIFFENED in shock upon spotting at work….

Olivia stepped aside to avoid them, but from behind, a man bumped into her. From the surprise, she let go of the watermelon from her tired, stiff hands. It split with a crunch on the asphalt, splashing her and the whole group with bits of ripe flesh….

The young people shook themselves off, cursing loudly and rudely. — Oh, sorry! — Olivia apologized, standing over the fragments of striped rinds in a puddle of watermelon juice. Olivia wondered if she should pick up a big whole piece; it was a shame to leave it.

— It’s my fault, forgive me! — she heard a male voice nearby. — You know what, I’ll go right now and buy you a new watermelon, and you don’t go away, wait for me here, — the man offered, looking at her with guilty eyes. Olivia wanted to respond sharply, refuse.

She was at fault too, should have held her load tighter. But then she thought, why refuse, actually? — Okay, — she said, — I’ll wait on that bench over there, — she pointed to a bench a bit further down the road. — I’ll be right back, in a flash! — the man smiled and dashed off.

— Just wait, don’t leave! — he shouted, having run a decent distance. — Of course, I’ll wait! — Olivia thought, looking regretfully at the coveted broken watermelon on the asphalt. She sighed, stepped around it, and sat on the bench.

She wanted the watermelon, but not to carry the weight herself. She watched the passersby. Here’s a family father carrying a striped torpedo, a young mom pushing a stroller in front of her, in which a girl sits, head tilted up, not taking her eyes off the watermelon.

Olivia lamented her failed marriage once again. — Here I am! — a joyful, out-of-breath man distracted her from her thoughts. Flushed face, sweat on his forehead.

He’d run, hurried. In his hands, he held a torpedo bigger than the one lying on the asphalt. — Where to carry it? — he asked readily.

— Come on. Olivia stood up and smoothed her dress. The man walked beside her.

For a while, they were silent. — I’m David. And what’s your name? — he started…