His eyes widened.
"This is..."
Tesia smiled from ear to ear.
"The best buffet in the city, Jean!"
Jean remained completely still.
"Tesia..."
"Yeah?"
"Is this where you go with your friend and your family?"
"Yep."
"This is the five-letter place you were talking about?"
"Ummm... yeah."
Tesia excitedly pointed at the huge sign above the entrance.
"Just look! The best buffet! Isn't it awesome? It's so cool! I'm cool too, you know. Come on, admit it." She smiled proudly, crossing her arms.
Jean looked at the sign.
Then at Tesia.
Then back at the sign.
For some reason, this little routine had become extremely common ever since the day he met Tesia.
"Tesia..."
"Yeah?"
"You're not making this up as you go because I changed my... mood, are you?"
Tesia's eyes widened.
"What the hell is wrong with you, dummy? Why would I lie to you? And now that you mention it, you've been acting really weird ever since that thing with Juan."
Jean pointed at the sign.
"Don't you think it's weird that I reacted like that?"
"Yeah."
"And you didn't wonder why?"
"Well, for a moment I thought you didn't like surprises, but apparently there's something else going on..."
Jean took a deep breath.
"Tesia..."
"What?"
"You silly blondie vampire..."
"Huh?"
Jean pointed at the sign again.
"BUFFET HAS SIX LETTERS."
Tesia froze.
"Hmm?"
"Look at the sign."
"Why? B..."
She began counting with her fingers.
"B... U..."
"Uh-huh."
"F..."
"..."
"E..."
"Uh-huh."
"T..."
Tesia narrowed her eyes and gave him a judgmental look.
"See? Five letters."
...
"You're missing an F."
Tesia looked carefully at the sign.
"Oh..."
She stood completely still.
"..."
"..."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously..."
Tesia pursed her lips.
"But... so what?"
Jean didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"What do you mean, "so what"?"
"Did you seriously get this worked up because I misspelled a word? Do you… somehow read minds? Did you know I'd get one letter wrong, and that's why you've been acting weird this whole time? I don't understand, Jean…"
Jean remained silent.
Tesia looked at him with an expression that grew increasingly sad and confused.
A tiny tear even threatened to escape from the corner of her eye.
Tesia quickly wiped the corner of her eye and looked away for a moment.
"I'm sorry... I'm fine. It's just that... I really want to understand what I did wrong, Jean..."
Her expression melted his heart.
Jean gently motioned for her to come closer.
"Come here."
"What?"
"I'm going to... explain something to you."
Tesia stepped closer.
Jean gently patted her head, lowered his voice, and whispered into her ear.
"I'm sorry, okay? It's just that... young people these days... well, young humans... use the phrase "five letters" to refer to..."
Jean stopped.
Tesia waited.
"A..."
He stopped again.
"A..."
"..."
Jean closed his eyes.
"A motel, Tesia."
Silence.
Tesia blinked.
Jean blinked.
They stared at each other.
"..."
"..."
"WHAT!?"
Tesia's entire face turned bright red.
"HAHAHAHA!"
She burst out laughing, but her laughter quickly turned into embarrassment.
"Humans are so stupid!"
She covered her face.
"I didn't... I didn't know..."
Suddenly, she remembered everything she'd said on the way there.
"I go there all the time with Invi."
"I go there with my parents too."
"It's not a big deal."
Her face turned even redder.
"Oh no..."
Jean couldn't help letting out a small laugh.
"It's okay, it's okay. It was just a misunderstanding."
Tesia slowly lowered her hands.
"Sorry..."
"It's fine."
"You must think I'm a monster now... Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm sure."
Tesia took a deep breath and calmed down a little, letting out a small, embarrassed giggle while her face remained bright red.
"So..."
She looked toward the restaurant.
"Should we go to the six-letter place?"
Jean burst out laughing.
"Yeah..."
"Great!"
"Let's go to the six-letter place."
Tesia walked toward the entrance, her ears completely red.
"I'm never saying "five letters" in front of a human again."
Jean followed behind her.
"That would probably be for the best."
///
Once inside, they went straight to pay for the buffet.
This time, Jean ended up paying, mostly because Tesia was still far too embarrassed to argue over who was going to cover the bill.
But everything changed the moment the vampire saw the food.
Her eyes lit up.
"Jean!"
"What?"
"Look at all this!"
Tesia grabbed Jean by the arm.
"We need to find a table quickly! Hurry! They're putting the food out, so it's probably still nice and warm! There's nothing better than freshly made food!"
"Tesia, calm down."
"There's no time!"
"We just got here."
"Exactly, silly!"
Jean couldn't help smiling at the sight of the clumsy little vampire.
A few minutes later, they were walking through the different food stations while Tesia pointed at practically everything she saw.
"This looks amazing!"
"Really? Have you tried it?"
"Nope, but it looks amazing. I'll find out right now..."
"I guess I'll take one too."
Jean had absolutely no idea what he was putting on his plate.
There was already more than enough food on both of their plates, but Tesia insisted that Jean had to try the extra-spicy enchiladas she'd spotted.
"You have to try these! Why are you so picky?"
"Tesia, I've already added several things you recommended. I'm going to try a lot of new food today... Besides, I'm not very good with spicy food. The name 'extra-spicy enchiladas' does not exactly inspire confidence. It's going to burn a hole through my stomach!"
"They're not that spicy, clown."
"They look way too spicy to me."
"Jean, trust me."
"Trust you? Ten minutes ago you made me mistake a buffet for a motel."
Tesia froze.
"..."
Jean looked at her.
"Sorry."
"I hate you."
"You don't hate me."
"HAHAHA, no, obviously not, silly."
Tesia smiled again.
"But I'm still embarrassed..."
Eventually, they returned to their table with several plates of food.
Tesia was completely happy, eating peacefully, a stark contrast to the excitement and embarrassment she'd been feeling only a few minutes earlier.
Jean simply watched her from time to time as he ate.
The vampire seemed to have completely forgotten about the whole incident.
Then, right in the middle of her blissful happiness, Jean noticed Tesia's smile suddenly disappear.
She stopped eating.
Her fork dropped onto her plate with dramatic effect.
"Jean..."
"Yeah?"
Tesia lowered her eyes.
"I'm a terrible friend."
Jean frowned.
"Um... no, you're not."
"That's not a question."
Jean stopped eating.
"Why do you say that?"
Tesia pressed her lips together slightly.
"Because, Jean..."