Lubna started to chuckle. The tips of Jai’s ears started to turn a shade of scarlet.

‘It’s not for me,’ he bridled.

‘Oh right. How silly of me. Were you buying it for someone special?’ asked Inaya, loading the question with innuendo.

‘No—I mean, yes,’ said Jai.

At this point, Lubna’s chuckles became hysterical and high-pitched. Jai glared at her. As if one pesky girl wasn’t bad enough, now there were two.

‘By the way, meet my friend, Lubna,’ said Inaya.

‘Hi,’ said Lubna.

Jai mumbled an awkward hello.

‘It’s sweet that you’re getting something for a special someone,’ said Lubna, winking at Inaya.

‘I’m getting late,’ said Jai, returning the papaya face mask to the shelf. ‘I need to go.’

‘Er, before you leave, could you recommend where we could have lunch nearby?’ asked Inaya.

‘Tomoe Sushi is supposed to have amazing salmon nigiri according to BBC Good Food magazine,’ said Jai, almost automatically, before exiting the shop as fast as he could.

Lubna turned to Inaya.

‘Hmm. So, you like him, huh? Not a bad choice, Inaya—he seems the thoughtful, romantic sort—spending time choosing gifts and all.’

‘Like him? You must be joking, Lubna! The only thing halfway decent about him is his knowledge of food.’

‘You’re so wicked, Inaya,’ snickered Lubna. ‘Okay, I’m starving now. Where’s that sushi place of his? All this stalking had better be worth it.’

Empty-handed

‘Didn’t you like anything at all, Jai?’ asked Toshi. ‘I thought you would come back with a gift.’

Jai was still hopping mad after his encounter.

‘I had selected something, Badi Ma, but then . . . ’

‘But then, what, Jai?’

‘But then that Pesky Girl showed up, and she was insinuating stupid stuff and going on about masking body odour, blah, blah, blah, so I just left the shop. I should have told her off! But instead, I told her about the sushi place.’

Toshi was looking at Jai, wholly baffled, ‘Which girl? What body odour? What sushi?’

‘That Pakistani girl, Badi Ma. Ma was right about Pakistanis. They are just bad news. Especially the girls.’

‘Do you mean that girl, who was accompanied by her grandfather, with whom we had to share a table?’

‘Yes, yes, that one. I feel like she’s following me everywhere. Wherever I look, she’s there—laughing that annoying hyena laugh of hers.’

‘Tsk, you shouldn’t let anyone put you off your plans, Jai.’

Arathi came in just then, dropping her bag on to the settee and subsiding into the cushions after a hard day at work.

‘Hello family! So, what are the devious schemes currently being hatched by grandmother and grandson?’ she asked cheerfully.

‘Er, nothing, Ma,’ said Jai.

‘Tomorrow’s agenda—that’s what we were planning,’ volunteered Toshi. ‘As it’s your day off, should we visit Lord’s and then the Tower of London? I have always wanted to pay good money to see our very own Kohinoor diamond, which was so considerately confiscated from us to be securely stored in a tower for all tourists to admire.’