He shook his head and blinked rapidly to regain his focus. He got up in a hurry to check his phone but found that the screen was blank. He quickly plugged his charger in. He tried to recollect the events of the previous evening. All he could remember was reading Meera’s message about him taking the pastries and bouquet to the wrong place. But how could she possibly have known that?

He ran downstairs and checked his car only to find that he had indeed forgotten his gifts at Radhika’s office. He came back upstairs and switched on his phone, which immediately started buzzing with unread messages.

‘I am sorry, Madhav. I was with a client. I tried calling but your phone was switched off,’ Radhika had texted him, followed by, ‘Goodnight. Take care.’

He scrolled down. Meera had sent two messages. The second one was ‘Fuck you!’

The first said, ‘I never thought you would cheat on me!’

Madhav was relieved that Meera was finally breaking up with him, but was still perplexed at how she’d found out about his trip to Radhika’s office.

He sat cross-legged on the swing in his terrace and was about to dial Meera’s number when he saw that there were a few more messages from her.

‘Don’t you dare call me, Madhav. I don’t want to see you ever again.’

‘I know I will never have any clarity on this because of your pride, but I loved you.’

Madhav called her. She didn’t answer but called him back in a minute.

‘How dare you call me?’ she bellowed.

‘Why did you call me back?’ he replied.

‘Because I’m courteous.’

‘Can we meet tonight?’ he asked. He wanted to talk to her about his feelings for Radhika.

‘No way in hell! Why did you go to her office with a bouquet and a box of pastries? Are you cheating on me?’ she asked, nearly hysterical.

‘Radhika, just listen to me,’ he said.

‘Radhika? You called me Radhika?’ she screamed.

‘Shit! Shit! Shit!’ he mumbled and pressed his throbbing temples.

‘Enough, Madhav! That’s enough. I care for you, I do everything for you and this is how you treat me?’ she sounded as though she was on the verge of tears.

Madhav stayed quiet for a while before asking her one last time, ‘Do you want to meet me and talk about it?’ She hung up on him.

His phone beeped almost instantly. It was a message from Meera.

‘9 p.m., my place.’

She was under the impression that he would apologize profusely and admit it was only she whom he loved but, of course, the truth is usually more caustic than we expect.

Madhav didn’t call or text Radhika the entire day.

Madhav reached Meera’s place and parked his grey Honda City in her private parking space. Her flatmate worked at a call centre and had the night shift several times a week, so Meera often had the apartment to herself. He usually came over on those nights, but this particular visit was significantly different.