Shwetha disagreed immediately. ‘Sanju thinks you are way above his league. Misconception, but that is what he thinks. So, he won’t cheat on you.’ She added as an afterthought. ‘Also, if a man is having an affair, he is nicer to the wife.’

Anu nodded. ‘True. And, he would shave too. Sanju is not the cheating type. Is he dying of some disease, then?’ Worry had now crept into Anu’s voice.

‘Hmm. Hypothetically, what do you prefer? Him cheating on you or dying of a disease?’ Shwetha asked curiously.

‘Dying.’ Anu was confident of her answer. Well, only momentarily. ‘No … I don’t want him dead. If he is cheating on me, I can always make him grovel for my mercy.’

‘Which is worse than death for him. Now, how was he with Vicky? Also, why didn’t you ask him?’ Shwetha got into an investigative mode.

‘Vicky was asleep when he called. And of course, I asked him. You know Sanju. Mr Opaque. He said it was just work.’ Anu beckoned to the waiter for the bill.

‘That is a lie. Sanju belongs to a creed that gets energized by work.’ Shwetha dismissed it immediately.

‘I know, right? Good that you agree with me. I will have to nag an answer out of him.’ Anu drained the last sip of her coffee, paid the bill, and got up to leave. ‘I have to go now. First to the library, then to pick up Vicky from school.’

‘I got to run too. Keep me posted. But don’t get your knickers in a bunch. Worry doesn’t suit you.’

Anu and Shwetha went back a decade. In a multi-national bank where Anu worked briefly as a receptionist, Shwetha was a junior officer. She was fresh off her MCom with a gold medal, and Anu her BA in first class. At first, Shwetha had ignored Anu steadfastly. But Anu hadn’t given up. She had brought her coffee, shared her lunch, extended tickets to movies. Finally what worked was Anu having helped Shwetha pick an outfit for a flashy wedding she had to attend. Why had Anu jumped through hoops to become Shwetha’s friend? Anu honestly didn’t know the right answer. Maybe she found Shwetha’s Sameer kind of no-nonsense attitude very appealing, or because she felt Shwetha could use a friend with a sense of fashion. Besides, apart from Anu, Shwetha was the only one at the bank who read. When Anu saw a reader, she always got a bit overexcited.

Shwetha, as she had admitted later, had thought Anu was an attention-seeking pretty face and she stayed away from those kinds on principle. But soon, again according to Shwetha, their mutual distaste for the office coffee and the boss had made her bond with Anu.