Sanju sighed. ‘Anu, I am serious. At least let us look at some houses, okay?’

Anu kept shaking her head. ‘I could have married anyone in the US if I wanted to move! I chose you because you wanted to stay around here as much as I did.’

‘You do firmly believe that marrying me was an act of kindness, don’t you?’ Sanju smiled amusedly and ruffled Anu’s hair.

‘Not just marrying you but making a nice life for us. See, you don’t do a thing around the house, except smoothen the edges of the sofa covers. Neither do I. That is because I have carefully collected people who ease our lives. Now you want to throw this all away for some absurd dream?’

‘Why are my dreams all absurd? Come on, Anu.’

Plonking on the sofa and stretching her legs on to the magazine table, Anu turned on the TV. She could not continue with the discussion anymore. She could not imagine uprooting her life from Vijaynagar.

‘How can I abandon my friends, family, Jake’s, Yashoda aunty, Supriyaji, my school?’ Anu waved her hands dramatically. ‘And, Kavitha!’

Claiming the seat next to her, Sanju muted the television. ‘Kavitha will follow you anyway. And the others are not going away anywhere. They will all be here and you can add more people to your collection in a new place. You will think about it, right?’

Anu nodded wearily. Sanju was nice, kind, and adjusting, but was also like a broken record when he wanted something. He wore Anu down. ‘Sanju, is it just the house and the car that bother you or us too?’

Sanju stretched next to Anu and pulled her to him. ‘You are perfect. I don’t want you to change at all.’

Feeling all warm-fuzzy with the rare compliment, Anu declared. ‘Vicky is perfect too.’

‘He is. Though you could cut his nails and clean his nose more often.’

‘Done. Now can we watch TV? Before your snotty little boy comes in like a hurricane?’ Anu smiled. Sanju never prolonged any fight. They hadn’t stopped talking to each other even for a day in the past ten years. Well, except for six months once. A story for another time.

‘Think about what I said.’ Sanju was going to be relentless unless she gave in. She knew it already.

Anu threw the head back, sighed, and nodded. ‘Okay, milord.’

When the school reopened after two days, Anu felt quite delighted. Holidays had meaning only when there was work. And, she couldn’t wait to showcase her revamped wardrobe after the Amazon Great Indian sale. Luckily, Sanju was so busy at work, he hadn’t pestered her with the think-about-it phrase. So she was secretly hoping that he would forget all about it soon.

Dropping Vicky to his class room, Anu walked into her class. ‘Anu ma’am, my birthday today.’

‘Anu ma’am, I went to the beach.’