‘I can foresee myself getting lost here multiple times,’ Anu said looking around. All paths looked the same. All the villas looked the same.

‘That is how you figure out a place,’ Sanju remarked wryly.

‘Sanju, sorry if I am being moody. This is hard for me, you know. I don’t cope well with change.’ Anu genuinely felt bad that she was unable to enjoy being in the lap of luxury. All because a fear lurked inside her that it was not going to end well.

‘You will be fine, Anu. We will be fine. Dave lives round the corner. We will visit him in the evening. My other colleague Smitha also lives here. You can call her if you need anything.’

By the time they reached home, Anu was soaked in sweat. She longed to turn on the AC and take a long nap. But when they were arranging furniture, Sanju had repeatedly remarked how cool the room was. And how they would not need the AC at all there. The future expenses had begun to scare him already! So Anu had refrained from asking why he was sweating buckets if the room was so cool.

The point was, he wouldn’t like it if she turned on the AC in their large master bedroom. The thrifty life she had dreaded had begun! Every room was massive in that house. Was there a smaller one that didn’t consume as much power to cool down? A servant’s room maybe? Finally, Anu decided to sleep in a ground-floor bedroom that was comparatively cooler. She couldn’t help notice how their two diwan cots had significantly diminished the beauty of that room.

‘Is there anything for Vicky to eat when he wakes up?’ Sanju asked putting him down on one of the cots.

‘You wake me up. I will make something.’ Anu yawned. She longed yet again for her old life that had Radha who would come and cook. She pined for her books that she always kept on the side table. Now except for the one she had in her bag, she had no clue where the rest were. And, she didn’t have her library next door anymore. The very thought was depressing.

As the fan started whirring, it also started kicking up a thin layer of dust that had accumulated on the floor. ‘The owners got the place cleaned fifteen days back. Now please have it cleaned again before you move in.’ The realtor had smoothly palmed off a dusty house to them.

As Anu drifted between sneezes and snoozes, she only had nightmares where she had turned into a full-time housekeeper who wore her hair in a bun and lived in a nightie, all day and all night.

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