I sat down in the empty kitchen and looked at the plate, my mouth watering. I broke off the crispy edge and ate a bite, and then pushed away the plate, feeling sick suddenly.

I was heading down that path again. The path that had made me Fat Ananya and Ms Piggy. With Raghu making everything look so easy in the kitchen, I’d forgotten how much I loved baking. I couldn’t go back there. I was still just halfway to my goal and I couldn’t keep falling back, I scolded myself.

I folded the masala dosa into a foil wrapper and decided to give it to Nisha or Anirudh. I left for college before Ma and the others returned.

Raghu’s interview with a somewhat famous chef had gone well and he was going to start his internship there today.

I would probably see less of him now, I thought with disappointment. I also needed to figure out all these weird feelings I had around him and I needed to talk to Nisha about it.

Once I was in college, I could barely wait for a free period for us to talk. But when it was time, I couldn’t bring myself to say the words.

What would I tell her? That I had a crush on Raghu? That we’d been having these weird moments where he’d stare intensely at me and wouldn’t look away? Moments that left me feeling as if the breath had been knocked out from my body completely?

‘What is it?’ she asked finally. We were in an empty classroom and I’d told them I wanted to talk so we had strolled inside and sat down on the benches.

‘Raghu and I talked,’ I said finally. Her eyebrows went up and she looked at Anirudh.

‘And?’ she asked me, looking expectant.

Feeling somewhat foolish, I told them about how Raghu and I had put our differences aside. That we’d talked about everything and his ‘revenge’ plan.

Nisha was looking at me avidly as I narrated everything. To my surprise, Anirudh leaned forward, cocking his head slightly.

‘You like him,’ he said.

‘Huh?’ I asked, feeling a blush creep onto my cheeks.

He nodded and smiled. ‘You definitely like him,’ he said.

I turned to Nisha for help, but she smiled in an irritatingly wise manner.

‘So what?’ I shrugged. ‘I’m sure there are hundreds of girls who like him too.’

‘True . . . but . . .’ Nisha looked somewhat stricken. Maybe she was remembering the things I’d told her about why my crush on him was pointless. I was certainly remembering my words

Suddenly, I didn’t want to tell them about those moments I’d shared with him. Maybe I was reading too much into it. Maybe he’d just spaced out and I happened to be in his line of sight.