On the way back, I debated if I should call him. We hadn’t texted much in weeks, so I had been surprised to get the good luck message from him. Maybe Aunty V had told him about my exam. Maybe (I hoped) he’d asked her about me.

I suddenly wanted to hear his voice. So, before I could stop myself, I dialled his number.

He answered on the very first ring and I sat back in the auto, secretly feeling pleased.

‘How was the exam?’ he asked, surprise evident in his voice.

‘Okay. Ish. Not sure,’ I told him, aiming for light banter with my tone, even though my heart was once again racing. Shit. I still had it bad for him.

‘Why?’ His voice warm and friendly. But that was what it was. Friendly.

‘I hate organic chem, man!’ I said, injecting a note of forced frivolity in my tone.

‘Ugh, me too. I’m so glad all that is behind me now.’

‘So, I heard you’re coming back to Bangalore?’ I asked and wanted to slap my forehead at the same time. What on earth had prompted me to ask him that? Ugh. Stupid, fool, I berated myself.

There was a moment’s silence. ‘Why? Missing me?’ he asked, a teasing note in his voice.

‘As if! How is your GRE prep going?’ I asked, hoping to change the topic.

‘No clue. It’s all so annoying. My father doesn’t really listen to anything I say. He just steamrolls over my objections.’ Raghu sounded bitter.

‘But . . . but it’s your life. He can’t force you to do what you don’t want to do.’

‘Yeah, tell that to him.’ I sensed the withdrawal in his tone, even as I realized how much I enjoyed listening to his voice.

‘So when is the test?’ I asked quietly.

‘In a few weeks. I have to sit down with my mother and make her understand what I want to do in my life.’

I processed this in silence, remembering what Aunty V had said. Should I tell him? Should I make him feel like there was something to look forward to at the end of all this? Would it make him feel better? I decided to jump into it and worry later. I was sure he would be pleased to hear what Aunty V had been considering.

‘Um, listen. Don’t tell her that I said anything to you, but . . . Aunty V was saying that she might consider letting you do a hotel management course if you wanted to.’

The auto was stuck at a traffic signal and around us, there were cars and other vehicles waiting for the signal to change.

There was silence on the other end. I pressed my ear closer to my phone straining to hear him.

‘You’re joking, right?’ he asked.

‘No, she did tell me, but I don’t know how serious she was,’ I added quickly.