It was also in this bedroom that Gehna had redeemed one of the coupons Eram had gifted her on her birthday last year. He tore through his previously immaculate cupboard like a devil wind, dumping all the clothes and things on to the floor until he found it.

This love coupon entitles Gehna Rai to ONE

Full Body Massage

Essential oils, wine, candles & music optional

Session lasts for 45 minutes or until the masseur loses his goddamn mind

Expires: Never

She had, naturally, opted for all the extras. She had also teased him without mercy every time his trembling hand strayed too near a breast.

‘Hey. No funny business,’ she would say, squirming away from his touch. She had allowed him to kiss her after half an hour. The sexiest and most agonizing thirty minutes of Eram’s life.

It hurt him to breathe when he remembered that there were seventeen more coupons like this one—seventeen more memories, seventeen more chances to make her smile—out there in the world that were now just so much junk.

Eram walked barefoot around the apartment and saw Gehna everywhere. He saw her setting the table for an impromptu meal that Faizl had rustled up for them. He saw her rifling through the drawers of his computer desk, looking, she said, for anything exciting (don’t you have any secret porn or, like, photos of ex-girlfriends?). But mostly he saw her in the kitchen. Kitchens were Gehna’s favourite place in any homes she visited. She could rummage through one at warp speed, cataloguing for future use which cabinets held the plates and cutlery and things. If she happened to chance upon anything good to eat—fresh figs, kiwi, red peppers, any kind of nut, oatmeal cookies, granola bars, microwave popcorn—she either popped it into her mouth on the spot, or stole it to keep in her bag (you never know when a snack could save my life). Eram saw her in his kitchen now, holding a glass of water in both her hands like a little girl drinking her milkshake. Clambering up on to the granite counter knees-first, also like a little girl would. Wrapping her legs tight around his butt when she pulled him close for a kiss—definitely something only a grown woman would do.

Later that night, up and down the street below his window, the hounds were in symphony. One of them barked, another bayed, a dozen more joined in. Even if there hadn’t been all that hellish noise to keep him up, Eram wouldn’t have slept. He felt that he had slept enough.

The next evening he showed up at Yamini’s house without texting her first. She opened the door and stared blankly at him.

‘Hi,’ said Eram. It was the first word he had spoken all day, so it came out funny. He cleared his throat and tried again. ‘It’s me.’

More blank staring.

‘Look, uh, I’m sorry for just landing up like this. Can we talk? I mean, if you’re free and stuff. It won’t take long.’