‘Druhiiii,’ Gehna yelled, launching herself at the woman. ‘What up, girlfriend? I missed you.’

The woman disengaged herself gently from Gehna’s bear hug. She signed rapidly with her fingers.

‘Nothing’s wrong,’ Gehna said to her. ‘I’m just staying at Varun’s for a while. This is my new friend, Eram. Eram, this is Druhi, the coolest chick in the world.’

Eram stuck out his hand to shake and got a bit awkward when Druhi folded her hands instead. She had a warm smile and he liked her instinctively.

‘Listen, what’s the current location of Hurricane Nina?’ Gehna asked Druhi, who signed in an agitated way and then made a shooing motion with both hands. ‘No, I don’t think I will go in to the dining room right away. I think I’ll take a shower first, maybe see what’s on TV—’

Druhi caught hold of Gehna’s arm and marched her forward. ‘Okay, okay,’ Gehna said. ‘Jesus. I was just playing, woman.’

In the dining room, Eram thought things looked copacetic. At one end of the polished teak table sat a man who looked about Faizl’s age, and at the other end was a woman who was younger, maybe in her mid-forties. They looked pleasant enough, though a bit overdressed for a family dinner. Trust a girl, thought Eram, to make a big fuss over nothing. These two are old and harmless. Any second now we’ll all be hugging and watching home movies of the kids and there’ll be apple pie.

‘Gehna Rai, you’re late. Where are your manners?’

Mrs Rai had spoken at a normal volume but Eram felt the temperature in the room drop a couple of degrees. Gehna pantomimed a hunt through her clothes.

‘Oh shoot, you know what? I must’ve left them in my jeans.’

‘You need to learn to be more considerate of other people’s time. The staff can’t wait for your ladyship to show up as and when it pleases her.’

‘Nina, chill. It’s twenty minutes. Can we please not make a federal case out of it? Hi, Dad.’ Gehna went over and kissed her father on the cheek.

‘Hi, darling,’ Mr Rai spoke in a deep, slow voice. He sounded tired. ‘You brought a friend.’

‘Yeah, no. Sorry, this is Eram. Technically, he was Varun’s friend first, but now I’ve stolen him away. Eram, this is my parents. What’s to eat? I’m starving.’

Eram shook hands with Mr Rai. ‘Hello, sir.’

‘Call me Ajay. And my wife is Nina. Have a seat, please.’

Eram nodded politely to Mrs Rai. ‘Ma’am. You have a beautiful home.’

‘Thank you. It’s rare to meet a young person these days who knows how to behave.’ She looked pointedly at her daughter who was eating salad greens with her hands while making wet noises of pleasure. ‘Gehna, stop that. You were not raised by beasts.’

Gehna tore off a hunk of garlic bread. ‘Oh, I don’t know about that. A case could be made. No offence, Dad.’

‘That’s okay, sweetheart. Where’s your brother? We haven’t seen him in ages.’