‘I wasn’t . . .’ Gehna couldn’t understand how the atmosphere in that house kept changing so rapidly. ‘Is that what you think? That I’m some kind of, what, alcoholic slut?’ She could hear the tears lurking behind her words and she really didn’t want to cry in front of him. The other option was to yell and call him lots of nasty names, but she didn’t feel like doing that either. So, she walked out of Eram’s room, and his life, forever.

Or she would have done had it not been raining cats outside.

The housing society that managed the building was yet to reach a consensus on when to lay concrete in the courtyard. Until they did, even a slight drizzle turned the whole place into a mud bath.

Gehna’s desire to storm off in dramatic fashion came second to her desire to keep her white Converse kicks mud-free. So, she stood just inside the building entrance, nursing a vision of bashing Eram’s head with a frying pan. In her imagination the frying pan, like in the cartoons, did no lasting injury, which is why she could bang it on his head again and again. It made her feel better.

‘Hey. You forgot to say hello to these guys.’

It was Eram. He’d followed her down, carrying a cubical cage of the sort typically used to house rabbits. Inside were two guinea pigs, both brown-and-white and both fat as lords. ‘Remember I mentioned them the night we met?’

Gehna kept her arms rigidly folded and refused to acknowledge his presence. She watched from the corner of an eye as Eram set the cage on the ground. The residents, not used to being moved around, were frozen at the back of the cage, huddled so tightly that she couldn’t tell where one guinea pig ended and the other began.

Does he think he can just produce a couple of rats out of a hat and all will be cool? I’m not that easy. I wish this damn rain would stop. Maybe it would be more of a statement if I ran off through the rain? But then if I slipped and fell it would be embarrassing. No, I’ll wait. Where was I? Oh, right, the frying pan. I’ll bang it . . . oh my god, that just isn’t fair. I’m dying of cuteness here.

Eram had stuffed his pockets with lettuce leaves and was feeding the guinea pigs. The lure of their whiskers twitching as they chewed was too much for Gehna. She squatted down to get a better look. Eram offered her a lettuce leaf, which she snatched from his hand.

‘Don’t think this means anything, because it doesn’t. I’m still not talking to you,’ she said.

They fed the guinea pigs together until all the lettuce was gone.

‘I didn’t mean it. What I said earlier.’ Eram paused but Gehna wouldn’t look at him. ‘Everyone at school always thought I was weird because I didn’t like doing the things they were doing. I thought you were making fun of me. Sorry.’