Resolving on the spot to be more monkey, Gehna joined Eram at the dining table. She jammed an elbow down on the flat surface and offered him her left hand. After a playful tussle, neither of them tried especially hard to win. Sometimes, it was nice to just sit with someone in the quiet and hold hands.

‘Tell me your secrets, ask me your questions, oh let’s go back to the start,’ Eram said, so softly that Gehna almost couldn’t make out the words.

‘The Scientist.’

‘Don’t tell anyone. I gotta rep to per-tect.’

‘Mm, I like Coldplay. Their songs sound like heartbreak feels.’

‘Did someone break your heart, Gehna Rai?’

‘Wow. Seriously? We just met for the first time. You can’t ask someone you just met that kind of stuff.’

‘Why the hell not? See, this is what I don’t get about making friends. You meet someone and then spend about a year tiptoeing around the things that really matter. Who says I can’t ask about your heart before we talk about the last episode of Game of-bloody-Thrones or whatever. Whatcha think of it, by the way?’

‘It sucked.’

‘Same. Anyway, but my point is . . . I’ve forgotten what my point is . . . yeah, my point is, tell me something about yourself. Something that matters.’

‘You first.’

‘What? No. I asked you.’

‘Okay, together then.’

‘Fine. On three. One . . . two . . . three,’ Eram counted off. ‘I have pet guinea pigs.’

‘I’m pregnant.’

Eram froze. Then he laughed. ‘You know, for a second there I thought you said—’

‘I did. I mean, I am. Knocked up. Preggers. Got one in the oven. At least, I think it’s only one.’ Becoming aware that his hand was still locked with Gehna’s from their mock arm-wrestling, Eram jerked it away on reflex.

This time it was Gehna who laughed, but in a way that sounded like it was the last thing she wanted to do. ‘Don’t worry, it’s not contagious or anything.’

Eram didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing. He watched the girl sitting next to him. He saw the way she seemed to breathe only in sighs, holding her breath for a minute at a time in between. Her arms folded across her body, rubbing them the way people do when they’re cold. Half of a smile.

Some girls duck their heads or play with their hair when they’re stared at. Gehna stared right back at Eram. ‘What did he mean?’ she asked.

‘What did who mean?’

‘My brother. When he said that thing about you stealing money from him.’

Eram explained to her how he played poker to make money. That he stopped going to school because it was dull and cut into his playing time. He had met Varun at a friendly small-stakes game in some corporate dude’s house. Varun, wanting to up his poker skills so he could impress the guys at the international tobacco company where he worked, had hired Eram to coach him.