Vidhi immediately smiled at the question. She turned half her face towards Yusuf as if to assess if the question was asked in jest and to understand the mischief behind it. Yusuf shrugged to indicate that there was no escaping the question. Hina was happy to see the stalemate between them thawing. She was having fun. Vidhi looked at Hina and said, ‘I got myself caught, yaar.’

Hina replied, ‘You only started the “direct” questions. Now you cannot back out.’

For a moment Vidhi gave the impression that the answer to the question was difficult for her. Mischief came to her mind. She turned and saw a waiter standing behind her. On seeing her turn, the waiter came to her. Vidhi looked at Yusuf and told the waiter, ‘Water, please.’ Actually, Vidhi had just mimicked Yusuf, and very well. She drank the water and while keeping the glass on the table said, ‘I am an atheist.’

Hina and Yusuf’s eyes were still focused on Vidhi. Vidhi spoke about herself for some more time. Yusuf seemed to be impressed with what she was saying.

After they were done with the food, they had ice cream. They chatted while standing outside the restaurant. Yusuf told Vidhi that he could drop her at the hostel, but Vidhi said she wanted to look for a few old books on the roadside bookstalls in the Fort area. Vidhi left after five or ten minutes.

Yusuf and Hina sat in the car. Yusuf dropped Hina at the JJ flyover and went back to his shop. He went to meet his family on Saturday. After mentioning the trip to Aurangabad, he told Hina that she should go for the educational trip. Darakhshan was ready to express doubts about her safety, but before that Yusuf said that he had already spoken to Miss Thomas, who was a lecturer in the college. She was going to be present on the trip. She knew Hina and would keep an eye on her. This was enough for Darakhshan’s satisfaction. While Yusuf was leaving, Hina accompanied him till the ground floor of the building. When Yusuf was about to sit in the car, Hina asked him if he really knew Miss Thomas. Yusuf admitted that he had known her for a few years. She said that she could never gather that from the conversations she had had with Miss Thomas. He sat in the car and Hina returned home.

On her way back to the house, she kept thinking of how her father and Miss Thomas could have met and become friends. Miss Thomas was a strict, introverted, scholarly woman.

There was a traffic jam at the JJ signal. Yusuf’s car got stuck in the jam. He looked at himself in the rear-view mirror and read what was written on it, ‘Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear.’ He smiled. Miss Thomas, wearing red lipstick, a T-shirt and a skirt, was smiling at him from the mirror.