He had repeated this sentence in the last few meetings. Hina was impressed by the romantic delivery of the line. She always reacted with a smile. Her answer was in her smile. In the dim light of the cabin she said, ‘I love you too.’ The vibrations of her words penetrated Asrar’s heart. He kept gaping at her for two minutes, and then gathered courage to put his palms on her cheeks. In the dim light, they peered into each other’s eyes. They could feel the infinite love in their eyes. They kept looking at each other for a while. Looking at each other was bliss, the greatest bliss of the world at that moment. They were lost in the moment when God knows from where Jamila Miss and Shanti entered Asrar’s thoughts. Jamila Miss was angry. The brimming love for Hina in Asrar’s eyes seemed to anger her. Maybe her heart was wounded. In his mind Asrar saw Jamila Miss drowning in a tunnel-like pit. The pit was full of dense blood and the blood belonged to no one but Jamila Miss herself. A spring of red blood was emerging from her chest. While drowning, she looked at Asrar and cried, ‘I loved you. I thought you were mine.’ Shanti stood at a little distance from the pit. She was holding a plate which fell on the ground. Vermilion and haldi kumkum were scattered on the floor.

Shanti lifted her eyes and looked at Asrar. ‘You’re fortunate to have found love. Ah! What is there for the likes of us?’

Jamila Miss and Shanti came before his eyes and vanished like a film sequence. Now, his eyes could only see Hina. He felt the magic of her bright eyes. Hina felt the same. There was a sense of self-forgetfulness in which she was lost as she looked at Asrar. The hidden emotions of the heart reflected in her eyes. The two couldn’t see anything in the cabin but each other, though there were things strewn on the floor. Possibly, six or seven couples had spent time in this cabin since morning. Amid the confusion of the small space, darkness and the intensity of passion, people usually left behind their belongings in such cabins. A pink handkerchief lay next to Hina’s feet. A used red lipstick was kept inside that handkerchief. An unused packet of Kamasutra condoms was behind the dustbin. A small cockroach was snoozing on that packet. A comb, which seemed to have been used for years, was near Asrar’s feet. The teeth of the comb were broken at many places and between them layers of dirt had accumulated. A blouse hook lay in one corner. A few rose petals were strewn around. In the other corner, a bead from a rosary lay on the floor.

‘Ouch …’

There was a plywood partition between the cabins. Hina’s back was leaning against the plywood. The moment she heard the sound of ‘ouch’, the plywood started shaking—khad khad khadak! She was scared. She had not yet gathered what was happening when someone from the adjoining cabin said in an apologetic tone, ‘Sorry.’