She smiled. She held Asrar’s hand and put her head in his palms. Asrar was silent.

After a while, he felt his palms getting moist. He got up. He straightened Hina up. Hina had tears in her eyes. He took out his handkerchief from his pocket immediately and wiped her tears. He was not able to understand what was happening. He wondered if she was crying because of their kiss. A few drops slipped from Hina’s eyes again. Asrar wiped those tears with his handkerchief and said, ‘I’m really sorry.’ Hina looked at him. She smiled. Asrar had never seen anyone cry and smile at the same time. That situation dragged him into a wavering in his mind. He could not understand the situation. He was getting confused when Hina said, ‘I love you, darling.’

That one line changed the entire situation. Asrar also sat on the table. Hina rested her head on Asrar’s chest and closed her eyes and moved her fingers over his face. Asrar sat silently, although there was a lot of sound in that silence, which echoed in his soul. There were only three or four minutes left for the hour to be over when the waiter knocked at the cabin and asked, ‘Do you require more time?’

Asrar replied, ‘No.’

They reached the Dadar railway station on foot.

The coach of the local train that they had boarded was not crowded. They stood near the door and chatted throughout the journey. After seven or eight minutes, the train reached Mumbai Central. They got off the train. Asrar hired a taxi for Hina at the Mumbai Central bridge, and he proceeded towards the bus stop. He stood there and waited for the bus that would take him to Mohammad Ali Road. The bus came after half an hour. He reached the kholi at 8.15 p.m.

They went to Juhu Chowpatty in the last week of February. The beach at Juhu was quite large and spread over a wide area. It was considered the most pleasant beach in Mumbai. All kinds of people went there for recreation, fun or to simply take a stroll. There were many stalls and makeshift shops for snacks, juices and sherbets that remained opened till late in the night. Asrar and Hina reached that place at around 5.15 p.m. As they ventured to one end of the beach the crowd got thinner. The point where the beach ended, the walls began. Across those walls were four- and five-star hotels, high-rise buildings and old bungalows. They kept walking for half an hour while talking. Asrar saw that couples sat with hands around each other at short intervals on those walls. Although he had visited this beach with his friends from the kholi a year back, he had not seen this part. He suggested that they should sit in the shade of one of the walls and talk.