Rolling my eyes, I began choosing the perfect outfit for a casual, late summer Saturday. Flipping through my double wardrobe, I eventually decided on a yellow shirt and a pair of flowing white pants. Slipping on a pair of yellow pumps, I opened my makeup bag and added a few finishing touches to go out. Looking at myself in the mirror, I nodded in approval. Grabbing my keys and a pair of oversized sunglasses, I walked out of my apartment. I was ready to start this new chapter in my life; no Puneet needed, just me.

I ignored the pain in my chest when the thought of living without him entered my head. Stepping outside and onto the sidewalk, I hailed a cab. Climbing into the cab, I opened my phone and typed out a message to let Kavya know that I was on my way. I gave the taxi driver the destination address, sat back and opened my camera. Placing it close to the taxi window, I hit record, creating the next lot of content.

A short taxi-drive through Mumbai traffic, and I was at my friend’s apartment block. I rang the buzzer, and the door buzzed open. I opted to take the elevator, rather than risk sweating while I walked the stairs up to the fifth floor. Before I could knock, Kavya opened the door, toothbrush in hand. She hugged me and mumbled for me to sit down. A few moments later, she emerged from the bathroom and greeted me properly.

‘I’ll pour us some juice, tell me what happened,’ she said.

I didn’t want to talk about it, but I knew my friend would not let it go until she had all the details.

‘He denied it to begin with, of course,’ I began, trying to hide the sound of my voice breaking. ‘That was before he called me shallow and detached and admitted he had been fooling around for months.’

Kavya shook her head. ‘The man is a swine, Jhanvi. They’re not all like that, I promise you.’

I wondered how my friend always seemed to know what I was thinking. ‘This is the second time, Kavya. I am starting to think that they are all like that. Anyway, what are we doing today?’ I tried to change the subject before my tears started to fall.

‘I thought we could go and get a late lunch, have a girl’s day out,’ Kavya responded. ‘Perhaps take in a few sights?’

I nodded my head absentmindedly while I scrolled through my comments, trying to calculate what percentage I had moved up with my followers. Kavya told me that she was going to finish getting ready before disappearing into her room. I continued scrolling through my comments, selecting the ones I would respond to with a personalised message, and trying to avoid the ones that said anything negative about me. Since my account had become popular, I noticed how people who chose to be negative always spoke about me in the third person, as if I wasn’t the person behind the account. One of them, this morning, had commented on how I sleep with makeup on. I made a face as my thumb hovered over the delete comment button. Finally, I just closed the app, choosing to ignore the comment, and made a mental note to take more care when trying to get the natural look with makeup.