‘Everything okay?’ Kavya interrupted my thoughts.

‘All fine,’ I said, locking my phone. ‘What are we going to wear today? We’ll need to make a good lasting impression on our final day.’ Kavya eyed me again, and then probably figuring out that she wasn’t going to get anything else out of me about the previous night, she opened her travel case.

‘I was thinking of this red dress,’ she said, holding up the loose-fitting cotton red and white dress I’d packed in for her earlier in the week. I nodded in approval, and asked her to bring my case over. Opening it, I found a white cotton long-sleeve button-up shirt and handed it to her. ‘You can wear this with it; leave it unbuttoned though, and I’ll help you roll the sleeves.’ For myself, I pulled out a pair of white high-waisted shorts with grey elephants printed on them, and an oversized grey shirt that I had modified into a front-tying crop top. I chose a pair of large gold-framed sunglasses to go with the outfit.

Kavya headed to the bathroom to get ready and a message pinged through on my phone. I unlocked it.

‘Hi bestie, you disappeared last night. Feeling all right? L.’

I groaned out loud and typed a quick, polite response before locking my phone and throwing it on the bed.

‘Everything all right?’ Kavya was standing at the bathroom door, toothbrush in hand.

‘Fine. Gaurav’s new girlfriend thinks we are BFFs all of a sudden,’ I said and smiled, trying to downplay my annoyance with myself.

‘Well, that position is taken,’ Kavya said, rolling her eyes. Another message came through. I ignored it to get up and get dressed. Together, we walked out into the warm air; the smell of the ocean was a pleasant change from the usual Mumbai city smells. My stomach, still unhappy with me, protested loudly. We chatted as we walked to the VIP area, discussing Latika and Gaurav and how their relationship was doomed to fail regardless of whether I was on this trip or not. Inside the tent, a waiter pushed forward a tray of champagne glasses filled with orange juice.

‘Champagne and orange juice for the ladies?’

I could feel Kavya’s eyes on me. I shook my head. ‘Just plain orange juice,’ I said.

‘You will have to go to the bar for that,’ the waiter said and winked, probably insinuating that he understood I had a hangover.

In a corner, Gaurav was speaking with some Burn Promotions PR people, while Latika sat not far from him, arms crossed and clearly sulking. Kavya leaned in and said, ‘Your bestie is over there, waiting for you.’ I shot her a look, and she burst out laughing.

The group of influencers she was with last night were sitting on one of the leather couches, drinking coffee; they smiled and waved for her to come over.

‘Go,’ I told her, ‘I’m just going to get myself an orange juice and I will be right over.’