‘He’s not only a genius at work, but also with the women,’ he said with a grin. ‘Did you know that he managed to meet a woman last weekend and somehow convince her that they could sleep in the same tent!’

Vihaan looked at me; I looked down.

‘So, you are quite the Casanova then? When’s the first date?’ he patted me on the back.

‘It’s not like this clown here describes it,’ I said, embarrassed by Rishi’s lack of tact. ‘I met her on the train, and we happened to bump into each other this weekend. I intend on asking her out on a date this week.’

Vihaan put his hands up in mock defeat before laughing and saying, ‘I’m more interested in why you were sleeping in a tent, but that is a story for another day. I have a board meeting now,’ he said, and turned to walk away. ‘Hey, Ashray, don’t wait too long to ask the girl out. She sounds like a catch, and you wouldn’t want some other clown to ask her before you.’ He gestured towards Rishi, who clutched his chest and acted wounded.

I laughed, content at the moment. As soon as the elevator bell signalled that Vihaan had left, Rishi clipped me on the back of the head.

‘You haven’t asked her out yet?’ He spoke a little too loudly and I frowned at him. He shook his head before rolling back to his desk. An internal message popped up on my desktop. It was from Rishi.

‘Seeing as you won’t answer me—when are you going to ask her out?’

I replied with an angry face, but internally, I was laughing at my friend. He was muttering something behind me; the familiar roll of his chair wheels made me laugh loudly.

‘My phone is flat, and I need to text a friend urgently. Can I use yours?’ he asked. I fed in the passcode and handed him my phone.

Opening a new request for a portfolio, I began to formulate a plan to win my next client over. I clicked on their website, taking notes as I scrolled through. From behind me, Rishi punched the air and pushed his chair back a little too hard, crashing into mine. He handed me back my phone with a little too much enthusiasm, and my stomach knotted.

‘What did you do?’ I whispered.

‘You have a date on Friday night with the lovely Sakshi,’ he said with a wide grin.

‘I what?’ I shouted, and the office turned to look at us. Rishi bent over to hide his laughter.

‘Take her somewhere nice, okay?’ he said as he rolled back to his desk.