I had a quick shower and slid on a pair of ripped jeans, a gold top and my sponsored Nike sneakers. Large gold hoops adorned my ears, and a pair of leopard print sunglasses finished the look. From my bag, I took two pills, forcing them down with the left-over mix that was next to my bed. The taste was awful, but I needed the energy to get through the day with Latika. Speaking of, she was draped over my sofa when I walked back into my living room. Nose buried in her social media, she was scrolling through Gaurav’s feed. I grabbed her phone from her.

‘Don’t do that,’ I admonished her, ‘don’t make him out to be anything other than a lying, cheating, man-whore. Latika. He’s not worth your time.’ She looked at me, wide-eyed.

‘Man-whore?’ She burst out laughing and, clicking on his latest picture with a girl, she typed out the words before hitting ‘post’. I gasped at her brashness, not sure whether what she had done was brave or stupid. It was going to be a long day, I thought, before joining in her laughter.

The taxi ride to the market was quieter than I expected. Latika busied herself with messages to her friends while I took photos and videos to add to my archive of social media posts so that I always looked busy. At the market, I searched for locations, taking photos against backdrops using the various stalls and the rich colours of the busy market.

‘Jhanvi! Look at this dress. What do you think?’

‘Yeah,’ I replied, not looking up from my screen. Something strange was happening with my stats, and I didn’t know what it was.

‘You didn’t even look,’ she whined. I lifted my head and nodded, trying to seem interested. In hindsight, I should have paid more attention, considering she was going to accompany me to the club opening.

‘It’s great, Latika, really,’ I said, smiling convincingly. ‘We’ll add some accessories, and the outfit will be perfect.’ I handed her the money to pay for whatever it was she wanted; I still hadn’t really seen what it was. I could deal with it if it were hideously ugly. There was nothing ugly enough that some good accessorising couldn’t fix. Wandering over to the vegetable stalls, I lifted my phone and smiled brightly, trying to portray that I had time for everyday activities as well as being a social media guru.