‘You do that now,’ Elyas said. She realised she missed her youth and the lightness he had brought to it, that time when she couldn’t tell where she ended and he began. And now she only met him in the darkness of a bedroom or here in the park. The two parts of their relationship were divided; something inside her wanted to find a way to bridge them. But what was that bridge? The mundane daily tasks of shopping lists, lunch and laundry-basket arguments? She had an army of men ready to go to war at her command, on land and online, but she couldn’t navigate a relationship outside that world.

She looked up and a tall good-looking man waved at her from across the grass. He was waiting by the play area with an old-fashioned pram. His wife, a handsome woman, was keeping an eye on their five-year-old son. The little boy was confidently climbing the steps to the slide. The man looked familiar.

‘I know that guy. Who is he?’ Elyas asked.

‘That is Marcus Massey. He’s an investment banker,’ she said.

‘Why do I know his face?’ Elyas said.

‘Maybe you covered the story? Marcus was accused of assaulting – sexually assaulting – a trainee risk analyst. She dropped the charges. Story was, Massey’s father put the screws on her father’s business contacts and paid her off too.’

‘I suppose the police couldn’t do anything about it?’

Jia shook her head. ‘I knew her. She used to work with me. Power makes men unfit for normal life.’

Elyas saw that something in her had hardened and it frightened him. But he couldn’t say whether he was afraid for her or of her. ‘Jia, what’s going on?’ he said. ‘I’m worried about you.’

‘Nothing,’ she replied. ‘Let’s get a coffee, the weather is changing.’ Elyas felt the warmth of her against him as she took his arm and led him towards the café. It was the first time she’d touched him in public.

She waited at a table while he bought the drinks. ‘So, are we going to talk about what happened between us?’ he asked, tearing open a sugar sachet and pouring it into her cup.

‘No,’ she said matter-of-factly.

‘Why not?’ he asked.

She sipped her tea slowly. ‘There’s nothing to say. It was all such a long time ago,’ and she turned away from him, caught between wanting to talk and not talk; and then she saw Ahad walking towards them, which settled the matter.