The trio was achingly silent and fierce as they got into the car, not being offered even a curtsey goodbye by even a single soul in Bhuvana’s house or the whole neighbourhood. They didn’t speak to each other either. Raghav drove them away from the damned place as Bhuvana sat in the shotgun and Eshwar in the backseat.

They drove for a couple of hours without any word. Eshwar, tired from all the week’s work and the family meet’s exertions, slipped into a sleep.  Bhuvana sat with her head turned to the side and staring out of the window. Raghav drove, occasionally checking on both his friends, taking quick silent glances at them both.

After an eternity of quietness, he managed to ask Bhuvana, “You okay now?”

Bhuvana had no energy to relay her real feelings. Instead, she muttered, “I guess so.”

Tears pooled in her eyes as her emotions finally crashed down at having faced the question of how she was feeling. She sniffled and let the tears flow freely.

Raghav noticed it discretely, but stayed quiet, knowing very well that Bhuvana needed some time for herself.

They made it home late in the night, having stopped at the outskirts of Hyderabad to grab a quick dinner. None of them were properly hungry, yet at their age, they weren’t in the capacity to skip timed meals.

As they stood in the living room of Eshwar and Raghav’s apartment, Eshwar asked Bhuvana, “Which room will you take?”

“I'm fine with any room. I can in fact sleep on the sofa here too,” Bhuvana replied.

“Use my room,” Raghav offered. “I have already cleared it out and the air circulation is good in case you keep the windows open. But…” he paused.

“What?” Bhuvana asked, sensing something odd.

Raghav gave her a look of mild helplessness. “The neighbours will be really loud in the morning. They will wake you up at around six-twenty.”

Bhuvana chuckled. “That's fine. I will probably be awake at that time, dealing with my jetlag. You guys will head out to work tomorrow, right?”

“I don’t have to,” Eshwar declared.

“I will work from home,” Raghav chimed in.

Bhuvana smiled wistfully at them both. “You guys don't have to stay back for me. I will anyways be putting up with my tiredness, jetlag and a bunch of phone calls for the election campaign work.”

Raghav shook his head. “Nah, I need to rest too. It was too hectic today.”

“Me too,” Eshwar added. He signalled to Bhuvana to head into her room, saying, “You freshen up and have a good sleep. Wake me up if you get hungry any time in the night. I will make you some snacks.”

“Sure,” Bhuvana agreed with a smile.

They moved Bhuvana’s luggage into the room and left her to unpack and settle in. Raghav took his sleeping spot on the living room couch while Eshwar retired to his room.

Almost throughout the quiet night, the three friends stayed awake contemplating the day’s happening. None of them had had even a second of positive feeling meeting their parents. It was not only chaotic but emotionally draining for them. The three of them had their own trauma and the run in with their families had just triggered what they had been trying to run away from all along: social pressure, hatred, judgements and character assassination.

Morning came and Raghav wearily got up at around eight thirty to login for the day’s work at nine. Eshwar was at the dining table having coffee, no doubt in an attempt to get over his lack of sleep.

“You are up so early,” Raghav remarked stifling a yawn.

“Rather couldn’t sleep well,” Eshwar gave the obvious answer.

They both got about with their day’s work. Raghav took to the lounge chair in the corner of the living room to sit and work on his office laptop while Eshwar occupied the couch and watched a movie on TV.

Bhuvana came out of her room at around noon, looking weary.

“Hey! Had a good sleep?” Eshwar asked her.

“Not much.” She yawned and stretched, and turning to Raghav, commented, “God, Raghav, your neighbours are really so loud. This happens every morning?”

Raghav nodded. “Yep! What were they fighting about today? “

“Turning off the geyser within ten minutes,” Bhuvana answered. “The husband forgot about it; poor guy. They were going on and on about the electricity bill and whose responsibility it should be.”

Raghav sighed remembering similar arguments he heard previously.

Bhuvana settled on the couch next to Eshwar and wondered, “They have kids, right?”

“A boy and a girl,” Eshwar replied.

“Poor kids,” Bhuvana sympathized. “What’s for breakfast?”

“It's almost lunch time,” Eshwar alerted. “Tell me what you want, we will get it delivered. We'll head out for dinner.”

“Hyderabadi Biriyani,” came the reply.

Vishnu was working on her laptop in her cubicle at office, earphones plugged in and listening to music. She enjoyed that solitude where she could work uninterrupted while her favourite songs played on.

Her phone vibrated with an incoming call, interrupting both the music and Vishnu’s work. She glanced at the phone and saw it was her mother calling. Apprehensively, she picked up the call.

“Vishnu!” Padma’s voice sounded so loud that Vishnu had to jerk the phone away from her ears for a moment. “Really, how long will you keep doing this? Do you really have the intention of getting married or not? Should your father and I suffer like this?”

Vishnu pressed on the volume buttons frantically to lower the sound, feeling very sure that her colleagues in adjacent cubicles had heard of the complaint from her mother. “Mom… mom, please… I am in office now. Can we talk later?” she pleaded in hushed tones.

Parma didn’t lower her voice and vented, “Yeah, keep dodging and making excuses. You keep finding faults with every matrimony match and proposal I send you to consider. It is like you are determined not to give a chance to any guy at all. You will never get married at this rate. Your father and I will be subjected to such shame, and it will all be because of you.”

Vishnu’s face reflected the suffocation she was feeling. “Mom, please! It's not like that. I really didn't like anyone. If I see someone suitable, I will surely try to talk to him.”

Padma questioned, “What about Dinkar? I sent you his details, profile and pictures yesterday. All you replied was he is short in height. Really? That's a reason to reject someone? You didn't even interact with him or get to know him. How can you reject someone without even considering anything substantial?”

Vishnu was feeling miserable by then. “Mom, honestly, it is not like that. Please, can we talk after office hours?”

“Your wish,” Padma said determinedly. “Don't talk to me unless you make a clear decision on whether you will get married or not.” With that she cut the call.

“Hello mom… Mom?” Vishnu tried to stop her mother from cutting her off but realized she was too late. The call had disconnected.

Vishnu sat back with her eyes shut close and head ducked down, feeling as lost as she could.