‘I’ll be on pills before you’re there,’ she said, ardently going over him. ‘But for now, so be it.’

‘Roopa to be honest with you,’ he said, holding her in his arms, as they felt satiated at length, ‘Often I delve into my heart, to gauge if the levels of my love for you both are any different. As I realize to my relief that they are even, I probe my mind to monitor your emotional currents that stir my soul. Oh, how synchronous they both seem. Then, I check

my conscience for dichotomy if any and I always find it filled with equanimity. It feels so soothing that you both sing the song of my love in tandem.’

‘Raja,’ she cried in joy, ‘give her more of your love as she is the better one. Oh, how I owe all this happiness to her.’

‘Roopa, now I know why Sandhya loves you as she does,’ he kissed away her tears. ‘I shall love her all the more for that.’

‘I’m dying for our orgies,’ she said ecstatically, ‘when will you bring that about?’

‘That will be, when it will be,’ he said in all assurance, ‘but come it will.’

Long after Raja Rao had left, Roopa kept wondering whether her urge for orgies could be the manifestation of her need to expiate her guilt in a sex triangle with her mates.