‘This is Roopa,’ Chandrika introduced her to him.
‘I am Anand,’ he said, ‘the ever grateful.’
‘Please, don’t make much of it,’ said Roopa in embarrassment.
‘Your gesture is love-saving for us,’ he said.
‘I’m glad you’re happy,’ said Roopa as though to shed part of her guilt. ‘How are you sure I didn’t have an axe to grind?’
‘Even then,’ he insisted, ‘it doesn’t lessen our gratitude.’
‘I don’t deserve it, though,’ she thought, but said, ‘I wish you all the best.’
‘Thank you,’ he said as he left them to exchange notes.
‘How do you like him?’ enquired Chandrika eagerly.
‘He has got good features,’ said Roopa shaking Chandrika’s hand in congratulation. ‘You’ve chosen well.’
‘Coming from you,’ said Chandrika in elation, ‘it’s a compliment.’
When it was time for Roopa’s departure, the mates felt wrenched from one another. Neither was Janaki satisfied. ‘You were hardly at home,’ she complained. Seeing his daughter in a happy frame of mind, Ramaiah, however, thought she got reconciled to her situation at last and felt relieved at that. However, the three days she spent in her in-laws’ house, with the constant reference to Sathyam therein, made her experience the effect of his presence more in his absence, which made her feel that she was in the annex of her own home.