Their flat occupied one side of the third floor.
The other side was still vacant.
Three bedrooms.
A hall.
Kitchen.
Two balconies.
Too much space for three nervous men.
The agent checked the hall, then looked toward the bedrooms.
“You’re three only?”
“Yes,” Vivek said.
“Nobody else coming?”
“No.”
He nodded.
“Fine.”
His tone changed slightly.
“Listen carefully.”
The three men became serious.
“The girl coming tonight is new.”
Raja’s smile disappeared.
“New?”
“New to this work.”
He looked between them.
“She’s young. Twenty-three.”
Sanjay felt something uncomfortable move through his stomach.
The agent continued.
“She’s polite. Very soft nature. Don’t behave roughly with her.”
Nobody spoke.
“Be professional. Talk properly. If she says she isn’t comfortable with anything, don’t argue.”
Vivek nodded immediately.
“Of course.”
The agent looked at Raja.
“You understand?”
“Yes.”
“She’s not somebody who has been doing this for years.”
There was something almost protective in his voice.
“This is only her seventeenth booking.”
Seventeenth.
The number landed strangely.
Specific enough to make the anonymous person they had been imagining suddenly feel real.
Sanjay glanced at Vivek.
Vivek was no longer smiling either.
The agent continued.
“First talk to her. Make her comfortable.”
Then he held out his hand.
“Payment.”
Raja retrieved the envelope.
Thirty thousand rupees.
The agent counted it carefully.
Ten.
Twenty.
Thirty.
He tucked it into his jacket.
“Okay.”
Sanjay asked, “She’s coming with you?”
“No.”
“When?”
“Ten minutes.”
Raja glanced at his watch.
The agent walked toward the entrance.
Then paused.
“One more thing.”
They waited.
“Don’t crowd around her when she enters.”
There was the faintest trace of amusement on his face.
“You three look more nervous than she probably is.”
Raja gave an embarrassed laugh.
The agent opened the door.
“Keep it unlocked. She knows the flat.”
Then he left.
The door remained open.
8:34 p.m.
Four minutes.
Raja walked to the mirror.
Fixed his hair.
Again.
Vivek sat on the sofa.
Stood.
Then sat again.
Sanjay walked toward the balcony.
“Stop moving,” Raja said.
“You stop touching your hair.”
“I’m checking it.”
“For what?”
“Consistency.”
Vivek stared at both of them.
“You realize we’re behaving like sixteen-year-olds waiting for exam results?”
Nobody disagreed.
Sanjay checked the time.
8:36.
Six minutes.
The hallway outside was completely silent.
Because the flat opposite them was vacant, there were no neighbours moving around.
No television.
No conversations.
Nothing.
Just occasional sounds from the street three floors below.
Raja went to the refrigerator.
“Cold drink?”
“No.”
“Water?”
“No.”
“ORS?”
Vivek stared at him.
“We haven’t even done anything.”
“I’m offering hydration.”
Sanjay almost laughed.
Almost.
His heart was beating strangely fast now.
8:39.
They heard footsteps.
Nobody spoke.
Slow footsteps climbing the final few stairs.
Then silence.
Raja whispered, “She’s here.”
Vivek immediately whispered back, “Why are we whispering?”
“I don’t know.”
Sanjay looked toward the open door.
From where he stood, he could see only part of the corridor.
A shadow appeared.
