“We call someone.”
Sanjay understood first.
His smile vanished.
Vivek understood next.
“No.”
Raja spread his arms.
“Why not?”
“Because that’s insane.”
“It’s practical.”
“It’s insane.”
“We’re adults.”
“Still insane.”
Sanjay looked between them.
“You mean an escort?”
Raja snapped his fingers.
“Thank you. A professional.”
Vivek shook his head.
“This is whisky speaking.”
“Whisky makes excellent points.”
“Whisky once convinced you to sing on top of a tractor.”
“And people enjoyed it.”
“Nobody enjoyed it.”
Sanjay said nothing.
The idea should have sounded ridiculous.
Instead it landed somewhere uncomfortable inside him.
Not because he desperately wanted sex.
That wasn’t it.
At least, he didn’t think it was.
It was because twenty-six had arrived without permission.
Everyone around them seemed to be moving forward.
Marriage.
Careers.
Apartments.
Relationships.
Sex.
Children.
Responsibilities.
Meanwhile these three were sitting in a Patna hotel room comparing adolescent crushes like boys at a school reunion.
Maybe Raja felt it too.
Maybe that was what his ridiculous proposal was really about.
Not lust.
Proof.
Proof that they had finally crossed some invisible border into adulthood.
Vivek poured water into his glass.
“We’ll regret it.”
Raja shrugged.
“We regret relationships too.”
“That’s not an argument.”
“Good enough at midnight.”
Sanjay looked out the window.
Below them headlights crawled through the city.
Somewhere beyond those lights was the road toward their village.
Toward Aparna and Arvind.
Toward Archana and Anandmohan.
Toward Pallavi and Ajit.
Toward mothers who still asked whether they had eaten.
Fathers who still believed advice could solve everything.
Sisters who knew almost every secret except the ones their brothers barely admitted to themselves.
And somewhere behind them stretched three versions of childhood.
Three versions of loneliness.
Three failed love stories.
Three young men who had spent years pretending they understood women, relationships and themselves.
Sanjay turned back.
“Suppose we do it.”
Vivek stared at him.
Raja grinned.
Sanjay raised a hand.
“I said suppose.”
“Continue.”
“What happens?”
Raja opened his mouth.
Then stopped.
For once, he had no joke ready.
That question changed the atmosphere.
What happened afterward?
Would they actually feel different?
Would one of them panic?
Would somebody back out?
Would it become a story they laughed about for the rest of their lives?
Or something they never mentioned again?
Vivek leaned back.
“I think before we do anything tomorrow, there’s something we should figure out tonight.”
“What?”
“Why each of us cares so much.”
Nobody answered.
The ceiling fan hummed.
A horn sounded somewhere below.
Then Raja reached for the bottle.
“Fine.”
He poured three smaller drinks.
“Full confession night.”
Sanjay smiled.
“We already started.”
“No. Properly.”
Raja handed them their glasses.
“School. College. Crushes. Girlfriends. Breakups. Everything.”
Vivek nodded slowly.
“And nobody lies.”
“Nobody.”
They looked at Sanjay.
He lifted his glass.
“Fine.”
Raja raised his.
“To bad decisions?”
Vivek corrected him.
