When Sandhya proposed a challenge round, Roopa was not a game for it as she preferred to preserve the memory of their triumph lest they should lose the challenger. But at Roopa’s behest as they took to rummy instead, Tara talked about the stakes.
‘You spell it,’ said Raja Rao.
‘Ten a count,’ Tara proposed.
‘I feel it’s high,’ said Sandhya.
‘Not for an architect’s wife,’ Tara brushed aside the objection.
As dame luck teamed up with the members of her gender, as if to show where her sympathies lie, Tara said to Raja Rao, ‘It looks like you have no way with dame luck today.’ Picking up his cards deliberately, he looked stealthily at Roopa and said, ‘But I’m hopeful that she might favor me in time.’ However, as he found Roopa gazing at him as though expecting some such comment, he knew she was playing the ball with him.
Roopa though admired his audacity, nevertheless, was troubled lest Sandhya should take note of their flirtations. ‘Sandhya seems to be in love with him to a fault, though she can’t be faulted for that,’ thought Roopa as she scooted that deal. ‘It’s as though some magnetic force would draw women to him! Isn’t Tara, the veteran of many a fill, coy to him as if she were a virgin? It looks like he appreciates Tara’s undeniable charms but he doesn’t seem to be enamored of her. Without a roving eye, won’t he make a steady lover? Oh, had I not stopped him in his tracks then, daredevil that he is, he could have declared his love for me then and there. What a lover to have, if ever I have him. Well, I shouldn’t miss the next chance as and when it presents itself.’
‘Sorry,’ said Tara, taking leave at length, ‘for robbing the hosts.’
‘We’ll make it even next time,’ said Roopa smiling.
‘I always wish that you’re better even,’ said Tara in undertone to Roopa. ‘It’s still open.’
Fearing a possible misunderstanding by Raja Rao and Sandhya, Roopa clarified as Tara had left, ‘She wants me to take up a job and promises to find me one.’
‘Why,’ said Sandhya, ‘it’s not a bad idea.’
‘What’s the hesitation?’ he asked, finding Roopa unresponsive.
‘You may not know,’ said Roopa to Raja Rao, ‘that I’m not even a graduate. I wonder who would employ me, and for what.’
‘As I told you,’ said Sandhya to Raja Rao, ‘Roopa was the topper of our class before she gave up studies.’
‘How does that help now,’ said Roopa. ‘Now it’s all bygones.’