Rupa defiantly stared back at the piece of brownie. It had given her enough heartbreak over the last few months. Have it, not have it—always a battle between the heart and the mind.

The effort to ignore something you like is just as difficult as the decision to stay away from it. Weight loss is never an easy journey, far more if there is no support system.

Rupa remembered how she had excitedly announced to her husband she had managed to stick to her resolve of taking only stairs for a whole month now. In response, Ranjeet had only sniggered. ‘That’s why it takes you an hour to get from ground floor to third floor.’

She remembered how when she had picked up the carton of sugarfree juice, her husband had raised an eyebrow and said, ‘Why buy it at all when you won’t drink it?’ Dejected, Rupa had kept it back. He was right, of course. The bland-tasting liquid wasn’t half as delicious as its sweetened variety.

After a series of many such fails over the past six months, Rupa had decided to throw in the towel. She was never thin enough for society to approve anyway. She pointed to the brownie, turned to the server, and smiled. ‘Warm it up, please.’ She would take the unsavoury comments on her chin, she decided.

‘I really need to become more careful of what I keep where,’ Ranjeet said, as he walked into the ground floor café of the building where they both worked. Rupa was well aware of the ongoing hunt for some documents that he had yet again misplaced.

She threw him a questioning look.

‘It’s not at my desk. I’ve looked everywhere.’ He threw his hands up in the air. ‘I really need to be more organised.’

Rupa sniggered and said, ‘That’d be the day,’

‘What?’ Ranjeet said, with a frown. ‘You could be a bit more supportive.’

‘Yeah, I could. But so could you.’ She smiled at her husband as she dug into the gooey brownie.