Summary

In Chapter 46, Babita arrives in Goa to see the house Vanya has helped her buy, Casa das Conchas, and she is immediately unsettled by how exposed and unfamiliar the place feels. Falcon drives her through a landscape she recognizes from Sonia’s published descriptions, and Babita experiences the strange sensation of entering a scene she knows only through someone else’s language. She tours the property and meets Umberto, who continues restoration work and shares details about the house’s history. Babita tries to make the purchase feel like an act of independence, but she also senses that she has stepped into a new kind of loneliness.

In Chapter 47, Babita returns to Delhi and receives a postcard from Sunny in Venice. She becomes consumed by the fear that her life has been reduced to waiting for messages from other people and managing consequences she...