Chapter 1: The List
"What's your type?"
Ananya smiled.
She had answered this question so many times that she no longer had to think.
"Financially stable. Emotionally aware. Loyal. Doesn't smoke. Doesn't want children immediately. Taller than me."
Her friends nodded.
"Okay, the non-smoking part makes sense."
"And not wanting children immediately, we understand that."
"But what exactly do you mean by financially stable?"
Ananya looked confused.
"What do you mean, what do I mean?"
One of her friends laughed.
"I mean...are you financially stable?"
The table erupted.
"You still complain about rent, inflation, and your SIPs every month."
"That's different," Ananya protested.
"How?"
"It just is."
The laughter grew louder.
Before she could defend herself, another friend leaned forward.
"And how are you planning to verify emotionally aware before meeting someone?"
Silence.
"What?"
"You heard me."
"If someone writes 'emotionally aware' on a dating profile, would you believe them?"
"No."
"If they tell you they're emotionally aware on the first call?"
"No."
"What about loyal?"
Ananya frowned.
"What about loyal?"
"Can you know whether someone is loyal from a biodata?"
"No."
"A LinkedIn profile?"
"No."
"A first coffee?"
"No."
Her friend smiled.
"Then those aren't early filters."
"They're things you discover."
Nobody spoke for a moment.
The conversation had suddenly become more interesting than the coffee.
Another friend broke the silence.
"What about taller than me?"
Ananya sat up immediately.
"What about it?"
"You're 5'2"."
"So?"
"So would you meet someone who's 5'4"?"
She looked genuinely horrified.
"5'4"?"
"Yes."
"That's a boy."
The entire table burst into laughter.
"Ananya, that's only two inches taller than you."
"He needs to be tall."
"How tall?"
"I don't know."
"Six feet?"
"Maybe."
"Five-nine?"
"Maybe."
"Five-four?"
"Absolutely not," she said.
Nobody could define what "tall" actually meant.
Least of all Ananya.
Yet she defended it with complete conviction.
The way people often defend preferences they've never really questioned.
That night, she opened her notes app.
Her list stared back at her.
Financially stable
Emotionally aware
Loyal
Doesn't smoke
Doesn't want children immediately
Taller than me
It felt comforting.
Organised.
Safe.
As though the right checklist could somehow guarantee the right relationship.
So she continued searching.
Profile after profile.
Introduction after introduction.
Conversation after conversation.
Until one evening she came across a profile she almost ignored.
No luxury vacations.
No flashy achievements.
No carefully crafted bio about being an entrepreneur, investor, marathon runner, and dog father.
Just...
Normal.
She nearly ignored the introduction.
