from previous...

....she was stunned  into silence when  he  took out a tiny perfume bottle  from the heavy iron safe and poured a long pour  tilting it onto his neck , he asked her not to wait for him for dinner for he was expected to have it at his  friend's place,   he had  never before  worn this perfume  and it was on ber insistence  the so expensive  Mallika nurjahan perfume was bought, he kept it hidden away in the safe   like  a guarded treasure of Mallika   nurjahan s   favorite  floral  garland,  she  would  ask  him  to relax and not be so   hyper  miser with  perfume 

She had to ask the burning question  if he  had made  recently a new friend  because  all his old friends  were known to her and  not  any of them had ever  thrown a party or  shared a plain pakoda with them