After weeks she gets a mail from him. Thanking her for the letter which he had received. “so exciting!” he adds.

She senses the mechanical reality in that statement. Letters put together to mean exactly what she would expect to hear, or what he thinks she would like to hear.

He apologises for not keeping in touch. He was “held up”.
Of course she understands. She always did.

It does not mean much to her anymore. Whether he keeps in touch or not. Friendship has evolved and she had matured with it. She had of late realised that she endowed too much value on people who did not reciprocate the same importance for her. The realisation was a gradual process but had taken its turn.

She was glad with the cold water of reality that hit her sharp on her face, a few times before she did wake up to it. Now awake, she was disgusted with the reality.
Now there be no reaction. It was just a combination of meaningless words, meaningless efforts on meaningless causes. Everything and everyone had taken the form of wasted causes.

Too many of them already in her life, too many yet to come!

She never grasped people who would open the work mails prior to reading the personal mails. She never grasped why people would start mails with very concerned friendliness when the mail would end in coming to their objective, the particular information that be needed, or sorted from her.
Well she has developed a new mechanism now!

Just respond to what be the obvious, the need for such communication.

Respond to the very last question!