While Alia Bhatt’s fans were concerned about her being stranded in Patiala where she is shooting for Meghna Gulzar’s Raazi while Punjab and Haryana erupted in riots over the arrest of Guru Ram Rahim Singh, the young actress had fears of her own. The shoot has been challenging. And the unit has been at in almost non-stop but for the few days when cast and crew had to stay in their hotel due to the riots. Reports are that the Patiala stint of Raazi won’t be done before September end. So what are Alia’s fears?

She’s afraid her pet cat Edward would have forgotten her by the time she returns to Mumbai. It’s absolute heartbreak for her when she goes on an outdoor shoot and doesn’t get time to spend with the tomcat. So, Alia will be dashing home after Patiala and before Meghna takes the unit to J&K for the next schedule to spend a day with Edward! The actress admits that her love for the cat is “true” and it’s the only kind of love she has to offer. “I would call it one solid relationship,” Alia is quoted as having said about her fondness for the feline at home.

This is not the first time Alia is going public with her love for Edward. In an interview to a lifestyle Sunday magazine last month, she revealed that she was not embarrassed about being “borderline obsessive” about Edward. The cat rules her Instagram account just as he rules Alia’s heart. “My therapist has fur and four legs,” she captioned one cute picture of Edward lying on her bed. “I love to show him off. I’m super personal with my social media accounts, especially Instagram, so I love showing people how cute Edward is.”

Naturally, Alia’s friends think the Dear Zindagi sweetheart is crazy when she sits looking at Edward for hours. But Alia is unapologetic about this behaviour. “Edward’s my baby, what’s wrong with being obsessed with your own baby?” she asks challengingly. Alia has, of course, heard of the old myth about a woman adopting cats being single in life. She wonders where that came from! “It’s just a myth,” she says defensively, “there’s no logic to it. Is it being said because girls who keep cats are like cats themselves, kind of moody, and that’s why they’re are single?” Perhaps Siddharth Malhotra, her on-off BF, can answer that.

Sources say that The Gentleman star does not keep pets. But he is seen often walking a neighbour’s pet Jack Russell at Balmoral Hall where he stays in Bandra. Which gives rise to another old adage, “Dogs have masters, cats have slaves.”