Mr.Cater's Maid

Saying it Out Loud

The rest of the weekend went by fast, with Sunday being a busy day. I went into the city for work till 3 in the afternoon and then met up with Avi. She wanted a day away from her house, and I suggested we meet up around my work.

We decided to meet up at a small cafe a block away. I was early for the meet-up, so I got a cup of coffee and found the nearest empty seat. Just as I was about to take a sip, I saw Avi enter. She looked older than usual. Her usually messy black hair was tired in a slick bun behind her, and her hairline had a faint red mark near the forehead. This mark identified her as a married Indian woman.

"Hey!" She squealed as soon as she saw me.

"Hey, how are you?" I said, getting up and giving her a hug.

As we sat, I noticed the henna on her hand was still visible but now very faint.

"I am good. How are you?" Her smile was ear to ear.

"Good!" I beamed back. "Finally doing something other than crying at home!"

Avi was the only person outside of my family who knew what a shit year I had. I will always appreciate how much she tried to help me even with things going on in her life. She was always more of a friend than any of the private school "friends" I had.

"There is nothing wrong with crying when you're upset." She lovingly said, putting her hand on mine. "Let me go get coffee, and then we'll talk." A few minutes later, she had her latte in hand as she sat back down, "Are you doing better now?" She asked, concerned.

"I am okay. Really enjoying work now, so that's a good distraction, but enough about that. Tell me what happened with Adi and you after?" I said changing the subject but also because I was curious about what happened after our call on Wednesday.

"Oh, that..." She paused and cleared her throat, "I think we are okay now." she whispered.

I raised my eyebrows, "Oh yeah? Do tell!"

"One day, while his mom was at the temple and we were home alone..." she giggled. Her brown face somehow went tomato red. "I was in the kitchen - because that's where I am meant to be most of the time, according to my mother-in-law - but he joined me while he was finishing work on his laptop. Said he wanted to give me company. That was it. After that, I told him I wanted to try again..." She giggled once more.

"So, how was it the second time?"

"Still awkward a bit, but the 10th or so time we got the hang of it, and even when it wasn't great, we were able to laugh about it."

"10th time? It's been 4 days." I judged.

"We are newlyweds. That's just how it's supposed to be!" She defended.

"Yeah yeah, sure!" I giggled. "But you look happy! I am so glad it worked out!"

"Me too. He is such a nice guy!"

"Yay!" I cheered. And we both laughed.

I remember how scared Avi was when she was first going over to Adi's house to meet him. She kept saying, "I know my parents. They won't let me say no even if I don't like him." And now she was, from what it looks like, happily married.

"The only issue is my mother-in-law. She never leaves us alone. She is always there." She groaned.

"Really? It can't be that bad. You were able to get some alone time to do it at least 10 times." I joked.

She clicked her tongue. "We are both home this week. Otherwise, I won't even see him at all. She is always giving me something to do. I barely even did the dishes at my house. Now I feel like a maid in hers. No offense."