A good Indian Girl

chapter 2

Bashar handed Anjali her favorite tuxedo mocha. His latte art skills were improving; he made three large hearts drifting into each other. "Here you go, Anjali."

Anjali smiled at the milky decoration and then at Bashar. "Thank you,"she tucked her hair behind her ear.

Bashar took the seat across from her, "Anj, you and Henry have been coming here for so long, I feel like you guys are family. I haven't seen him that angry before, is everything okay?"

"Not really. We're not really a thing anymore." Anjali took a small sip of her mocha.

"Why?" Bashar's face was etched with concern.

"It's very complicated. I have other commitments. I have to live up to them." Anjali grabbed the pendant on her necklace and moved it from left to right.

"Hmm... commitments, to whom?" Bashar took off his glasses and cleaned them on his apron.

"My family."

"Anj, I've known you for some time now," he spoke slowly, his brown eyes softly looking into Anjali's, "I have to tell you that you must not mistake expectations with requirements. I know your culture is very similar to my own, the Arab and Indian community can be very tight knit. Still, love is love, no matter what. You and Henry love each other. Your commitments to your family shouldn't lead you to sacrifice your own happiness. I didn't let expectation stop me, my wife is Filipino, sure we had to take more time to learn how to handle family things, but we make each other so happy."

Love is love . Those were the same words she kept telling herself, but she couldn't be selfish. She couldn't bring shame to her parents.

"It's not that easy, Bash." Anjali shrugged her shoulders and began to stand up. "Thank you for everything, but I'd like to take a walk before it gets dark out. I'll see you again sometime."

Bashar unexpectedly got to his feet and wrapped his long arms around Anjali, locking her in an embrace.

"You'll be okay kid, just think everything through,"

After a moment, Anjali squirmed to free her hands and hug him back.

As she opened the door the cool breeze brushed across her face. She placed her hands in her coat pocket and began to walk. The crisp bay breeze nudged her to walk with urgency.

More than an hour must have passed, it was dark, she hadn't noticed the sunset. She read a street sign and realized how far she'd gone. She turned around to walk back when a tiny bookshop across the street caught her eye. She crossed and entered hoping to be distracted a little longer. Anjali walked aimlessly through the aisles, seeing titles but not really reading them. She paused at a burgundy cover with the word Persuasion etched in gold. She ran her fingers across the title and closed her eyes.

"Look, I get it, pick something that says, 'I really like you, I might love you,' but isn't cheesy," Henry said loudly into his phone. He stopped at a pile of books on a shelf and ran his fingers through his dark hair. "Yeah, this should be easy," he sarcastically let out. "I'm in a bookstore, maybe some romance novel? Or a collection? I really don't know." He sighed listening to the other end. "You know, I am not even sure why I walked in here. Do people even buy books anymore?"

"Excuse me," a soft voice interrupted.

Henry turned his attention to the small voice behind him and stopped, immediately caught off guard. He had turned around enough so that they were closer than she was comfortable with. She smelled sweet, a little like vanilla, causing him to lean closer. He looked into her small brown eyes and gave her his best smile.

"Um, hi," he finally said, reaching out his hand, "I'm Henry."

She smiled back, "Uh, hi...I'm Anjali," she shook his hand.