Silently Falling in Love: Race (THE EDITED VERSION)

Chapter 20 - Pehli Mulaqat (First Meeting)

My roommate dropped me off at Arjun's parents' house. I waved goodbye letting her know she didn't have to wait for the door to open.

She drove off, and I rang the doorbell. I was getting nostalgic; this was one of the last times I'd be doing this. Graduation was in a few days and after that I'd be moving back to the East Coast for good. My eyes started to water, and I bit the inside of my lip to hold back the tears. The Shergill's had made this a second home for me for the last four years. I would miss them.

I took a deep breath and realized it had been a few minutes since I rang the bell. Holding my ear against the door I didn't hear any noise, and I began to worry. Arjun had told me to come over at 2pm.

Feeling nervous since my ride had already driven off, I rang the doorbell again.

Eventually, I heard footsteps marching towards the front door, "Hold your horses, I'm coming!" I heard someone say.

The door opened and a tall guy in a buzz cut with Bono looking sunglasses stared back at me. Did I have the wrong house? I'd been coming to this house for four years, and I knew where Arjun and his family lived.

"Hello," the strange guy said.

Tongue tied, I didn't respond but tried to look behind him to look for auntie and uncle.

He thought I was trying to enter the house which I was, and he leaned his broad body into the doorframe and tried to block my view.

Gathering my courage, I looked up at him and opened my mouth to speak. What if he had just robbed or even worse done something to auntie and uncle? With that buzz cut he looked like some kind of ex-military guy. Maybe he had PTSD or something and had gone off the deep end.

"Look lady, we don't need saving from Jesus, we don't need whatever you're selling, and we already know who we're voting for. Good day!" he said as he began to slam the door shut in my face.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked.

"I live here, who the hell are you?" he responded.

Moving forward I put my foot in the door.

"There you are, my dear," uncle said as he pushed the man out of the way.

He pulled me in for a big hug and said, "Amar beta, what are you doing? Is that any way to treat Anjali beti??" He pulled away from our hug and looked me in the eye. "I'm so sorry for Amar's rude behavior. I don't know what's happened to him; those rude New Yorkers seem to have rubbed off on him."

Amar walked towards us. "You mean this door-to-door saleswoman is THE Anjali?"

"You must be Alex," I extended my hand. "It's nice to finally meet you."

Uncle walked away from us towards the kitchen, "Anjali beti give me a minute the chai is about to boil over."

"Uncle, do you need help," I asked as I walked towards the kitchen and away from Alex.

On my way to the kitchen, Arjun came down the stairs.

"Hey Anjali," he said as he gave me a quick hug and a kiss on the forehead.

He looked up and grunted. "Looks like you met my brother."

Arjun was to my right, and I nodded yes and leaned into him and whispered, "He's not what I expected."

Suddenly there was another warm body flanking my left side, "Why what did you expect?"

Embarrassed I stopped walking and faced Alex.

I opened my mouth and before I could say something, Arjun said, "Tell him Anjali, you can be honest. He's a big boy."

I turned to look at Arjun caught in the crossfire of both brothers.