Present Day - Anjali’s husband’s POV
He was glad he listened to his dad’s advice and called the credit card company. His dad was right, she had checked into a hotel. She was staying at the Ritz at Half Moon Bay. Finding this out only made him feel shittier than he did before. She had been asking him for a while to take her there and he kept saying he would, but he had never followed up.
He pulled his car up to the entrance and had the valet park it. He normally liked to park his own car, but he didn’t want to waste a minute looking for Anjali. Now he just had to sweet talk one of the receptionists into giving him a key to his wife’s room.
He lined up behind the female receptionist so that he had a better chance of flirting his way into success. It was his turn quickly – that’s service for you at the Ritz.
“Good afternoon and welcome to the Ritz sir, how can I help you?” the receptionist asked.
“Good afternoon, Debbie. My wife has already checked into the hotel for our anniversary celebration and I just need a key to our room. We’re just so delighted to have this weekend to ourselves while the grandparents take care of the kids. Do you have kids?” he said.
“I have a two year old son, so yes I can understand how special it is to have a weekend to yourselves. What room is your wife in?” she asked.
“I’m not sure what room she said. Sorry, it’s a guy thing to forget all of the details. I’m sure she told me and she’d probably scold me if you ever told her I forgot.” He sweetly gave Anjali's name as he looked at the receptionist with his sexy blue eyes.
“Give me one moment to look that up.”
“Hhhmm, what is your name sir? Can I see your driver’s license?” she asked.
“Here’s my license.”
“I’m sorry sir but your name is not on the room reservation. I can call your wife to confirm.”
“I can’t believe my secretary didn’t add both of our names. As you can see we have the same last name. Here’s a picture of her in my wallet. Please don’t call Anjali, she’s not expecting me until dinner this evening and I thought I’d surprise her by showing up early. I’d really appreciate it if you could make this exception.” he asked.
“Alright. You seem like an honest guy and I’m sure your wife will love being surprised. I do hope you both enjoy your weekend with us. Here is your room key. The room number is written on the envelope. Just go down the hall and take a left and you’ll see the elevators. Let us know if you need anything.” She smiled.
“Thank you!” he said as he grabbed the key before she changed her mind and raced towards the elevator. He silently said a prayer that the receptionist hadn’t actually called Anjali to verify if he was her husband.
He quickly found the room and opened the door. He walked in but he noticed that she wasn’t there. Her purse was there so he knew he had the right room. The hotel was large plus it was on the beach so there was no telling where she was. So he decided to just wait until she came back to the room. He settled into a chair and took a deep breath.
His phone rang and he looked to see that it was Ali. He just couldn’t talk to him right now knowing that he was looking for Anjali and this was her brother calling so he let the call go into voicemail. He waited until his phone beeped indicating there was a voicemail and then he hit listen.
“Hello, I hope you’re doing well. Salma, the kids, and I are all really missing you guys. Our monthly get together just don’t seem right without you guys so we’ve decided we’d like to come out and visit you this summer. I’m starting to look into tickets and I want to make sure you’ll be in town when we come to California. Call me back when you have a chance so we can coordinate. Looking forward to catching up. Give our love to Anjali and the kids.”
He sank into the chair and thought about all of their friends back East. Ali was like a brother to Anjali so both of the families had spent a lot of time together. It was hard to believe so many years had passed since he met Ali. He had known Ali separately before meeting Anjali. Ali and he used to play squash together. He really didn’t know Ali outside of playing squash. They would often meet up after work or on the weekends to play. Occasionally, they would go to a bar afterwards to grab a quick dinner, but that was it. It wasn’t until they realized they had Anjali in common that they started socializing more. As a result, Ali and he had become good friends through Anjali.
Ali and Salma, like he and Anjali, had an interesting story to tell their kids one day on how they ended up getting married. Ali had come to the U.S. to go to college and after college he had gone to medical school. He wasn’t even thinking about getting serious with anyone until he was finished with his medical residency. He also assumed he would go back to Pakistan when the time was right and have an arranged marriage. But, life had something else planned for him. Salma worked in the administrative offices at the hospital he was doing his residency at. Ali was smitten with her the first time he met her. He kept finding excuses to go to the admin office just so he could see her. Salma’s parents were very strict so Ali and her would sneak around and see each other. Ali knew that if Salma’s parents found out about him, they would expect him to marry her and he did want to marry Salma, it’s just that he wanted to finish his residency and start earning a proper salary so he could afford a decent wedding and a decent apartment for them to live in. But, a year and half after they had started to see each other Salma’s parents started to pressure her to meet some men they would like to arrange her marriage to. That’s when she let the secret out of the bag and told them she was already in love with Ali. It was not a pretty scene to say the least. There was plenty of drama to go around. Ali of course went to her home and asked for her hand in marriage and Salma’s parents finally agreed. The y were not happy that she had been sneaking around behind their back, but they were at least happy that Ali was also Muslim. The wedding was put together quickly in order to appease Salma’s parents.
He remembered he had arrived late to the wedding, Nikah, and the Imam (Muslim priest) had already started reciting verses from the Quran. The men were on one side with the groom and the women and bride on the other side. So even though Anjali was part of Ali’s family and friends she sat on the other side. He could see that she was wearing a heavy salvar khameez (a traditional Indian & Pakistani outfit) and the dupatta (shawl) was wrapped over her head as is customary in both Muslim and Sikh weddings. He could still remember how beautiful she looked wearing the traditional clothes. He could only see her side profile, but he knew it was her. He had stared at her the entire ceremony and barely even heard a word of the ceremony. After the ceremony was over, a lavish meal was served to celebrate the new couple. Anjali quickly got up and started helping out since she was part of Ali’s wedding party. Because she was busy with so many of the wedding details he didn’t get a chance to speak to her, he just saw her from afar as she worked busily. But, he still remembered how sad her eyes looked that day. The usual sparkle in her eyes and in her step was missing.
After the meal, the music began and everyone was getting ready for the dancing. Anjali and someone he didn’t recognize, probably one of Ali’s cousins, danced to the song Chaiya Chaiya from the movie Dil Se. It was a popular Hindi song at the time. They did a great dance to the popular song, or I should say Anjali did a great job. Anjali is a natural dancer and her hips just move with the music. She probably didn’t even practice for the dance and yet she looked like a professional. I had only seen her dance a few times before, but I loved watching her dance even though I myself have two left feet and don’t care to dance. After she finished the dance, she seemed to have disappeared and I couldn’t see her. I still hadn’t spoken with Anjali. When I finally got a hold of her, she smiled at me and gave me a big hug and then rushed off because some auntie was calling her for help.
As things were winding down at the wedding, I noticed Salim, Ali’s cousin hitting on Anjali. He was from London and he was laying it on heavy. Salim said “Mujhe hamare beech ki yeh doori bahuot pasand hai. Agar yeh na rahe to mujhe tumhare kareeb aane ka bahana na mile.” Which translates to I really like being so far away from you, because without the distance I wouldn’t have an excuse to come so close to you. Anjali laughed, and said “Really you’re stealing a line from the movie Dil Se – is that because I danced to a song from the movie. Come back with something original and then I’ll pay more attention to you.” And with that she walked away. He went up to Salim and asked him what the hell did he think he was doing hitting on an engaged woman. Salim had looked at him like he was crazy – “Anjali hasn’t been engaged for several months. She’s fair game now that she’s free.”
He had stood there dumbfounded. No one had told him that Anjali’s engagement was broken. After the launch party for Tarun Jewelers, Anna had broken up with him saying that she thought he was hung up on Anjali and she didn’t want to be his second choice even if he couldn’t have her. As a result, he decided to get away from it all and he took an assignment in China to get away from it all. He had been gone for the last four months.
So that’s really when his and Anjali’s story started – both of them were free now. That’s why Ali and Salma will always be special to him given that it was at their wedding he finally realized he had a chance with Anjali.
I would really appreciate some feedback so please comment and vote if you like the story. I really like it when people comment and share their thoughts!
I’d also like to know if anyone is surprised that Anjali’s engagement is off or did you expect it all along. I’ve tried to refer to Anjali’s husband as “he” up until this point because I wanted the audience to think it is Raj. Did I succeed?
Sorry but I have not edited this section so I apologize.