Page 65 of Not Your Basic Love Story

“Only a few months to wait.”

I pulled away and frowned. “Your parents weren’t concerned about us getting married so fast? Mine, either? People will think I’m pregnant.”

He chuckled. “Why should we care what other people think? Let them gossip. I didn’t tell your parents the timeline; I asked if they’d be okay with me proposing to you. As for my family, my grandparents met each other once before agreeing to get married. My mom and dad only dated for several weeks. They’ve all had successful, happy, long-term marriages. Living together or having a long engagement doesn’t mean a lower chance of divorce, you know.”

“I guess not. It’s so different than how I planned things in my head.”

“Don’t let the plans of how you thought your life should be, get in the way of what’s happening. Everything is good. We’re happy. We love each other. We want to be together. That’s all that matters, right?”

“How are you so wise?” I kissed him and then went back to my pizza, glancing around my apartment. It was pretty small, which was fine for me, but with another person around, always underfoot? No matter how much I loved Dev, I was sure I’d need my own space now and then. “What do you think? Should we rent a bigger place? I guess it would make sense to stay here, save up, buy a house.”

“No need for that. After I graduate, we’ll move back in with my family. We’ll raise our kids there, and they can grow up in the same house I did.” He had a faraway, dreamy expression on his face.

I choked on my pizza. “You didn’t think to mention thatbeforeyou proposed?”

He seemed offended. “Why? Does the idea of living with them bother you? I thought you liked my family.”

“That doesn’t mean I want to live with them.”

He was taken aback and opened his mouth to retort, but I cut him off.

“And what about my job? I don’t have a car or even a driver’s license. Do you expect me to take a bus and a train two hours into work every day? Or did you even think about that?” My face flushed with anger.

“I thought you hated your job. I’m sure you could get another job.”

I’d tried to stay cool, to stay collected, but that was it. All of my anger about being out of control, about plans being madeforme and notwithme, about my independence going out the window, reached its boiling point. I stood, nearly yelling. “That’s not the point! You expect me to drop everything, my whole life, to live with your family in the suburbs? We didn’t talk about this! Why can’t you live with me, here, in Vancouver? They can look after themselves.”

He stood, too. “You don’t know much about Indian families, do you?” He asked, a little contemptuously.

“Sometimes I forget you’re Indian.”

He glared. “My heritage is a huge part of who I am, Rebecca.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Then how did you mean it?”

“I just forget, sometimes, that our cultures are so different. Don’t change the subject. Why can’t we live in Vancouver?”

“I’m their only son. I can’t leave them. The firstborn son stays with the family, eventually leads the household. You’d know this if you cared to learn anything about my culture.”

“WellsorryI don't know the ins and outs of your complex family dynamics! I’m sure you wouldn’t have to have this conversation with Sonja.” I turned on my heel and went into the bedroom, shutting the door behind me. I hugged myself and paced, trying to cool down.

Thoughts spiralled in my head, attempting to organize themselves with zero luck. Between the getting married in a few months thing, to not being able to plan and organize it myself, to joining a culture I had zero knowledge of, to being part of a family that didn’t seem to like me, to one day having to live in the same house with them…

It was a lot… A lot I hadn’t considered earlier, when we were out in the forest with the trees and the breeze, and he was down on one knee, and nothing else seemed to matter.

Now the logistics of what it meant to marry Dev and be part of his family was fully visible.

And I wasn’t sure I could do it.

I couldn’t imagine being in that big house, with so many people around all the time. The thought made my chest tighten, and my breath come out in short gasps.

A quiet knock sounded at the door, followed by Dev’s muffled voice. “Rebecca? We need to talk about this. Let me in. Please?”

“I need some space!” The walls were closing in.

He sighed through the door. “I’ll wait out here. But we need to work through this together. Hiding from me? From whatever you’re feeling? It’s not going to help.”

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