The Indians Abroad: Rendezvous

Love is supposed to make you glow. But in her case, it was the other way around. Maybe it was cursed, she wondered. Perhaps, because it was forbidden.

“God dammit!” She murmured, as another customer left her shop without any purchase.

“I really need money! I really need something to support myself.”

She looks in the wall size mirror behind the counter. He skin pale; the big beautiful eyes don’t hold the same old shine – the glow of a full moon, as her mom called it when she named her Poonam.

Even with all the make-up, the dark circles underneath her eyes eclipse her beauty of yester years.

Her father owns the Taj Fashions – an Indian clothing store in Surrey. The well-lit shop in a small shopping plaza is deserted. If the business dies, her income dies – she knows it.

Selling Indian fashion and designers’ clothes is all she has done since she came to Canada. She needs the store to survive.

No customers. Another ominous sign in two days.

The love brought her stress and misery. It was very hard to hide, to hide from her parents and everyone around her.

Brave and undeterred, she met him every chance she got. He was an addiction, a drug that she needed the most to survive.

He made promises, big promises – about them together, about their future. She trusted him with everything, she trusted him with herself. Like a newly wed bride, she dressed up for him; she did everything for him – everything.

All this time, carefully, she hid him from her family, from everyone. Or, so she thought.

Time changed, it always does.

People. Nosy people. They always find out. The rendezvous, just like a smell, are impossible to hide. Her boyfriend crumbled under the weight of the society. He showed his true colors; he decided to stay with his wife.

Her faith faltered, the rosy future quickly got covered under a dark cloud, just like the dark circles under her pretty eyes.

She looked at her phone. No text, no calls. He used to call, and text – even after everything fell apart. Whenever he could, whenever his wife was not around, he continued to profess his love. She liked it but deep down she knew that there was no future, no hope. She knew that she needed to move on.

She looks outside, no sign of any customer.

No customer, no business. If this continues, her father may close down the store, her last sources of her income.

“Oh God! What’s happening today! I need help!”

Yes, she does. She needs help today, as much as yesterday. Because yesterday, her husband served her the divorce papers.

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