The departures section of the airport was usually a reliable source of excitement for Neela, but on this particular summer morning the feeling was very different.

The Charles de Gaulle departure area of terminal one matched the ugliness of the arrivals, a dreary old-fashioned contrast to the backdrop to the automated check-in process. It was there that Neela's family members were currently completing their check-in.

Neela looked on from a few feet away, as Dad collected the luggage tags from the kiosk and handed them out. When he was left with a final tag that was meant for his own suitcase, he struggled as he tried to peel off the adhesive backing.

Neela took a tentative step forward. "Don't pull it all off or it'll get stuck together." She reached for the tag. "I can do it if you want."

Before her hand were physically able to grasp the tag, Mom snatched it away like a merciless vulture. "I will do it," she said, the chill in her voice impossible to miss.

Neela backed away and lowered her shoulders. She knew it was best to get this awkwardness over with as soon as possible, but that didn't make it any less painful. "Well I hope you guys had a nice trip," she said, her shaky voice trailing off.

Maneet instinctively snorted but Neela let it slide, as she wasn't in any state to have a war with her usual adversary. And besides, maybe that final farewell snort had been borne out of affection.

Sure.

Neela suddenly noticed that Dad had been staring at her. "What is it?"

He cleared his throat. "Why don't you check if there's room on this flight?"

Neela froze in place, while the others appeared equally baffled.

Neela unfroze and frowned. "What?"

"If there's a seat you can come home with us!" he exclaimed, his irrational excitement building.

Neela couldn't believe what she was hearing. It was obvious that in her parents' eyes she was a failure, which meant that naturally, the solution was to climb into a suitcase, leave Paris forever, and pretend this failed experiment had never happened.

"Come home to what?" she whispered to herself.

"Speak up," Dad said, "it's noisy in here."

Neela cleared her throat. "I can't just leave; I live here!" She darted her eyes around frantically until they landed on her small satchel. "I don't even have my passport!" she added, as if somehow that was the crux of the issue.

Dad took a step towards her. "Then book a flight for tomorrow," he said, his expression softening. "There is nothing left for you here."

Neela glanced around at the disappointed faces. A moment later she took stock of her Parisian existence, a mental recap that was not exactly...pleasant.

Was there anything left for her here? Or had Dad got it right?

The possibility of her life choices having all been a big mistake, coupled with her family's patronizing stares was almost too much to bear. She swallowed down the acid reflux that bubbled up in her throat and shook her head. "I can't leave," she reaffirmed.

"Why not?" Maneet said, always the obnoxious stirrer of the pot until the bitter end.

"Because...because..." Neela scrambled to build a case in support of Paris. Because of wine? Because of pastries? Because of hooking up with French dudes? "Because I'm happy when I'm here," she finally said.

They all stared at her in disbelief.

Was that really the best she could come up with?

It was a weak endorsement to a family whose official definition of happiness was career titles, salaries, offspring (preferably male), and double-car garage homes.

"Forget it," Mom said, making no attempt to hide her disgust.

"What?" Neela shot back. Was this it? Was this the moment when the South Asian mother-daughter battle royale would finally happen?

"If she wants to keep making mistakes her whole life, then let her." With a dismissive wave of her hand, Mom turned away.

Neela didn't react with any further aggression. She didn't have it in her. Instead, the old wound of never measuring up to her parents' expectations re-opened, a bloodless wound that had been there too long to produce a dramatic reaction.

Mom gestured to the carts stacked with luggage. "We need to go drop off the bags."

Neela's niece Sonya bounced over to her happily. She wasn't shy like when she'd arrived several weeks ago, and this time she actually gave her a hug.

"Bye!" she said. "I'll miss you!"

Those three simple words nearly broke Neela. She was only a child, who in less than ten minutes would likely be picking fresh boogers out of her nose without a care in the world, but it still felt nice to hear those three special words.

"I'll miss you too," Neela said, as she struggled to regain her composure. "And I'll visit you soon!"

"Or you could just come home," Maneet said.

Neela managed a smile. "Why? Are you gonna miss me?"

"No. I just meant that you're being selfish." She casually flipped her hair as if her parting insult was as natural as breathing in oxygen.

Neela could never understand why sisters were often portrayed as being best friends on TV. What kind of abstract unrealistic alien shit is that? she would always wonder. White family folklore? Probably.

As Neela bid farewell to Maneet with a single sneer, the rest of her family lined up for the usual wooden-like family hugs. Out of all the pathetic hugs on this morning, it was Mom's embrace that was by far the most plywood of all. "Bye," Neela said, a meaningless word that disappeared into the ether.

Mom didn't respond and she didn't need to; they were already worlds apart...

***

On the train ride back into central Paris, Neela listlessly stared out the window, her eyes taking in the charmless, industrialized landscape. A part of her had actually hoped her family would've abandoned their emotional baggage at the airport. Wasn't that what airports were for? People didn't board airplanes while angry! They took stock of what they had and appreciated the loved ones whom they wouldn't get to see for a very long while. Didn't they? Wasn't that the message of Love Actually for god's sake?!

Whatever that universal feeling was, it didn't apply to her family.

Maybe some things just weren't meant work out, she sadly realized. And maybe that fact was what separated messy humans from their fictional cinematic counterparts.

As Neela considered the many ways she'd been betrayed by Hollywood, her phone lit up with a text from Luc:

I will be in the south for two weeks. Will that be enough time for you to find a new place? I do not want to bother you while you are sorting through your things.

Neela felt a rush of relief. Luc may have been angry, but he wasn't going to throw her out into the streets. And he wasn't even going to get in her way.

At least one part of today worked out, she thought happily. A moment later her expression darkened.

Luc couldn't even stand to be in the same room as her.

Oh.

***

Two weeks later, Neela and Luc stood face-to-face in their former love nest. This place had been the headquarters of fried eggs, frequent sex, and oh-so-many night farts. Most of the furniture was still in place, but the homey little touches were now noticeably missing.

"Do you have everything then?" Luc asked.

Neela glanced back at the duffle bags by the door. "That's the last of it."

He nodded. "Well thank you for finishing in time for my return."

Neela smirked. "Well your text said seven p.m., and you know I'm very punctual..."

He laughed. "You were still half an hour late to that dinner!"

She gasped and punched him in the arm. "No I wasn't!" A moment later she turned serious; it was hard to process that they were actually joking about the night of their engagement. An engagement that would later blow up in spectacular fashion. "Is it weird to be laughing already?" she asked.

He took a moment to consider her question. "I suppose when you arrive at a journey's end, you can appreciate what was good without any of the irritations."

She nodded. "Shit; that's profound."

He pretended to seem insulted. "Am I not profound?"

She stuffed her hands into her pockets and looked away. "I mean you love Jason DeRulo so..." She looked back at his wide-eyed stare. "You wanna punch me in the arm, don't you?" She shook her head. "Well you can't, because I'm a lady."

He laughed. "There is nobody like you."

She gave him a long look, and realized in that moment that however wrong they may have been for each other, the good times hadn't suddenly disappeared.

"Can I ask you something?" she said softly.

"Of course."

"Why did you even ask me?"

"Ask you what?" he said, even though it was obvious he knew what she was referring to.

"Ask me to marry you. It's not like things were going great at the time; I mean part of you must've known we didn't quite...fit."

He sighed. "Maybe I did."

"Then why?" she repeated, shaking her head. "I mean, I'm not trying to put myself down or anything, but with your looks, your job, your smarts...it would've been so easy for you to start over."

"I did not want to start over any more than you did," he admitted, looking more vulnerable than ever.

She nodded. "Yeah; it sucks doesn't it? It's like a combination of admitting failure, and the sick feeling of knowing you have to put yourself out there again. Like Bumble? Again?" She shuddered. "Fuck."

"Or how about Tinder?" he said, taking his turn to shudder in disgust.

She raised an eyebrow. "Uhh..heterosexuals aren't allowed on Tinder."

"No, that is definitely Grindr."

She frowned. "Why do you definitely know that? Do you have an account? Is that why you were always on your phone?" She broke into a smile.

He laughed too. "I am going to miss how much you made me laugh."

She smiled sadly. "Wow." She took stock of the apartment for a final time. "So this is it, huh..." She looked down at her hand and pulled off her engagement ring. "I think this belongs to you."

It was truly the end of an era, and as this era drew to a close, Neela couldn't help but have a final thought: was it also the end of having a twenty-thousand-euro engagement ring?

Don't pretend it didn't cross your mind.

In less than five seconds, Neela would officially find out...

*** 

[Jumping in for a quick sec: It truly is the end of an era! It was important to me to show the positive side of Luc here, because they did actually have an earlier part of their relationship that was good, we just didn't get to see it in this book. Can you believe that there's still SO much more to come? Okay, I'll be quiet now :-)..]