"Yes yes, I'll do that... I know I need to.... Yes, gotthu (I know)... Okay, yes... Hmmm, but... Okay yeah, true... Alright, I'll skype you tonight... Okay bye!" I sighed, keeping my cell phone back in my bag. Aryan looked up, wearing those adorable think-framed glasses of his, "What's up?" "Oh, nothing. Mom's stoked about me getting back home for the Summer, she wants me to pack right away." "Oh, right. Summer. But you'll be getting back early, right? For the project." "Of course I will." He nodded, looking down at his laptop. We were in the canteen, eating and peacefully doing our work. On a Sunday. 

I thought back to an hour ago when he came banging and crashing into our place, "Ana! We need to work!" And just dragged me to the canteen. At 9 am. On a Sunday morning. Sometimes, I felt like throwing a trash can on his head. He was a work-a-holic. And I'd never been any kind of holic so far. Sometimes I felt that I hadn't discovered what I really wanted to do with life, but he was utterly sure. He'd planned out what he wanted, a M.S and then a PhD. Then he wanted to work as a professor along with focusing on research. He even made video games, damn good ones. When I'd asked him if he wanted to make video games as a career, he merely shook his head, "It's something I love doing, I don't want any deadlines imposed on it. I wanna be free to make a game when I damn well want to." He'd stated it proudly and it had made me wonder whether I had any talent like that. My first thought had been music and it was then I'd understood what he meant by doing it just because you wanted to. But I'd never really shown a passion for programming, like he usually did. He was enthusiastic about everything he learnt. I came to the US to just do my MS, and probably get a good paying job after. When I thought back to why I chose to do a MS, the only thing I could think was 'I don't know'. I supposed that since a lot of the high scoring seniors had taken up MS, I took it up too. It was herd mentality that made me take it. Do a B.E or B.Tech, then either work for a year or two and then do your MS and work again, or directly do a MS and then work. That was how it worked. And those were the only two choices that went through my mind when I graduated. I'd thought about a MBA but I was too lazy to study for GMAT, not that I'd admit it to my parents. They'd go ballistic, "You should study well to achieve what you want to. The tougher the path, the tougher you become when you're done." 

"Hey Ana..." He said softly, shaking me out of my stupor. "Yeah?" "Have you told your parents about us?" I froze. I hadn't. I honestly didn't want to, not this early. They would definitely take a flight and drag me right back if they found out. "Um... Why do you ask?" He gave me a sad smile, "Yeah, I thought so. Why not?" I blinked, "I didn't say anyth..." "You're an open book to me." I didn't look at him, "Okay, I haven't." "And were you planning to?" I began mindlessly tapping my fingers against my laptop's keyboard. "I guessed that you weren't." 

I didn't say anything. 

"My mother likes you. A lot." I looked up at him, blinking. "I sent her a picture of you. And I guess I talk about you a lot." I had no clue what to say. "She... Uh... Wants to talk to you. So, I was hoping you could come along the next time I went. She was yelling about how I should have invited you over for Christmas and New Year's." 

Finally, my throat cleared, "Wait, you're not angry?" He shook his head, "Nope, I'd expected it." He said it with a sad smile on his face, a kind of smile that made me want to put a trash can over my head. "I'm sorry. It's just that my parents, well, they'll pull me out if they find out. And probably get me married." I added it as an afterthought. It was true, after all. I had a suspicion that my mother was happy about me getting back because she wanted me to meet guys, not that I'd tell Aryan about it. Also, not that I'd agree to get married so soon. I remembered the exact reason why I'd been so uncomfortably scared to accept that I liked Aryan, because my mother had 'allowed' me to go to the US only if I'd agreed to get married after two years. And also because I'd gotten a full scholarship. Indians are cheap like that. And proud of it, as Russel Peters says. My mother had seemed serious, but I wasn't. Predictable, considering I was just 20 when she said it.

"Married, huh?" I merely nodded. At that time, I'd thought, 'what's the big deal? I know that in the end, I will have to get married to some random guy. Better later than now, besides I can keep rejecting guys till I'm ready to marry'. Now, well, looking at that sad smile he was still sporting, I realized that my life was going to get a teensy bit harder. Or maybe a lot more harder. 

"If... Um... It's against your will, you know you could totally ask me to kidnap you from the altar. I mean, I could get a fake gun and all." I scratched my head, giving him a weird look. He just laughed, "Oh nothing. I was trying to make a joke. Seems I'm not in the zone." He said, winking. I rolled my eyes, "You don't have a zone." "Of course I do! I make you laugh with my puns!" "Yeah, the puns you plagiarized off of tumblr." "I need to painstakingly go through them and use a select few." "Yeah, that's such hard work."

"You bicker like an old couple." Came a sleepy Viha's voice. "Why did you even get up?" I asked, looking surprised. Viha made it a point to not let even a single toe touch the floor on any Sunday. "I came by to make sure you two were working and not making out. Damn, that scene still makes me want to bleach my eyeballs." I tried to keep a straight face, Viha had kind of walked in on Aryan and me doing... Stuff. And she hadn't let us off the hook yet. But then she did accept that it was her fault, her curiosity made her check where the kissy noises were coming from and she ended up watching something that was totally TMI. She ran away yelling, "MY EYES! MY EYES!" And we'd had to separate, discreetly making our way back to our rooms. 

Aryan pushed his glasses up, "That's physically impossible." Viha smiled sweetly at him, "Maybe we could test it. You could help out. We could tell the world what would happen if we bleached your eyeballs, you'd become an internet sensation. The bleached programmer." I snorted at the title she gave him, "Viha, go back to sleep. You're an ass when you get off the bed on a Sunday." She harrumphed and went to get some coffee. 

"So, about coming over?" "Okay." 

Then came another distraction, "Coming over where?" Asked Krishi. "Oh hey! Aryan just invited me to meet his parents." I explained, making her frown. I raised my eyebrows at her and she shook her head. She was about to walk toward Viha, probably to get another coffee, but then she turned back to me, "Anagha, think about your parents also, not only about yourself. What you're doing is wrong. I don't want to seem judgmental about it, so I told you." And she walked away, leaving me staring wide-eyed at my laptop screen. 

"Ana?" Went Aryan, concern clearly in his voice, "Ana!" He repeated, more persistently. I looked up, giving a sudden smile, "Yeah? What's up?" "Are you alright?" "Yep! Peachy!" I squeaked, trying to sound as normal as possible. Viha came back, placing herself next to me, unconcernedly drinking her coffee. "Why is Krishi sitting with her project mates on a Sunday morning? She stopped by, right? What did she say?" Before I could deny that she said anything, Aryan jumped in, stating her words, verbatim. 

Viha snorted, "She's trying not to be judgmental, it seems." "She was pretty judgmental, about whatever it was." Viha looked at him, "I'm trying not to be judgmental about how stupid your boyfriend is, Ana." I looked at Aryan as well, "Well, he makes up for it by kissing really well." "Huh. That's something. But the real question is how good he is in the sack." 

Aryan spat out his orange juice, going an adorable shade of pink. 

"Yo-You... Can't be so cavalier about... You know." 

"Dude, I think he's a virgin." I gave a sad sigh, "I was hoping for someone with experience." 

"I'm not... I mean... It's..."

"Oh, so you're not a virgin?" teased Viha. 

He began fumbling again, his spectacles slipping slightly. 

I grinned, "How is he so uncomfortable?" Viha laughed, "I'm surprised too. Hey, were you bullied back in school? Because that's generally what happens to nerds in the US, right? At least according to your movies." 

He cleared his throat, "No."

"You're not a virgin?" I asked, giving a dramatic gasp. He closed his eyes and hit his head against the table, making the two of us laugh out loud. 

I reached across and messed up his hair, I couldn't help it. "Don't look now, but Krishi is staring at you. Giving the old 'I can't believe she would do that scandalous thing' look." 

"Tell her to fuck herself." 

Viha grinned, "That's my bestie." 

"I'm tempted to pull your cheek." I muttered, making him grin and look up. I wasn't sure if I wanted to prove it to myself, or to Krishi, or just because I wanted to, but I leaned across and pecked his cheek. Viha gave me a longer than usual glance, I shrugged at her and she let it go. For now. 

Ayan came waltzing in, suddenly pausing to pick his phone with a bright smile. "Hey! Oh wait wait, before you tell anything. Are you Australian?" There was a pause during which I had a foreboding feeling, there was also the fact that Aryan was grinning at Ayan like the Cheshire Cat. I gave him a suspicious look that he just shrugged off. Ayan continued, "Because you meet all of my koala-fications." I rolled my eyes at Aryan, he grinned, "Hey, you loved that one. I just wanted him to have the same luck with his girl." 

"What? What do you mean you're breaking up with me?" Came Aryan's whiny voice.

Viha and I burst out laughing. 

"Oh crap."