One Indian Girl by Chetan Bhagat

‘One sec, Neel,’ I said.
‘Baby, where are you?’ Debu’s voice on the other side made me jump.
‘Hey, I got to call you back,’ I said.
‘Okay listen, I called home and.. .’
‘Talk to you later,’ I said and hung up.
‘All fine?’ Neel said, still on his knees.
I nodded.
He lifted my hand up again.
‘Radhika Mehta, I love you and will always do. Will you marry me?’
I pulled my hand back. I smacked my forehead.
‘Fuck, Neel. Really, fuck,’ I said.
‘What, Radhika?’
‘You had to do all this now? Where were you in Hong Kong, when I lay silently crying in bed
next to you?’
‘You were crying? I couldn’t hear.’
‘Silently crying. And you said I am not the marriage type. What was that? I am not meant to be
a mother?’
‘I freaked out. I didn’t want what we had to end. I couldn’t figure out how to keep you.’
I stood up.
‘How did you figure it out now?’ I said, or rather screamed, and pointed to the papers. ‘Did
you even suggest any such options then? I was the young VP at work you slept with. That’s all I could
be, right?’
‘I understand you are upset. I didn’t treat you right.’
‘I came to resign. It didn’t matter to you. The best you could do was to arrange a transfer.
Wow.’
‘Why didn’t you shout at me then?’
‘Huh?’ I said, twisting my dupatta’s edge.
‘You could have told me that what I was doing was wrong.’
‘You had a family. What am I supposed to say to you? “Let’s be together. Leave your wife and
little kids”?’
‘I wish you had,’ he said in a bleak voice.
I paced up and down his suite a few times. He sat there, still on his knees.
‘Sit on the sofa, Neel. There is no need to be so dramatic.’
He complied and sat back on the sofa.
‘Fine. Not dramatic, but be pragmatic,’ he said.
‘This is so stupid, Neel. Really, I expected better from you.’
‘So I acted late. Is that what your anger is about? Go ahead, yell at me.’
‘That’s not the point.’
‘I missed you every day. I didn’t contact you. But I did what I had to do with my life. Then I
heard about your wedding and it was now or never. So I came here. To take you away. With me.
Forever.’
He walked up to me. He held my shoulders with both hands.
‘Neel, just stop,’ I said.
‘Fine, hit me. Slap me. You did it once. Do it again. As many times as you want. But come
with me.’