Chapter 2

Anju's dad received a promotion, and as a thanks, invited his boss over for dinner. Ray Johnson was known for being 'The Man Around Town'. He had slept with so many women he had lost count. Anju noticed he was very odd upon meeting him, however she was polite and courteous.


"Ahh Anju. It's such a pleasure to finally meet you! Your father has told me what a beautiful young woman you are, and he was right!" Ray kissed the top of Anju's hand and flashed her a devilish grin. Anju smiled, but felt as if she might vomit from disgust. 'Surely, this isn't the man who has courted so many women.' Anju knew one thing: Ray Johnson was creepy and should be avoided.


Unfortunately for Anju, her mother and father failed to see Ray's pedophile nature. She pulled Ginga into the kitchen while her father and Ray were talking. She pleaded with her mother to see the logic in the fact, but Anju's mother wouldn't hear of it. "Anju! How rude of you! Mr. Johnson is a highly regarded man. He is simply admiring you."


Anju tried to reason with her, but she was set on her thoughts. She was happy when her mother told her to go to her room for the night, though frustrated her parents wouldn't believe her. 'They're naive. In India, things aren't like this.'

Regardless, Anju slept peacfully and awoke the next morning feeling happy for some reason. This mood vanishes when she sat down at the breakfast table. Her parents had a serious look on their faces, Anju noticed they looked angry as well. 'Great. I get to hear about how wrong I was last night.' Her father cleared his throat before speaking, which only worsened Anju's fears; this was serious.


"Anju. Your behavior yesterday was unacceptable. As of late, you have grown more and more disrespectful. Your mother and myself are worried that it is due to living here. We have decided that at the end of your junior year, we will return to Calcutta and you shall wed Balan as planned."

"My junior year?! But that's in a few months! That's not fair! I was promised to graduate!" Anju fought the tears, but it was a lost battle. "Mother! Reason with him!"

Her mother looked at her with a hard face. "Anjali, I am just as much for this decision as your father. You are quite out of control and frankly, it has to end."

"I hate you!" Anju ran out of the room and didn't stop. She ran from the house and all the way to school. She received stares from the students, but Anju didn't care. It wasn't fair they had so much freedom they didn't even realize. One girl Anju recognized from Calculus approached her cautiously. "Are you okay? You don't look so good."

Anju managed to smile through her tears. "Yeah, I'm okay...just having a really rough Monday."

Eloise laughed. "It's Monday, what can you expect?"

"I suppose...Well I better go...uh fix my face" Anju waved as ascended the stairs and slipped through the door. This was only the beginning of a long day.