Omkar coaxed her to lean against him. He pulled at the silk of her bangs with his fingers. “I feel really guilty. I should have explained about my culture to you before. Indian parents have a hard time accepting that times have changed. No matter how old you are, they treat you like a child. In my culture, most marriages are arranged by our parents and it’s kind of a big deal to them to make sure that the girl comes from a certain caste and a certain family and a certain culture and a lot of other things.”

“Well, what do you want to do?” Aria asked, not wanting to come between Omkar and the life to which he belonged.

“I don’t know. For a long time, I thought I might actually prefer for my parents to choose who I should marry. But that just isn’t the path my life went on. Part of me thinks it might be destiny that my parents moved here, because I was meant to meet you. But it doesn’t really matter, because I am in love with you, so it doesn’t matter who my parents want me to marry or if it’s a good idea or not.”

“But I don’t have a family. I know how bad it is to be without a family and you don’t. I don’t want to be the thing that ruins your relationship with your family. That would fuck up our relationship so much worse than you realize,” Aria argued.

“Are you the one saying you won’t accept my family?” Omkar said. It was more of a statement than a question. “No … they are the ones that won’t accept you or me for that matter. You aren’t the one not accepting my family; they are the ones not accepting you, so they are the ones separating me from them, not you. You need to trust me. I won’t let anything ruin us.”

Aria rested on the belvedere of his reassurance until it was time for him to go to class. After he kissed her forehead and she hurried across the courtyard between the buildings, Aria realized exactly where she was. She watched the students file past her and felt intensely out of place.

Unlike her, these students had been sheltered. For them, the future was a risk they were excited for. College was rather like a low cliff over dark waters. A diving board off which they would jump into the real world, hoping they could swim. And of course they would. Their success was obvious to everyone but them; much like a baby taking its first steps with trepidation.