A Bollywood Breakup

Chapter 1

Janvi usually only took 5 minutes to get ready, but today was a "special occasion", as mom had emphasized earlier. This meant she took 2 extra minutes to put additional care into her makeup. She put on her bindi - She couldn't remember the last time she had one on, but mom had insisted - and stepped out into the living room. Mom had recruited Jai, her little brother, and her Dad, and was directing the placement of the center table.

"No, it's still off" Mom said, pouting. "Jai, go and get the measuring tape. We'll center it mathematically."
Using math to organize the house was the last stage in Mom's stage-by-stage descent into panic as she cleaned, polished and shined everything in the house to make it look as appealing as possible to the guests. The guests better arrive soon, Janvi thought, before Mom completely looses it.

"They're here!" Jai shouted. Dad stood to attention. Mom put on the biggest smile she could summon. The three of them rushed to the door.

"This is really over the top!" Janvi thought. "They're just coming to visit. What's the big deal?"

Janvi, 28 and "very marriageable" according to her mom, had already met with Veer several times. In fact, one could even say they had been "dating", if such words were allowed in this arranged-marriage/love-marriage hybrid relationship that had blossomed over the past few weeks. In modern India, parents still wanted to play an active role in their children's romantic lives, but they had learnt to do it through nudges and pushes instead of the historically favored direct intervention. Janvi's mom had "arranged" for her to meet with Veer at a Starbucks a few weeks ago. Not "arranged" in the sense of an arranged marriage, but more arranged as in "created circumstances such as would precipitate a meeting with a good boy from a respected family". Despite the heavy-handed circumstances under which they had met, Janvi and Veer had managed to overcome the initial awkwardness of an "arranged date" and befriend each other. Now, after the appropriate amount of time had passed, their families were meeting. Superficially for tea, but with the ulterior motive of initiating the marriage conversation.

"Welcome, welcome. Welcome to our humble abode." Janvi's dad said, with the requisite earnestness of the bride-to-be's father. "What a lovely house you have. Such a beautiful neighborhood", Veer's Dad replied. "Please come in, come in. Have a seat" her Mom followed up. The cliched pleasantries continued to flow in both directions. Tea was served. Samosas were eaten. Compliments about deliciousness of the aforementioned samosas presented, and generously deflected towards Janvi, even though she had no hand in creating them.

While Janvi was trying to distance herself from this awkward encounter, Veer on the other hand, seemed to be really enjoying himself. He made expert small talk. Talked with Dad about traffic, and how evil the politicians were forever creating inflation. Talked with Jai about video games and how the latest Call of Duty had ruined the franchise. Exaggerated compliments and subtle flirting directed at Mom. Equitably distributing his attention to everyone. His performance was certainly top notch.

What a devilish charmer, Janvi thought to herself.

After the first round of small talk, Janvi's mom turned to Janvi and said "Beta, why don't you take Veer and show him the neighborhood?". This was a not-so-subtle direction to Veer and Janvi to get out of the house, so the parents may move on to the next phase of discussions. "OK", said Janvi reluctantly, and Veer enthusiastically.

"I know a great new French restaurant. The owner is my friend. It has the best music. We'll go there for a bite!" Veer said, grabbing Janvi's hand. "This is going to be the highlight of your day!" Veer said to Janvi as he tugged at her. They said their polite goodbye's and headed towards Veer's car, which he had parked right outside the gate.

Veer had a cherry-red Mazda Roadster convertible, which he had parked with its top down. It was perfectly centered outside the house, well positioned to attract admiration towards the car and jealousy towards Veer. Veer hopped over the closed driver-side door, into the driver's seat. He opened the car's passenger door from the inside, and pushed the door outwards as Janvi walked across to the passengers side and got in. Veer turned the ignition and pumped the accelerator pedal a couple of extra times to let the loud roar of the car reach anyone that had previously missed its presence. He pushed it into gear and they were off.

"You're looking great, by the way. New dress? Did you go shopping for me?" Veer said, playfully. "Yes. It's a 'special' day today", Janvi responded, with air quotes around 'special' with her best mom impression. "I got it at Spades today. Only Rs 1500. Great deal, no?" Janvi said. "On you, it looks like a Rs 10,000 dress!" Veer replied. "Thanks", Janvi said.

Chapter 2

As they turned onto the crowded expressway, the saturday night traffic was at its peak. Impatient cars everywhere, competing to out-honk each other. The cacophony was ear splitting, but in this open-top car, it was positively headache inducing. "Can you close the top?", Janvi said. Veer looked at Janvi with a strange expression of empathy mixed with offense. "I would, but this is a convertible. It is meant to be driven with its roof down. Besides, look at all the people looking at us. Seeing a dashing hero in a red convertible car is the highlight of their day! They're going to remember this sight!". Janvi looked away, mildly annoyed. "It's only a few minutes", she thought to herself.

Just before the traffic-noise induced headache was able to break through Janvi's mental defenses and make itself home in her head for the night, they arrived at "Chez Panki". Veer pulled up the car straight in front of the main entrance. The valet opened the door for Janvi and she stepped out of the car. Veer tossed the car's keys at the valet. "Keep it in front. It will impress the customers!" Veer said non-chalantly to the valet as they walked through the front door.

The restaurant had a very upscale, classy feel. Large chandeliers adorned the dining space. Circular tables, large and small with elegant silverware and sparkling glasses. There was a bar on the left, with several shelves of alcohol stocked up to the roof.

"Come on, lets go and meet my friend", Veer said, tugging on her hand. Veer made his way towards the end of the bar, where a girl dressed in an impeccable black dress was giving instructions to the wait staff. She was tall, wearing high heels to appear taller than the men she was instructing. Dressed elegantly enough to have an air of authority without attracting attention away from the restaurant. As they approached, Veer unpacked his hands wide, inviting her in for a hug.

"Mona! My darling! What a lovely place you have here!" Veer said, his voice raised to drown out the ambient music.
Mona turned to him, smiled and accepted his hug. "Hi Veer! It's been a while!" she said.
Veer turned to Janvi and introduced her to Mona. "Janvi. Please meet Mona, the beauty and the brains behind Chez Panki. Mona, this is my girlfriend Janvi".
Janvi and Mona shook hands and smiled at each other. "Nice to meet you. You really have an elegant space here. I love the turned-stem wine glasses. 18th century?" Janvi enquired.
"Yes! What a sharp eye you have to notice. Hand made by glass-blowers in the classic burgundy style. Replicas, of course - I couldn't possibly afford the antiques themselves, that would..."
"Look at you two, getting off into girl talk!" Veer interrupted. "Now, now - I should keep you apart. I don't want my special ladies getting too close together...hahaha".
A hint of confusion crossed Janvi's face as she searched Mona's expression. Mona's face didn't betray any emotion.
"Anyway", Mona said, changing the subject. "Let me see you to your table" she said as she walked them towards a charming table by the show kitchen.
"Glad to see you took my advice" Veer said to Mona, as Mona pulled back Janvi's chair to help her sit. Veer turned to Janvi and said, with his eyebrow raised "You know, this restaurant was my idea for Mona. Look at what an incredible job she has done with it. Isn't she amazing?"
"Thanks Veer. Enjoy your evening. Always nice to see you." Mona curtly said, as she walked back towards the bar.

"What a lovely restaurant!" Janvi said, as they picked up their menus.
"Yes. Mona really is very talented. She just needs a push every now and then. I'm sure she's so happy now that she finally took my advice. You know, her life was really empty when I met her. I helped her launch herself and make something of her potential. I'll bet she's so glad she was with me." Veer said.
"You two dated?" Janvi asked.
"Yeah. For like a year. I'm her favorite ex. Haha!" Veer said, smiling with satisfaction to himself. "You get the chicken. It's phenomenal!", he said, as he considered options for himself.

Chapter 3

As the waiter took away their dessert plates, Janvi thanked him. "That was the best Mango soufflé I've had! Please convey my compliments to the chef!". Veer flashed the thumbs-up in agreement. "The dessert wine. Agreed with the soufflé. What a scene!" Veer stumbled along with his compliments as well.

He's had the better part of that bottle, Janvi thought, but tipsy Veer had a lot of funny stories to tell, so she didn't mind so much.

As Veer payed the check and started walking out, he said he'll stop by and thank Mona. He walked over towards the bar, but Mona wasn't around.

"Mona!" he yelled, looking for her.
"MONA!!" louder this time. No sign of Mona.
"MOOONAAAA!!" Veer screamed. Everyone at the restaurant heard the last one.

Janvi held Veer's hand. "It's all right. Let's go. She's not here.", she said, trying to diffuse the situation.
"One Second. Let me check the back." Veer said, wiggling his arm free of Janvi. He walked over around the bar, and pushed through the door marked "Employees Only". Janvi chased after him, mildly scandalized. "Come on, it'll be fine!", Veer yelled as he went through the door laughing. They had stepped into the kitchen, but there was no sign of Mona. An angry looking bouncer-type walked over and said "Sir, this is the kitchen. Would you like me to guide you back to the dining area?". Although his tone was polite, he was firmly blocking Veers way forward.

"Get out of the way, twerp" Veer said, as he attempted to shove the bouncer away. Veer had considerably underestimated the bouncers heft, as his attempt to move the bouncer produced no result. Quite the opposite, the bouncer saw this assault as an invitation to use physical force on Veer.
The bouncer grabbed Veer's arm, and with a quick motion, held it behind Veer's back, straining Veer and eliciting a hurtful screech. "Sir, you can't be here!" the bouncer said, loudly this time while forcefully walking Veer back through the door, into the restaurant and out through the front door.
"DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM! I'll have you fired!" Veer was screaming. Janvi followed Veer out the restaurant. "Let me go, you jackass! You're done, DO YOU HEAR ME? FINISHED." Veer yelled.

The bouncer let him go outside the restaurant, and Janvi immediately ran up next to him and asked Veer if he was OK. "Idiot. He's going to regret touching me. I'm gonna have him fired. I'm gonna ruin his life." Veer said, anger dripping from him as he stumbled on to his feet trying to find his balance. "Lets get out of here!" he yelled as he walked towards his car.

He jumped into the drivers seat without opening the door. As Janvi walked around to the passenger's side, he turned the ignition. "Hey. You wanna go get some ice cream? A buddy of mine has a great fusion-ice-cream place." Veer said, seemingly moving past the altercation. Janvi wore a confused look on her face, not understanding how Veer had so quickly forgotten the bouncer. "Come on, it'll be fun! Let's go!" Veer said, as he drove out, whistling the Mission Impossible theme into the jolly night.

Chapter 4

The next morning as Janvi sat down at the table for a sunday family breakfast, Mom had a lot of well placed enquiries about how the evening with Veer went. When Janvi didn't volunteer any information, Mom kept up at the topic, talking about how successful Veer's family was and what a good boy Veer himself was. Handsome to look at, Successful at his career, Respected family. The Indian middle class trifecta. They were lucky to find such a good relationship. Janvi didn't participate in the debrief of the evening. While she had had fun last evening, she was quite perplexed how to feel about it.

On the one hand, Veer's spontaneity and mischief had awakened her own sense of adventure. She was the typical "good girl". Got good grades. Did well in college. Got a good job. Everything her parents expected of her. She was never really a rebel. However, yesterday's misguided but exhilarating real-life adventure had been something that she only saw in movies, and had secretly wished for herself.

The brash handsome hero gets into an altercation with a stranger. They get thrown out. Then they eat ice cream.

This is not a story that she would have expected to tell. The little mischief they got themselves into had added some color to her otherwise black and white life, she thought.

On the other hand, while the adventure of the evening had elated her last night, something about it didn't sit well with her. She had this queasy, uneasy feeling. The feeling was new, not one she was familiar with. The feeling was vaguely warning her of danger, she thought, but it wasn't very articulate about what exactly the danger was. Maybe it was her inner voice trying to tell her to lay off trouble, but the newly awaked adventurer inside her was muffling the inner voice, trying to get it to shut up and just let Janvi live a little for once! Besides, it's not like they had gotten into any real trouble last night. It was just a spot of fun.

She decided that last night was, in fact, an adventure to be viewed positively. Whatever danger her inner voice was warning her of was just her coddled, safe, and protected childhood not knowing how to process a bit of mischief, she thought to herself. She decided to ignore the voice and seek the adventure.

Janvi "middle-name-danger" Kapoor was going to have fun.

"It was a lot of fun" she finally said, after her Mom's 8th attempt at extracting information. "We ate dinner, met some new people, then went for ice cream."

Her Mom and Dad nodded appreciatively. "All right", they thought. "They consent. Good. We should start thinking about the logistics of the wedding."

Chapter 5

Four weeks had passed, and things in the house had started really moving quickly. The pundit had been around last week to get the Kundalis done for Veer and Janvi. She had noticed Dad handing the pundit a crisp Rs 500 note just outside the door as he left, saying "I hope the Kundali matches. I'm really counting on it!". The pundit had looked at the money and said "Don't worry. God will take care of you." and then had winked at Dad.

And today, a caterer was auditioning for her Mom. He had made half a dozen different dishes and was diligently taking copious notes as Mom was reviewing each dish with the gusto of a teacher grading final exam papers. "Balance of spices in the pakodas is off. I think it needs more onions!" she said. "You have such a delicate palate. Yes, more onions.", the caterer said, writing something down in his notebook. "You know, you might have missed your calling not becoming a restaurant critic" the caterer added, flattering his way into Janvi's wedding.

All of this only made Janvi more irritable. The past few weeks had been... what's the right word... out of balance. She had spent a lot of time with Veer, throwing herself into this new life of adventure that she had chosen. They had gone on a weekend trip to the beach, to a beer making class, to a winery to crush harvest grapes (and drink wine) and even did something called "land sailing". While she undoubtedly had fun, she had her inner voice warning her of danger get louder and louder. She figure it was just butterflies or anxiety at first, but the inner voice didn't let up. Even after they had returned from these adventures, the inner voice kept hinting at impending danger.

"Just shut up, I'm back home safe!" She had yell at herself in the mirror after returning from the land sailing, not knowing where the inner voice was exactly. Not in a mood to listen, this inner voice.

Of course, there had been some mischief too. Veer had gotten a speeding ticket on the drive to the beach town. He had gotten into a drunken yelling match at the winery over what he perceived was a lack of grapes in their stomping vat. He had repeatedly questioned and attempted to correct the beer making instructor over various technical details about beer and beer making, but the teacher obviously knew more than Veer. He had not liked that. They had to leave early after he called the instructor an idiot. There had been many other outbursts of varying intensity. Each time, Veer had calmed down a few minutes later, brushed off the incident, and moved on to their next adventure.

Each time, Janvi had laughed, choosing to see it as a new page in her adventure stories that she was collecting to tell her grandkids one day. But the inner voice never let up. Worse, Janvi wasn't even sure what the voice was saying. It wasn't saying anything. It was just conveying a feeling. But what feeling? A feeling of impending danger. It had been very unhelpful in providing any more details. She just brushed it aside every time, and chose to enjoy the moment. But as Janvi turned her consciousness away from the feeling, she found that the inner voice just started talking to her subconscious. And now she was in this terrible place where her inner voice and her subconscious were talking to each other, and she had been cut out of the discussion. That made her very.... out of balance.

She had been quite irritable around everyone recently, and she couldn't really put her finger on why.

To make matters worse, Jai, her younger brother, had struck up a friendship with Veer. They had gone to see the IPL match yesterday, just the two of them. Jai and Janvi used to have a very close relationship, but they had drifted apart in the last few years as Jai had immersed himself in the art world. He was studying painting at the university, and he had precious little time to spare for Janvi, or for anyone in the family.
And now, inexplicably, he was hanging out with Veer. And Janvi couldn't understand why.

"Here, try these pakodas" Mom said to Janvi. "Tell me what you think about the spices"
"I hate pakodas!" Janvi snapped at a surprised Mom.
"Sorry, I didn't mean that. I'm not feeling too well." she offered up as an apology, as she retreated back to her room.
"Ignore her, she's under a lot of stress at work" Mom said to the caterer as they moved on to the biryani.

Chapter 6

"What's happening, Sis?" Jai said as Janvi walked into her own room. He was sitting down on her favorite chair, facing the bed.
"What are you doing here?" Janvi said surprised Jai had chosen to visit her.
"Let's talk. How've you been?" Jai asked, leaning in like a concerned friend.
"Good. You?" Janvi replied, not sure what he meant by "talk". They hadn't "talked" in years.

"Veer. He's quite the Man, isn't he?" Jai said, placing unneeded emphasis on "man".
"I guess so. He's quite adventurous." Janvi replied.
"Yes. Like Indiana Jones, but actually Indian" Jai said, proud of his pun.
"Ha", Janvi offered up half a chuckle. She still wasn't clear what Jai wanted to talk about.

"I finished a painting yesterday. Wanna look?" Jai said, as he pulled up a canvas that he had placed behind the chair he was sitting on.
"Seriously? You never show me what you've been working on." Janvi said, genuinely surprised at his offer.
"Today's your lucky day", Jai said, as he placed the canvas in front of her.

It was a sketch of what looked like a ghostly man that seemed to be falling towards the edge of the painting. It was almost like he had tripped over something, but Janvi couldn't see what it was. There were concentric circles around the exact center of the painting, which emphasized the ghostly figures' fall from the center.

"It's really pretty. Why is the man falling?" Janvi asked, as she leaned in.
"I call this 'off-center'" Jai offered
"Why off-center?" Janvi asked
"Because he's lost what centers him" Jai replied.
"And what is that?" Janvi asked still puzzled
"That...", Jai said, as he slowly handed the painting to Janvi "... is for the viewer to decide. Everyone injects their own subjective meaning to what is otherwise an objective painting. What's yours?" Jai said, walking towards the door.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Janvi said. Jai was quite clearly trying to tell her something, but she couldn't understand what it was. Jai's proclivity to communicate through riddles was annoying.

Jai reached the door, and as he pulled the door close, he said, with his best Darth Vader impression.
"Search your feelings, Janvi. You know what's true."

Janvi, dazed and confused stared at the painting for a full 10 minutes before she turned off the lights and went to sleep.

Chapter 7

Janvi had spent the night half-awake. She was thinking about the painting. The ghostly figure seemed to be looking directly at her, his eyes wide in alarm, looking for something. Jai had said he had lost what centered him. Maybe that is what he was looking for. But what was it?

Maybe Jai had noticed her irritability and her change in mood the past few days. That's what he was referring to in this painting, clearly. But this painting was just as unhelpful as her inner voice. It just offered up a feeling, without any helpful details or even a direction of what might be "off-center".

She drifted aimlessly in her mind, jumping over all of the adventures she had with Veer over the past few weeks. As she arranged them side-by-side in her head, she began to notice things. She had enjoyed the beach and the winery and the beer making. She had enjoyed doing all those new things, and interestingly, she noticed as she turned over the events in her head, she wasn't at all anxious or worried. Her inner voice had been quiet during those times. The inner voice wasn't really objecting to her trying new things, experiencing new adventures.

It was proximity to Veer that was triggering the feeling of impending danger. He was liable to act unpredictably, to get into trouble. And she had to talk him down and walk him out of trouble. He was always doing what he wanted. He had never asked her what she thought about anything.

As she drifted among the collection of moments with Veer she had in her mind, she realized that Veer was always doing what he wanted. His life was a movie, and he was its star. He had always placed himself at the center of the universe, doing things as he liked, without regard for what she might think.

With the benefit of the perspective of the mind's eye, she also suddenly realized that in all these moments she had with Veer, Veer was at the center of all of them. If they were pictures, he was in the center, and she was off to the side. Veer had lived his life with himself at the center of it, and he wasn't making space for her to share in. He was always going to be at the center of his life, and he wasn't willing to create a new life, a new moment, a new picture with them together. It was only him, and the only me he was interested in was the part of me that was with him, she thought.

That is what had thrown her out of balance. She hadn't found a way to stand side by side with Veer, together. He was the center of his life, and there was no space for her. She was just tagging along.

Janvi startled herself awake. "Oh my God", she thought. That's it. This realization had unlocked something inside her. She was able to understand her inner voice. It wasn't communicating with words, but with feelings. She understood this new vocabulary of the inner voice. She was able to interpret her inner voice. As her inner voice fed her all the bottled up feelings, the emotions and its associated anxieties, its hopes and its worries, Janvi felt that she had understood this relationship at a deeper level. She was one with herself again. She could see what was going on. She could see what was happening inside herself. She could see what was happening with her and Veer.

She also saw what had to happen.

Chapter 8

Janvi awoke startled. She rushed to Jai's room and knocked on the door. It was 5:30 am, but Jai usually worked all night on his paintings, so it was likely he was awake. Jai opened the door, all covered in his painting clothes that had paint and turpentine all over.
"What?" he said, a bit startled.
"I need to talk." Janvi said, all excited.
"Why?" Jai said. He wasn't really in the mood to talk.
"I understand what you were saying yesterday. The painting. The balance. It all makes sense now. Veer is a terrible person. I get that now. That's what you were trying to say yesterday, right? I get it now."

Jai looked straight at Janvi with a blank stare.
"I don't think Veer is a terrible person. What are you talking about?" Jai said.

Janvi was taken aback. Jai doesn't think Veer is a bad person? But that's what he was trying to say yesterday. With the painting. Did he just change his mind? What was going on?

"But..." Janvi stammered. "...yesterday. With the painting. You were trying to tell me that Veer is pushing me off center, right? That's what the painting is about."

Veer closed the door to his room, and walked Janvi to the living room. "Sit down" he mentioned to her. Janvi sat down on the couch.

"Look, I wasn't trying to say that at all yesterday. I'm an artist. I try to paint what I see. And over the last few weeks, I've been able to see into you. Usually you are well composed, but something changed in the last few weeks. I thought that was interesting, so I tried to capture that."
Janvi was holding her head in her hand. All that insight about Veer - Had she imagined that? Had she made a huge mistake thinking about Veer that way? Was he a good person after all?

"However" Jai said, with a large meaningful pause intended to draw Janvi out. "Art only succeeds when the viewer finds meaning in art. The artist has control only over half of the conversation. The viewer needs to insert the other half".
Jai continued.
"If the painting sparked a conversation within yourself, then you need to trust that. If you don't see a future with Veer, then you need to trust that feeling."
It was becoming clear to Janvi that all that she thought yesterday were her own thoughts. Her own interpretation. It was not what Jai was trying to tell her. It was the deep truth she had uncovered. From within herself.

"I mean, I can see why you'd think that about Veer. He's not a bad person per se, but he's not compatible with you. I can believe that." Jai said.
Janvi just looked at Jai.
"Veer is looking for someone to take along on his life's adventure. You can go with him, but it'll always be his adventure. You, on the other hand, are looking for someone to share an adventure with."
"Yeah" Janvi said. Jai was articulating this much better than she could.
"Trust what you find inside yourself. That is the truth."

Janvi got up, hugged Jai and thanked him. In his own way, Jai had helped her untangle her own feelings.

Chapter 9

Janvi sat down at the corner table with her Mocha Latte. This starbucks had only two other people in it - Janvi had picked a time when she knew it wouldn't be crowded. As she waited for Veer, she thought over what she was going to say. She was just going to be honest, and talk to him with sincerity.
"Oh God, this is going to be the worst!" She thought to herself as she tried to imagine Veer's reaction. She had prepared for all kinds of things he might say, but for the first time it occurred to her that he might become violent. What would she do then? What if he flipped the table or punched through the glass? Should she call the police? Maybe she should have picked a time when it was more crowded. But then he might make an even bigger scene with a large audience present, she thought.
"I've got to stop second guessing myself." she thought calmly. She would deal with things as they happened. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves.

Veer walked in through the door, and immediately burst out his wide, charming smile at her. He came over to the table, hugged Janvi, and sat down.
"I just saw the newest Nike Air Jordans at the store next door. We have to go and check them out." he said, with some enthusiasm.

"Wait, Veer. I need to tell you something first." Janvi said, preparing herself with another deep breath.
"What's up?" Veer said.

"I don't know what the best way to say this is, so I'm just going to come out and say it." she paused and looked straight into his eyes.
"I can't marry you. I think we are wrong for each other. We should break up now while we still can." She said in a calm, straightforward voice. Confusion swept over Veer's face. Janvi continued "We've been having a lot of fun going out, but I think that's as far as our relationship can go. We don't have enough in our relationship bank to invest in taking it to the next level". Janvi said. Veer leaned back, his face hardening. Janvi kept talking, trying to explain her reasons as best as she could, but she realized Veer had stopped hearing her, and was busy thinking to himself.

She paused and leaned back, inviting Veer to react, bracing herself for some harsh, uncontrolled reaction from Veer.

"Yeah, I can't say that I was expecting anything else from you." Veer said.

"I beg your pardon?" Janvi said, confused. This was not the reaction she was expecting at all. She was expecting him to get angry or at least question her thinking, but he did neither.

"You're too much of a small town girl" Veer said. "You know the kind of girls that I usually date? Models. TV Actresses. Artists. Free spirits that could keep up with me. That's the kind of girl that is right for me." he said.
"Right", Janvi said, avoiding an unnecessary argument with him.
"I know what the problem was. You want to live a stable, stress-free life, and can't envision a life of traveling, adventure and indulgence. I get that. I understand." he said.
"Right" Janvi said, once again letting Veer create his own reality in his head.
"Yeah, I thought I should experiment dating a new type of girl when I went out with you, but it clearly didn't work. No hard feelings. Let's remain in touch. Although Veer is a highlight no one can forget. Haha" Veer said, pleased with his own reasoning.

They both got up.

"Don't look so sad. Getting dumped is never easy, but I'm sure you'll pick yourself up and find yourself a nice boy with a stable government job. You'll get over me one day. Don't worry." he said, hugging her. He then turned around, and walked through the door.

Janvi was still standing at the table, processing what just happened. She was just glad she had followed through and paid attention to her inner self. She felt proud. She walked out the door towards her car.

As she passed the corner, she could overhear Veer talking on the phone with someone.

"...Yeah, I dumped her. She was too ordinary, and Veer only dates the extraordinary..." she overheard him say as he got into his car and roared away.

Her inner voice was quiet this time. Janvi smiled to herself, got into her car and drove away.