41 Wednesday

I drove into the parking lot to meet up with Dr. Patel, a little nervous, hoping this outfit was not too much for the dinner.

I see him standing by his car, a Maserati Ghibli, looking drool worthy in his three piece suit. It fit him so perfectly, I knew it was tailored well.

I need to find out who is his tailor....

I take a deep breath, make sure I have my clutch and keys, check my hair and makeup, then I exit the car and make my way over.

He doesn't notice me at first, but when I am within thirty feet of him, he glances over and has to do a double take.

His mouth drops open in surprise, looking me over from head to toe, a smile spreading across his face.

"Aman. Good evening." I greet him, a smile on my face, knowing that from his reaction, he approved of Lance's choice in my dress for the evening.

I was in my floor length, emerald green, off the shoulder dress, that had a modest slit that went to my knee. Along with my hair that I had curled up and pinned, giving me an almost lazy, but beautiful look. My hair had been the problem tonight, attempting to curl it and leave it down, but I was running out of time so I just settled with what it was now. I wore my Louboutin's to make sure I was tall enough, not to be stepping on my dress.

It took a minute for Aman to gather himself. He was standing there blinking, when finally he shook his head and laughed, "You're amazing, you know that right?"

That sentence has my body flaming with a humbled blush.

"Why do you say that?" I'm suddenly feeling shy again around him.

He gestures to my outfit, "Because you honestly had me questioning myself right now. You are stunning and it makes me feel very privileged to be having you with me tonight."

I blush again, "Thank you, Aman."

He opens the car door for me and we are soon on our way. We talk about our likes and dislikes, telling each other little things that couples would know about each other. We agree on that we met through a mutual friend at work, who would be Jim, keeping everything we could as close to the truth as possible. I feel like it's getting easier to lie to people about being in a relationship, which causes a enormous amount of guilt to sweep over me.

"Lirael, is everything okay?" Aman looks at me before returning his attention back to the 75.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" I shake my thoughts from my head, turning my attention back to him.

"Because you suddenly looked sad. Why is that?" He inquires.

I shrug, "I felt bad because of the need to be lying to people. It's becoming easier and I needed to remind myself that it is not something I should be proud of." I sigh and smile. "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be helping you and have no qualms about doing it for you. I just wish your family would accept you for who you are."

Aman is quiet, I can tell what I just said touched him. He clears his throat and just says, " Thank you."

Soon the bustle of being in the middle of Dallas near Klyde Warren Park as we got off on North Pearl Street, over took the comfortable silence we had been in. There was something going on near the park so traffic was heavy as we slowly made our way to the restaurant.

We found parking and Aman insists on opening my door for me.

As I am thanking him, I notice a man and woman staring intently at us from the entrance.

Muttering under my breath with a large smile, I inform him, "Looks like they're waiting on us."

He offers me his hand, casually, which I take, linking our fingers together like any in love couple would do and put on a shy smile as we make our way to the door.

"Aman! Finally you have arrived! This must be your friend you told me about!" His cousin Toya welcomes us as we get closer.

Aman clears his throat, "Girlfriend, Toya. She is my girlfriend." He gives his cousin a tight smile before turning to the woman with his cousin and says rather flatly in greeting. "Lavani."

She gives me a scrutinizing glare and responds, "Aman."

You could freeze ice in hell with the coldness rolling off the both of them. I give Aman's hand a gentle squeeze before he introduces me.

"Toya, Lavani, this is my girlfriend, Lirael." His eyes warm as he gives me a genuine smile, that I easily return.

Lavani scoffs, "Yes, you've said that already. Shall we eat? We purchased tickets to go see a pianist over at the opera house. We should not try to be late." She crosses her arms and her impatience and bad mood only fuel my desire to get under this bitch's skin.

"Oh how lovely, which pianist?" I ask in a sweet, innocent tone.

Lavani should be grateful it's not raining at the moment, if her nose went up any higher in the air, she'd be drowning.

"You've probably never heard of him, he's from South Korea." She hummed a forced smile, looking rather proud of herself.

"Oh really? Is it Cho Seong-Jin? Or maybe Yekwon Sunwoo, or Yiruma? " I throw out a few names that I had heard of before making her eyes flare up in shocked rage.

Toya awkwardly chuckles, "Yiruma, you guessed it. You enjoy piano music, Lirael?" He takes Lavani's arm and begins directing us into the restaurant.

"I enjoy a wide variety of music, instrumental has a special place in my heart though. I used to play a flute and was in my school and college's concerto bands." I inform him.

Aman smiles at me, "Well, I did not know that. Maybe you can play for me one day?"

I feel an honest blush rise to my face, "If you insist, I just may."

The hostess greets us and takes us to our table. I could feel the eyes of more than a few men undressing me with their eyes in here. However, Aman's arm snakes around my waist in a protective manner as we walk along to the table. He even pulls out my chair for me to sit at, leaving Lavani standing as he takes his own seat next to me.

Toya takes his seat without batting an eye, leaving Lavani to clench her jaw and seat herself. I found it quite comical. Our server is over almost immediately, asking us for our drink order as he sets down glasses of ice water.

I order an 'old voice' to drink and the buffalo tenderloin for dinner, feeling the cold hard stare of Lavani, and the curious looks of Toya. I turn to Aman and ask him about the patients progress that I had helped him get the insurance agency to approve the procedures.

"So how did you two meet exactly?" Toya inquires as our food arrives.

Aman looks to me and I smile saying, "A mutual friend from work introduced us and he asked me out for coffee."

"Really? You asked her?" Toya gives a skeptical look towards Aman.

Aman puffs up, obviously taking offense, "Yes, I asked her. What kind of question is that?"

Toya smiles at me with a mischievous grin. He's about to start something or thinks I'm an idiot.

"The kind of question one would ask their supposedly GAY cousin. You do know that he claims he's gay to our family right? Just to get out of his arranged engagement to Lavani here? I'd be disgusted if I were you, especially if you have slept with him. " Toya throws it all out on the table just like that.

Like a deer caught in the headlights, I freeze for a moment, but I don't even think about it before I am taking Aman's shaking, clenched hand in my own that sits upon the table before steeling my self to keep my calm.

"I'm sorry, I don't think my disgust could possibly be pointed at him over any thing you just mentioned. My disgust is directed at you for trying to cause a scene though and chance destroying our relationship through your blatant disregard for your cousin."

Aman pats my hand, "It's fine Lirael, I should have known better that this was all he wanted to do."

Lavani makes the mistake of opening her mouth next.

"Well, what do you expect? You humiliated my family by refusing our engagement. Then you tell your family the reason is because you are into men? Then you show up with some disgusting slut, masquerading as a woman of worth.."

*BANG* Tink-tink-tink*

Aman stands, slamming his hands on the table as he leans across to get close to Lavani's face, making her shrink back in fear.

"Shut your filthy, spoiled, entitled, little, whore mouth." He spits at her through gritted teeth. "I know you've been sleeping with Toya for the past three years, even though he's married. This was just an excuse to look good in front of my family and spread your legs, you disgusting woman. You have no place in my family other than the fly that keeps returning to the piece of shit."

He stands, straightening his suit and picking up his coat, turning to me with his hand out, "Come, Lirael. We can still enjoy our evening, we don't need to waste the night in the company of trash."

I immediately take his hand, standing with wide eyes, my clutch in my other hand as he escorts me out of the restaurant only stopping to hand the server a few hundred dollar bills.

"This is for our part of the bill only. Keep the change." He says quietly, before taking me once again and escorting me back to the car.