After Katie's bus departed, I turned around and saw Divya really shaken up. She looked as if she was about to start crying. "Are you okay?" I asked, even though I already knew what the answer probably was. Divya looked down at the ground and looked back up, biting her lip and shaking her head as tears came to her eyes. I pulled her into a hug, feeling troubled.
After that, she told me everything. Being engaged to that guy Raj, to not really loving him, to her just being in it for her parents. "Why?" I asked.
"It would kill our parents. I mean, we grew up together and they've been planning this since we were about 12."
"What are you going to do?" I asked.
"Just suck it up, I guess. I should just tell them that I'm in love with someone else." Divya said with a sharp nod of her head.
"Who's the 'someone else'?" I inquired. She looked down at the ground a blushed a little bit, shaking her head.
"Please tell me that it's not me. Because that could probably jeopardize Hank Med. Not to mention, you know, Jill…" I said, looking at her cautiously.
"No, of course it's not you" Divya said back, shaking her head slightly, a smile finally appearing on her face.
"Thank god." I said, letting out a sigh of relief, then realizing how bad that that sounded. "No offence" I added, holding my hands up in defense.
"Absolutely none taken." Divya nodded, speaking professionally once again. I smiled, and then remembered why I had asked in the first place.
"Good. So if it's not me, then why did you blush when I asked you?" I asked, crossing my arms, determined to get an answer.
"Umm, do I really have to tell you?" she asked, looking up at me. "I think it'd help, you know…getting it off your chest."
"But you'll laugh. Or be weirded out!" Divya said, blushing again.
"Well if it's Jill then yeah, I'll be weirded out a little bit. But that's it. Unless it's-"
"It's Evan!" she interrupted me.
"Umm, ok. Sure. You're in love with my brother. We'll go with that," I said, trying to keep a straight face. Evan? That was almost the last person I was expecting it to be.
"Hank!"
"I'm sorry! It's just hard to believe. I mean, from the moment I met you, you've been insulting him, his intelligence, everything. And now, you tell me that you're in love with him." I said, shrugging. Women were very weird sometimes.
"Well, I only did all that so nobody would find out." She said, looking at me in despair and hopelessness.
"Well if you really love him, you should tell him. And soon. Preferably before your engagement party."
"Yeah, I know. I just don't know how to do it." Divya shook her head, as if it were the craziest thing in the world.
"Just go up to him. Set him up to be insulted, and then tell him. You'll get two things."
"What are they?" she asked, blunt confusion apparent on her face.
"The pleasure of insulting him. And the relief of finally telling him how you feel." I said, glad I could help with something other than a medical problem.
"Well I do love to insult him…" she said shyly, a hint of a smile beginning to surface.
"That's why it's the perfect solution."
"Thanks Hank. I'm going to go and tell him." She said, turning and beginning to walk towards the parking lot. "You're welcome. And Divya?"
"Yes, Hank?" she turned and looked over her shoulder at me.
"Make it a good one." I said, smiling.
"I will. Thanks again."
And with that, we both walked away. Me, to go tell Jill all about this. Her, on her way to tell Evan how she felt. If you thought that our lives were complicated before, just wait, there's more to come. Way more.
