Chapter 4

"Mum! Dad!"

Ray gaped at Neela. A towel! Neela's wearing only a towel! And didn't know her folks were coming by, he added, judging from her dumbstruck expression.

Remembering to close his mouth, Ray quickly checked that he wasn't drooling and casually greeted her. "Morning, Neela, look who's come by for a visit."

Hearing Ray's voice, Neela's head snapped, as if coming out of a trance. This can't be happening! Not now…..She panicked.

It had been six months since Neela had moved out of Abby's apartment and started sharing an apartment with Ray. She had mentioned the move to her parents and even given them the address - conveniently leaving Ray out, referring to him only as her roommate. She'd figured that if they ever came for a visit, they'd tell her in advance and she'd be prepared.

She'd never anticipated that they would just show up out of the blue at her doorstep. With Ray opening the door no less, looking as if he has spent the night on a park bench!

This is bad.

Taking a deep breath, she belatedly realized that she was still standing there in her towel, dripping from her shower. She gave her parents an embarrassed look. "Ill be right back, just need to get dressed. Please, sit down," Neela pointed to the sofa and walked back to her bedroom trying to calm herself.

Ray turned to Neela's parents, now seated. "You must be tired, is there anything I can offer you, coffee, tea, juice………" He trailed off as Neela's father eyed him warily.

"Ray…is it?" He inquired mildly. "If I may ask, is there any particular reason you're here?"

Confused by his question, Ray looked back at him and debated on what to say. Did Neela even mention to them that she had a roommate? Deciding that honesty was probably the best route in this case Ray replied, "I live here, I'm Neela's roommate."

Neela walked out just in time to hear Ray's response. "Ray!" She looked at him angrily. "Aren't you feeling tired after the long night you had? Maybe you should go to bed or leave."

Surprised by Neela's anger, but not wanting to get into it in front of her parents, Ray put up his hands in defense. "Ok, Neela, I'm going to bed." He looked back at her parents as he walked to his room. "And don't worry about waking me, I sleep like the dead."

"We won't," Neela responded icily, before turning to her parents. "What are you doing here?" She asked, looking anxiously at them.

"We wanted to see our daughter," Neela's mother responded narrowing her eyes at Neela.

Closing her eyes, Neela realized it was going to be a long morning. "I'm glad to see you both. Really. But why didn't you tell me that you were coming?"

"Why, Neela? So you could conveniently hide from us the fact that you've been living alone, for the past six months, with a man?" Neela's father responded in a controlled but angry voice.

"It's not like that, Dad, he is a colleague of mine, we work at the hospital. He needed a roommate, right around the time that I was looking to move out of Abby's. I was having a hard time finding a place, and the timing just worked out." Neela finished, looking at them wearily.

"Neela, we raised you better than this," Neela's mother began. "You're a single girl living alone with an unwed man!"

"It's not like that, Mum, really. Ray and I don't even see each other on most occasions, we usually work opposite shifts," Neela responded trying to defend herself.

"If that is the case then why is he here right now?" Her father asked, looking at her suspiciously. "If you work opposite shifts shouldn't he be working right now?"

Oh god. This situation is just getting worse, Neela thought frantically to herself. "We both just happen to have off today. It doesn't happen very often."

"Never mind the fact that we are actually supposed to believe that the tattoo-clad man with blood shot eyes we met earlier is actually a doctor!" He continued as if ignoring her last comment.

"He is actually a good doctor, Dad." Neela replied invariably defending her roommate. "He has this way with children, makes them feel at ease and I can rely on him when handling complicated trauma procedures and…."

Neela trailed off struggling with the contradictory emotions she had been feeling all morning wage a war within her.

She put her fingers to head and massaged her temples. The headache that had disappeared following her shower earlier had now returned ten-fold. "I'm sorry that this is upsetting you both, but it isn't what you think. We don't have a relationship outside of work, we are just colleagues," she said firmly.

"We cannot accept that, Neela," her mother said, looking at her. "You know that we cannot. You are going to have to find some place else to live. That's it."

"What!" Neela exclaimed, glaring at them. "You want me to move out when I've already explained to you that there is nothing going on between us; he's just someone I work with!"

"This is serious, Neela, what do you want us to do? You have to understand where we are coming from on this; you have been raised differently," her father tried reasoning with her.

Neela thought about her options. She didn't want to move out; she liked living here. She shouldn't have to move out because of Ray! Thinking hard, Neela looked up at them as an idea formed in her mind.

"What if I told you something about him, something I'm pretty sure would throw a wrench into your preconceived notions about men and women, and whether they should live together?"

Looking back at her with skeptical expressions, her parents remained silent and waited for her to continue.

"He's gay," she stated, feeling both pleased and mildly uncomfortable.

"Gay?" Both her parents responded looking at each other and then back at Neela.

"Yes, gay…as in he likes other blokes," she continued.

They were quiet for awhile taking in this latest bit of news. Neela's mother broke the silence first, looking at her father as she spoke. "Well, he was wearing nail polish and black eye-liner…." Neela's father just looked at her blankly. "Kajal," She clarified.

"Oh." He looked at Neela. "We're going to need some time to think about this. It doesn't mean we're okay with how things are right now. We just need to think this over."

"Okay," Neela responded, taking a deep breath.

"I think we should be going now," her mother stated, getting up. "We will keep in touch and meet with you again in a few days."

For the first time during their visit, her parents walked over and gave her a hug. "We've missed you," they whispered to her. "Really, missed you."

Neela swallowed. "Yeah, I've missed you, too, and the rest of the family. How's everyone doing?"

"They are doing well. Your younger siblings miss fighting with you. They spend all their time now fighting with each other," her father said with a smile.

Neela smiled back at them and walked them to the door. "Okay, call me when you want to get together. I'm working day shifts this week, so I'll be free in the evenings.

"We will," her mother responded, as they both walked out.

Neela shut the front door and banged her head against it for a good 10 minutes.

What am I going to do? This is all Ray's fault; he's just going to have to play along, she thought to herself as she got her sneakers on and left to run off her anxiety.