Zach

Relationships, romance...so much of it is chemical, the hormones rushing to the brain, making demands. They call it 'chemistry' when two people come together & unite as a couple. What chemical process made Justin fall in love with Eleanor at first sight, what hormone made him pursue her for a year before she suddenly responded to him one evening at a party? And what about her? If it was 'chemistry' as Zach understands chemistry, it would have happened for Eleanor the same way it happened for Justin, like two atoms bonding on impact.

Now Justin & Eleanor have become almost a single entity, as though it truly were a chemical bond, if they were to separate, they wouldn't be the same individuals before the bonding, they've undergone some kind of permanent change.

And maybe that's why Zach feels like there's a piece of himself missing, why he finds it difficult to focus, why he aches & cannot sleep. His chemistry is all wrong now, he doesn't know if he can ever be made right..

It hangs heavily in the air when Zach visits Arjun. And of course it would, their daughter has run off...and they don't know the half of it. They trusted Zach to 'chaperone' Meera, as though someone with her determination could be restrained by someone as uninterested in authority as him...they were blind to how this strange relationship they forced on their daughter, only letting her see the world in the company of Arjun's harmless graduate student/assistant, quickly ran out of Zach's control. Her rule was benign, but he was her servant, not quite lover, but most definitely her admirer & the only male let close enough to her to even whisper her name in her ear, steal kisses in quiet corners when her parents were out of the way.

This kind of deception goes against Zach's essence, so it is best she fled, perhaps...she will move on & find herself & he will go on as he was, maybe changed in some ways, but he will go on. "We weren't going to force her to marry Samir," Arjun sighs, "We just wanted her to meet him & consider it. Why did she have to leave like that without telling us? And to go to Violet...her mother is very upset about that..." Yes, Violet, the woman their oldest son Vijay ran off and married against their wishes. They are divorced now, Violet lives in Denver. Zach has seen her website, and is also concerned about Meera, alone in this new city, her only friend an ex-sister-in-law who does home-porn. She never needed a chaperone really, until now perhaps..."I don't think Meera was just running from this...marriage..you are proposing, Arjun. I think there are larger issues. I know the constant...supervision...angered her, Arjun, she was never allowed to go anywhere on her own, she felt...oppressed by it," Zach tells his former mentor. Maybe she needs time away from himself, too, Zach thinks.

Zach tries to change the subject, talk about work, but Arjun talks right over him, much like his daughter would do, "Zach, I want you to fly to Denver & talk to Meera. Tell her we won't pressure her to marry...If she must, she can get her own apartment here, get a job or go to school, we will help her..just tell her to come home, she doesn't have to live in Denver with that Violet."

Zach tries to use work as an excuse for not going, but it won't hold long: a physicist of great prominence, Arjun could pull strings at JPL with ease, if any strings required pulling. But the fact is Zach has vacation time to spare & could leave in a week if he wanted to. And part of him wants to, oh yes. Having her father at his back was always both blessing & curse: she couldn't avoid him, it gave him access, but it made him part of the problem, part of what she is trying to escape.

"I could go to Denver, but I don't know that that would help," Zach says vaguely. "Then you'll go?" Arjun smiles. "I didn't say that," Zach mumbles, but Arjun is already offering to pay for all his expenses & arrange his flights, Zach knows there's no way out of it now. "She'll listen to you," Arjun says confidently, a completely misguided faith.

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