Chapter 1
Present Day
My name is Arya.
Currently I am lying in a hospital bed while a boy cries by my side. He is holding my hand tight enough to bruise it. He is professing his love to me but I am not exactly sure I love him back. I mean I did save his life just a few hours ago. The result is that I almost died. To be honest my head hurts so badly I wish I had.
You must be confused. I need to back up a few weeks. I will tell you exactly how I ended up in this mess.
Two Weeks Ago
I came to the USA with a plan. I wanted to become a world class surgeon and prove to my parents that I am not a burden.
So here I am enrolled in medical school. I attend classes. I study. I act like a normal person. Trust me I am as normal as a person can be. I spent the last ten years of my life hiding behind my friends and family. I have the most unmemorable face in existence. Even people from my childhood do not remember me. When I call home I have to remind them who I am. The brown girl. The one in the background. The quiet one.
My father was the only one who saw me. When I got my acceptance letter he did not celebrate. He looked terrified. He told me the West was dangerous. He said I wasn't ready. He begged me to stay in India where he could keep an eye on me. I thought he was just being a paranoid father. I didn't realize he was afraid of something specific.
But something is wrong in this country. My invisibility is malfunctioning.
They do not find me unmemorable here. Wherever I go heads turn. I cannot enjoy the attention because I have other things to do. Like study in a rigorous program and keep my scholarship.
Yesterday was orientation. Today is my first day of classes. It is 3:00 PM and I have already rejected five people. I thought medical students would be focused on their careers. I was wrong. They seem personally offended that I do not want to go out with them.
Here comes number six.
"But why are you saying no?" the boy asks. He is blocking my path to the lecture hall.
"Because I have a lot on my plate right now. And I am not dating."
"Typical Indian." He rolls his eyes and walks away.
I stand there confused. If they know how Indian girls are then why do they keep asking? I have zero experience in rejecting people. I was never noticed enough to need it.
"Don't you know why they keep coming back?"
The voice came from the wall behind me.
I turned around. A boy was leaning against the brickwork with a half smile on his face. He had the kind of confidence that usually comes with a crown. I wanted to punch him immediately. I hate overconfident people. Mostly because I have none myself.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "And who are you?"
"I am the guy who couldn't help watching your face scrunch up in confusion every time you rejected someone." He pushed off the wall and stepped closer. "Name's Aaron. And what I mean is that you are wrong about yourself. You think you look like an average Indian girl. You don't."
He looked at me like I was a puzzle he had already solved.
"You have a structure they find compelling. That and your obvious innocence makes them think you are a prize to be won. Oh. And you are kind of glowing."
"I am not a prize," I snapped. "I am here to study. And I am definitely not glowing."
"You aren't used to compliments are you?"
It was annoying because he was right. No one had ever complimented me before. Not even the guys who asked me out. Although he did say they find me attractive. Not him.
"Does your low self esteem make your mind work slow too?" he asked.
"Don't you have anywhere else to be?"
"Not right this second. No."
"Look I have never been complimented because in India people find bright faces pretty. I am dull and simple. It makes me invisible because half the population looks just like me."
"Don't you own a mirror?"
He laughed. It was a sharp sound. Like glass breaking.
"You are not dull. You are gold. Somewhere between caramel and wheat."
He was really irritating me now. As if I do not know what I look like. I wished he would stop looking directly into my eyes.
His eyes were distracting. They were light grey. Beautiful but strange. Wait. Did I just see a pink spark in there? He blinked and it was gone. It must have been a trick of the light.
"Wow. You are not much of a talker huh? Just a weirdo who doesn't even know her own facial features."
He was calling me weird? This whole conversation was weird.
"Okay I have to go. You are irritating me. Goodbye. See you hopefully never."
I turned to walk away. I glanced back one last time and saw a blue light reflect in his irises. It wasn't a reflection. It was like his eyes were a prism breaking the world into colors.
