Suh and Steve in Ottawa

Once upon a time, there was a young woman named Sukh who lived in the City of Ottawa, Ontario. Such missed her homeland of Punjab State, located in the heart of India. Such lived in a rented room somewhere in the City of Ottawa and worked hard to pay for her rent and groceries. Sukh worked at Tim Horton's and most of the time, she didn't care for the work because the customers had many ways of being mean to her. In India, people tend to express their dislike of others while in Canada, they were more subtle and passive aggressive. For the lovely but naïve Sukh, this took some getting used to.

Canadians claim to be the friendliest people on the planet, and while Sukh liked Canada, she knew that many saw her as a foreigner, a stranger, and therefore somewhat less than them. Sukh studied chemical engineering at the University of Chandigarh and aspired to work for a major company in India, but circumstances drove her to come to Ontario, Canada, to pursue a different life. Sukh toils away at Tim Horton's and hopes to enroll at a Canadian university someday in order to complete her studies. Sometimes, it seems like a pipe dream for the hearty young Indian woman...

"Good morning," said the big and tall young black man seated at a back corner of Tim Horton's, his deep voice snatching Sukh out of her reverie. The young woman was pushing a broom, a dour look upon her face. A pair of white college student types were dozing off in a corner, and Sukh had been told by Ali, the African manager, to rouse them. Such had done just that, and gotten cussed out for her troubles. Now she found herself facing a well-dressed stranger with intense eyes and an enigmatic smile.

"Hello," Sukh replied, using her best customer service voice. Working at Tim Horton's taught Sukh that people in Canada were friendly for the most part but could turn against you at any time. Still, there was something about this young black man who looked right into her eyes as he spoke. Was it Sukh's imagination or did she see sympathy, or pity, in his eyes? The young woman stiffened. Like most Sikh women, Sukh is a proud gal and loathes to be pitied. She locked eyes with the dark-skinned stranger, wondering what he wanted.

"Ma'am, are you from Punjab?" asked the young man, and Sukh nodded, then paused. In her experience, brown people were considered to be one and the same by the denizens of Canada regardless of their origin. Sukh had lost count of how many Canadians, black and white, who thought that Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans were one and the same. The ignorance of such people could certainly boggle the mind. Such was no world history expert but she'd never tell an Irishman that he was the same thing as an Italian. Such was more tactful than that...

"Yes, what if I am?" Sukh replied, with more haughtiness than she felt, expecting an ignorant rebuke from this stranger who spoke English without an accent. The young man smiled, and nodded, as though confirming something inside his head. He rose from his chair, inclined his head, and held out his hand. Sukh, who had been cleaning the restaurant all morning, briefly hesitated then shook the stranger's hand. Nodding, the stranger replied to her at last, and what he said surprised Sukh...

"My name is Steve, and my roommate Dhaliwal is from Punjab, he's teaching me about Sikhism," the stranger said, as he shook Sukh's hand. The young woman looked this interloper up and down, and a flicker of surprise appeared in her brown eyes. Steve smiled, and this tall, large, dark-skinned fellow, with a decidedly imposing demeanor, looked at Sukh like they were kindred spirits. Sukh paused, and bit her lip, wondering if she should take this strange young man named Steve at face value...

"You like Sikhism?" Sukh asked dubiously, pondering why Steve, who looked like he was from the depths of Africa, yet spoke English flawlessly, seemed to be interested in her faith. Sukh had met many Canadians of all hues who claimed to be fascinated by brown people, but usually they had ulterior motives. Steve nodded at Sukh and then launched into a brief tirade about his fascination with Sikhism and its prophet du jour, whose philosophy he apparently found pretty legit. Such an admission surprised Sukh, to say the least...

"I am reading the teachings of your Guru Nanak, and I found his writings fascinating," Steve said, and he nodded sagely. Sukh did not quite remember how she ended up sitting across from Steve, who had finished his coffee. She could not quite recall how she got pulled into a discussion of Sikhism as a way of life, as seen through the eyes of a black man raised in North America. Steve was easy to talk to, and charming, without overdoing it, and while Sukh is usually guarded around men, especially foreign men, she did find him interesting.

"Facebook me," Sukh told Steve, scribbling her name on a receipt before smiling at him and returning to her work station. As Steve exited the restaurant, he waved at Sukh, who smiled at nodded at his retreating figure from the cash register. Standing next to Sukh, her manager Ali glowered at her, but the young woman ignored him. The foreigner reads good books and has a nice butt, Sukh thought to herself as Steve headed onto the street.

Steve walked away from the Tim Horton's with a smile on his face. The encounter with the lovely and charming Sukh, brief though it might have been, definitely made his day. When Steve was studying at Carleton University, in preparation for a career in Law, he never dreamed that he would become just another government contractor operating in the City of Ottawa. Eking out a living while pondering about his delayed dreams. Running into someone like Sukh reminded Steve, an immigrant himself, of what he'd gone through and how far he'd come. Steve headed to work, ready for another day of being surrounded by fake-smiling, backstabbing, sabotage-prone government worker drones. It gets better, at least that's what Steve tells himself in his most private moments.

When Sukh got home that day, she went online and checked her messages. Sukh's father Guvinder was still in Chandigarh, teaching mathematics at a private school. Sukh checked up on her father, and as she was about to log off, the young woman saw that she had a friend request from someone. Curious, Sukh checked it out, and saw that the friend request had come from Steve Mathieu, the young black man she'd spoken to at Tim Horton's. Smiling, Sukh accepted, and then went to check out her new acquaintance.

"Nice," Steve said to himself, smiling as he browsed Sukh's profile. It had not been easy to find her, since there are dozens of women named Sukh who hail from southern Asia and happened to live in the City of Ottawa, Ontario. Among people from India, the female name Sukh must be the equivalent of Mary or something, since it seemed that common. After a long search, Steve finally found Sukh. The young woman's profile was simple, filled with pictures of her friends and family. Steve sent Sukh a chat request, which was accepted. Just like that, a beautiful friendship began...

"You clean up nice," Sukh said, smiling at Steve as the two of them sat inside Creole Sensations, a Haitian restaurant located in the east end of Ottawa. The two of them dined on fine Caribbean dishes consisting of white rice, brown bean sauce and roast chicken. Steve smiled back at Sukh, for she looked lovely in a burgundy sari and seemed to have a healthy appetite. Last night, he boldly asked her out after a lengthy chat, and she accepted. Now here they were...

"Thank you mademoiselle," Steve said, and he gave Sukh the once-over, and liked what he saw. Sukh tried not to blush as Steve admired her and pretended not to be doing so. He was a bit overdressed in his black silk shirt, silver tie and black silk pants, but she did not mind. As they ate, he asked her plenty of questions about her old life in Chandigarh and she tried her best to answer them. Got to keep this one on her toes, Steve thought as he continued to politely question the lovely Sukh.

"Hmm, Steve, tell me about Haiti, and about yourself," Sukh said softly, and with that, she laid her hand on his while locking eyes with him. As Sukh laid her hand on top of his, Steve gasped but quickly got hold of himself. He smiled at her and then bashfully told her about his beloved homeland of Haiti, of which he was obscenely proud, like all Haitians. Sukh sipped her lemonade, pleased with herself for putting Steve on the spot. The loquacious Haitian seemed edgy now that the shoe was on the other foot, much to Sukh's delight...

"My dear Sukh, I must take you to a Haitian Kompa fest sometime," Steve said, smiling, before he headed to the restaurant counter to pay. As Steve walked to the counter, Sukh kept her eyes on the tall, dark-skinned and well-dressed stud's rather firm backside. In Sukh's experience, men the world over like the female backside, and black men's fondness for female butts was legendary. A little-known secret is that women like a man with a nice ass, and Sukh is definitely one of those ladies...

"I'd love to see that ass on a dance floor," Sukh said coyly to Steve as they exited the restaurant together. Steve grinned, and Sukh flashed him a sexy wink. If lightning had struck him right then and there, he wouldn't have been more shocked. In Steve's experience, Indian ladies were supposed to be soft-spoken, polite and repressed, not wild and outgoing like Sukh the feisty Sikh lady. What a breath of fresh air, Steve thought, as a wicked but scary idea sprang into his head.

"Duly noted," Steve replied, and with that, he planted a kiss on Sukh's soft-looking and oh-so inviting lips. Sukh stood there, as the smiling, towering young man leaned over, bringing his face close to hers. So close that she could smell the Axe spray he'd used too much of. Steve kissed Sukh, for real, and while it was not like those movie kisses, it was definitely a kiss. About time, Sukh thought as she kissed Steve back. She was beginning to think he didn't know how to shut up...

"Hmm, nice," Sukh said, and Steve grinned at her. He looked like he was going to ruin the moment by launching into another one of his tirades, but she stopped that toot sweet by putting her index finger against his full lips. Sukh smiled at Steve, and he nodded, finally getting it. She linked her arm with his as they headed onto the street, for a casual afternoon stroll in the east end of Ottawa. Things were definitely off to a nice start between these two lovebirds...