After five years of loving my Indian boyfriend, first after having met him online when we were only 18 and 20, and then seeing him come to North America to finish his education and launch his professional career, all the while in hopes we may eventually get his parents to approve, now finally the time for him to seek their permission is only a couple of months away and I feel crushed by stress. He finally admitted to me that he holds very little hope of getting their approval and must abide by their decision if they deny his request. Part of me respects the different culture he was raised in, yet I suffer bouts of even physical pain knowing he doesn’t love me enough to need me in his life. It is tearing me apart right now and I’m feeling like I’m on the verge of cracking. I wonder, if their culture makes loveless marriages work, can I inflict that on someone here merely so I can have children? Thinking of him moving on quickly to an arranged marriage makes me sick, I can’t fathom how he can do it and it makes me feel he can’t really love me at all. I am beginning to think Indians don’t understand love other than in the family sense, like they are raised in a cult like environment where they are brain washed to only value family love and to shun romantic love