***
Beginning the following day, Vijay and Lucky joined Raj in his search for his parents. They went to masjids and Muslim schools and events all over the city, showing people a picture they'd taken from the video clip and asking them if they recognized the woman. Raj, who had taken over Vijay's job of distributing flyers, looked carefully at every woman's face during his brief interaction with them, and would chase after those with similar bodies and facial features, especially the ones who wore a hijab. Some women were frightened, some were flattered, and more than a few asked him for a date. New York was a sea of female faces, old and young, black, white, and brown, beautiful and ugly and everything in between. But none of the faces were hers. The three boys quickly realized that finding one person out of eight million people in New York City was not going to be an easy job.
A few days later, the results of the midterms were posted. Vijay, of course, had excellent scores in all subjects, and Raj was happy to receive passing grades, which he thought was a particularly fine achievement given that he missed so much class and didn't even have an undergraduate degree. But to everyone's surprise, Lucky had scored below average in almost every course. Lucky was despondent over his grades, and thought that Goddess Lakshmi must be angry with him. Vijay tried to reassure him that his performance was probably just because he was homesick, or because he hadn't yet adjusted to the American education system, or maybe even because of his off-campus job. But Lucky had always worked hard at his studies, and he could not believe how poorly he had done in the midterms. He would have to do extraordinary well in the final exams to get decent grades for the semester. He couldn't quit the job, but he decided to end his friendship with Anna. Lucky thought that his poor marks were a sign from Goddess Lakshmi that Anna was not the perfect girl for him, and that his closeness with her was inappropriate. Lucky immediately stopped going to Vijay's lab and did everything he could to avoid running into Anna on campus.
Anna was upset about Lucky's sudden and unexplained disappearance from her life, and she tried talking to Vijay about it, but she didn't get very far. Vijay didn't think it was his place to discuss Lucky's decisions. Switching tactics, Anna changed her daily routine for a few weeks so that she could "accidently" be standing outside a specific classroom when she thought Lucky might be switching from one class to the next, but she never saw him.
During Diwali, the Indian Student Association at the university hosted an event for students, and Raj and Vijay invited Lucky to come with them to celebrate. He didn't want to go, as he considered partying a waste of time and thought he'd be better off staying at home and studying, but his friends insisted. Everyone at the party was wearing traditional Indian dress, and the Indian Student Association had organized a great event, inviting junior and senior Indian students and even a semi-famous Bollywood deejay. Of course Dan and his friends were there, making fun of the PIGS and their traditional Indian clothing, but Raj, Vijay and Lucky did their best to stay away from him. They were at the party for one reason and one reason only: to enjoy the festive Diwali atmosphere after a couple of long and difficult months.
Lucky was crowd-watching when he saw Anna entering the hall. She was wearing a backless churidar, and as usual, she looked beautiful. The contrast of the black silk against her pale white skin was stunning, and she attracted a lot of attention upon her arrival. Lucky knew that she would probably want to talk to him, and he wanted to avoid her, so he excused himself and wandered off towards the food table. Anna watched as he piled his plate with idli, pani puri and dosa before heading outside to the garden, and she followed him, approaching the small table where he was seated.
"Hey! Hi, Lakshminarayanan," Anna said, giving him her best smile.
Lucky wasn't surprised that she had come to talk to him, but he was impressed by her pronunciation of his full name. It was the first time she'd said it without any hesitation or mistakes. Still, he didn't think it was a good idea to talk to her.
"How are you?" Anna asked.
"I am good. How are you?" Lucky answered in a soft voice without looking at her.
"Fine. How are your studies going?"
"Everything is fine," Lucky answered while continuing to avoid eye contact.
Anna pulled up the other chair and sat beside him, taking his hand in hers. Lucky pulled his hand away. "What happened, Lucky? Why don't you want to talk to me?"
"I cannot do this," Lucky finally replied after a long silence.
"Do what? We're just having fun," Anna replied.
"No. I am not allowed to have fun in my life," Lucky said, getting up to leave. Anna grabbed his arm. "Let me go, please."
"I am just trying to be your friend. Don't you like me?"
"I really cannot?I have too much responsibilities," Lucky replied. "I cannot be distracted from my studies."
Anna let go of his arm. "So what? Are you saying that you're wasting your time with me?"
"You will not understand," Lucky said, sitting back down and putting down his plate of barely-touched food. Anna said nothing, but waited for him to continue. "I am from very poor family. They have put lot of their hope on me. I cannot fail them," Lucky explained, a pained expression on his face. He seemed to be on the verge of tears.
"Did you fail your exams?" Anna asked.
"No. But I cannot take the risk. I have sacrificed so much, just to succeed. There is no other option for me. I hardly get any time from work and study, and I cannot waste this time in having fun. Please try to understand," Lucky pleaded.
Anna was surprised to find Lucky so upset. In the beginning, she had used him to make Dan jealous, but she had assumed all this time that Lucky was just physically attracted to her like most men, and enjoyed her company. She had no idea that he had taken their friendship so seriously, enough that it might be affecting his studies. Although she had eventually developed true feelings for Lucky, they were not romantic in nature. She had just realized that he was actually a good guy, and deserved more from her than to be used as a tool for revenge. Anna knew that Lucky was smart and ambitious, and she didn't want to be the reason for his failure, or even for his stress about the possibility of failure. And while she didn't completely agree with his reasons for cooling off their friendship, and really didn't appreciate how he'd handled the situation, she respected his wishes.
She stood up and took his hands in hers. "It's okay, Lakshminarayanan. I've enjoyed our time together, and I only have good wishes for you." She leaned over and kissed Lucky's cheek, then turned to go back inside.
"Anna?"
She paused and glanced over her shoulder, giving him one last, exquisite smile. "Have a wonderful life, Lucky."
Lucky looked at Anna wistfully as she walked back through the door and disappeared.