***
Vijay was happy that Raj had found companionship, perhaps even love, though Vijay wasn't sure what Raj felt for Carrie. But right at that moment, while Vijay sat waiting for his class to begin, he was too anxious about seeing Hina to give Raj and Carrie much more than a passing thought. He had not slept at all the previous night, and instead found himself lying awake and running through countless scenarios in his mind about how Hina might respond to the rose and the card that Nadira had placed in her bag. Vijay was nervous, but also excited. He fantasized that perhaps Hina had been so consumed by her thoughts for Vijay that she'd also found sleep hard to come by.
Vijay was still lost in his inner fantasy world when class began, and he realized with some alarm that Hina had not yet arrived. He tried to concentrate on the professor's lecture, and told himself that she was just running late. A couple of times the door opened and Vijay would look up quickly, only to be disappointed when he saw some other late-arriving student saunter in and take a seat in the back. The fifty-minute class dragged on for what seemed like an eternity, but Hina never showed. Vijay's heart was pounding with anxiety by the end of the class, and he decided to head to the lab in an effort to preoccupy himself. But every ten or fifteen minutes, Vijay would stop working and stick his head outside the lab door, hoping that he would see Hina walking down the hallway to come for a visit. By mid-afternoon, Vijay's anxiety had turned to dread. He had not seen Hina all day, and when she didn't show up for their second lecture, Vijay was beside himself with worry. Hina had never skipped class, and this was twice in one day. Was it possible that she didn't feel the same way he did, and decided she no longer wanted to see him?
After his second class ended, Vijay went to look for Nadira at several of her usual hangouts. He eventually found her in the student lounge, and Nadira told him that she hadn't seen her or spoken to Hina since placing Vijay's gifts in her bag the day before. Nadira took out her phone and tried Hina's number, but the call went straight to voicemail. Nadira put the phone away and looked at Vijay. "Let's go to the library," she suggested. "Maybe she skipped her classes so she could study, and turned her phone off so it wouldn't disturb people." Vijay didn't believe that Hina would skip class to study, but he couldn't think of a better suggestion, and he was supposed to meet Lucky and Raj at the library in a few minutes anyway, so he agreed.
Vijay and Nadira were walking on the footpath behind the library when three men suddenly appeared in front of them and blocked their way. "Shoaib, what are you doing here? And where is Hina?" Nadira asked with barely disguised irritation. Vijay didn't recognize any of the men, and had never seen them before at the university, but obviously Nadira knew at least one of them.
"None of your business, whore," the man replied, shoving Nadira. Nadira didn't see it coming, and she stumbled to the ground, scraping her hands on the hard-packed dirt. One of the other men grabbed Vijay before he could react.
"Hey! Who are you?" Vijay yelled. The man twisted Vijay's arm behind his back and held him while the one Nadira had called Shoaib slapped Vijay across the face. As Vijay cried out, he felt a hand cover his mouth from behind, and Shoaib punched Vijay hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. "How could a kafir like you even look at my sister?"
Hina's brother, Vijay realized.
Nadira tried to get up, but the third man shoved her back down to the ground. With his mouth still covered, Vijay couldn't scream, and Shoaib grabbed him by the shoulders and drove his knee deep into Vijay's abdomen. "How could you dare send dirty letters to my sister?" he seethed as Vijay doubled over. Vijay struggled to stay upright, but his knees buckled beneath him and he grimaced in pain as the arm that was pinned behind his back prevented his decent to the ground. Shoaib could see that Vijay had no fight in him, so he nodded to his friend to release Vijay's arm. With his arm free, Vijay fell to the ground suddenly, and Shoaib grabbed a handful of his hair, pulling his face upwards. Shoaib's voice was low and threatening. "If you talk to her?if you look at her?if you even think about her ever again, Khuda kasam, I will kill you."
The man holding Nadira at bay looked at Shoaib. "Man, let's get out of here. You made your point." Shoaib turned back to Vijay, kicked him once more, and spit on his face. The three men then left quickly, sprinting to a nearby parking lot and jumping into a parked car.
Nadira stood up and looked at her bloodied hands before running over to Vijay. "Vijay! Are you okay? Are you hurt badly?"
Vijay's hand clutched his stomach. "Nadira, go," he gasped, pulling his hand away from his stomach long enough to point at the library. "Lucky?Raj." Nadira understood and ran to the library's back door, heaving it open with all of her strength and disappearing inside. Less than a minute later, Lucky and Raj ran out through the same door and knelt down beside Vijay.
"Vijay, seriously, are you okay?" Nadira asked again, on the verge of tears.
Lucky tried to lift Vijay, but he wasn't very strong and Vijay couldn't stand. Raj got on the other side and helped pull Vijay to his feet. "Who did this to you?" Raj asked, his voice full of anger.
"It was Hina's brother!" Nadira replied since Vijay couldn't talk.
Lucky grabbed Vijay's bag. "Where should we take him?" he asked Raj.
"Somewhere we can talk," Raj replied. "Not the library." The group decided on the cafeteria, since it was close and most of the lunch crowd would have already left. Slowly they made their way to the other building, with Raj and Lucky supporting Vijay, and Nadira walking behind them, wiping her tears and obsessing over her scraped hands.
There were only a handful of students in the cafeteria when they arrived, and Raj chose a table in a far corner. They sat Vijay down in a chair, his arm still wrapped protectively around his stomach and ribs.
"Why did Hina's brother beat you?" Raj asked. Vijay looked up at his friend and broke down in tears.
"Vijay, are you hurt that bad?" Lucky said, pushing past Nadira. "Should we take you to hospital?" Lucky asked.
"No," Vijay said through his tears. "I'm not worried about me. I'm worried about Hina." Nadira explained to Raj and Lucky about the Valentine's Day gifts, and how she'd put them in Hina's bag for Vijay. Raj was furious and he clenched and unclenched his fists in anger. He wished he'd been with Vijay when he'd run into those assholes. He was sure that the encounter would have ended very differently. Meanwhile, Lucky had gone to get Vijay something to drink, and returned with a bottle of water. He handed it to Vijay, who gulped the whole thing down. The group sat in silence while Vijay regained some of his strength.
"I'm okay now," Vijay said finally.
"Vijay, I'm so sorry," Nadira said, her face full of worry. "I shouldn't have agreed to put those things in her bag. That was my mistake. I should have told you about her family. They're extremely orthodox. They won't tolerate any man talking to Hina, but you're Hindu, and they'll kill you and then they'll kill her if you even think about her again."
"But why did she even tell them about my card? Maybe she doesn't like me the way I like her, or the way I thought she liked me," Vijay said, the awful implications of that possibility hitting him harder in the gut than Shoaib had.
"I don't think she told them," Nadira replied gently. "Shoaib must have found the card."
"But this is not the way to treat anyone. We should file the complaint with the university," Lucky said indignantly.
"A complaint against who? Hina? Because her brother isn't a student here, so they can't do anything to him," Nadira replied.
"Well then where can I find him? I will fucking beat the crap out of him!" Raj exploded. Two students sitting on the opposite side of the cafeteria turned their heads to look at Raj, then gathered their books and left.
"It's okay, Raj," Vijay said, putting his hand on his friend's arm, trying to calm him down. "I don't care if he beats me. I'm more upset about Hina."
Nadira moved her chair closer to Vijay's. "Vijay, believe me. Hina and I are ch
ildhood friends. I can read her eyes. I know she likes you. But I also know that what you want is next to impossible. Her family would never approve if she were to admit her love for you. Please try to understand. I'm afraid that if you pursue this, they will stop her schooling now. Or maybe worse. If you truly love Hina, the best thing you could do for her is just stay away. It's better for you and it's better for her." Nadira pulled her phone out of her purse and tried Hina's number again, but again it went to voicemail. This time she waited for the beep. "Hina, it's me, Nadira. Call me when you get this, right away. It's urgent."
"Dude. It is okay. Leave it. We are here in this country to make good career. We should not get involved in all these matters and get distracted," Lucky said. He leaned in closer to Vijay and lowered his voice. "You remember that these people killed your father. Do you think your mother is going to accept a Muslim girl as her only daughter-in-law?" Lucky asked.
Nadira's head snapped around and she looked at Lucky with anger in her eyes, but decided to keep quiet for now. Vijay felt bad for Nadira, but he didn't know how to respond to Lucky's comment, so he said nothing. Raj could also tell that Lucky's words had hurt Nadira's feelings, but Nadira was not his concern. In that moment, Raj's only concern was Vijay. He knew that his friend could barely stand, so getting him to the subway or from the subway to the apartment would be out of the question.
"Nadira, can I borrow your phone?" Raj asked. Nadira handed her phone to Raj, and he called Carrie and asked her to come with her car. "I'll explain everything later, Carrie. Just please come as soon as you can. We're in the cafeteria."