“Omkar, go back inside. It’s time for your friend to go back home,” Neeraj said, walking back toward the door of the shop in an attempt to set an example. Omkar could feel the ghost of the truth inside him lurking in the corner of his being, howling to be heard. Each time it welled up, he pushed it deeper until he couldn’t suppress it anymore. Now facing the fate that he had been trying to avoid, Omkar found himself in a lose–lose situation. If he admitted the truth, he risked losing everything but Aria. But if he maintained the lie, he would have to continue to live it. There would never be a time in the future when they would suddenly be OK with her. The pressure of avoiding the potential consequences of them finding out had become unbearable. With an air of penitence, Omkar decided to tell the truth. His first words stopped both Neeraj and Jarminder dead.

He turned toward his mother. “Actually, I have to tell you the truth. Aria is not just a friend. She is my girlfriend. Do you remember what you always told me, to listen to everybody but to do what I consider right? I have listened to you and Papa. I know why you think it is right for me to be with a girl who you would choose. But for me, Aria is right. I know what I am saying is going to upset you, but I can live with that. But the one thing I cannot live without is this girl.”

Omkar walked over to Aria and pulled her by the hand toward them, as a statement of his commitment to his decision. “This is Aria Abbott. She is the girl I love.” He waited, like a soldier, for their resistance.

Neeraj eyed Aria from top to bottom. Jarminder refused to look at her. Instead she looked Omkar straight in the eye and said, “No son of mine could make such a decision without our consent. I forbid it. I forbid this utterly and completely. You have to focus on your schooling. You are too young to know what love is, do you hear me? This can’t happen! Do you know how hard we have worked so you could have a better life – now you want to go and throw it all away on some girl?”

“She is not some girl, Mama, she is the girl I love.”