It took him a moment to accept the words that were written on the paper. The cursive that had impressed Aria infuriated Omkar. He read the signature over and over again, etching the sound of the name into his soul like a vendetta. The letter Luke had written made him feel as if the life that he had imagined with Aria was falling apart before it even manifested. The idea of another man being with her made every inch of him recoil. He wondered if the man who had written the letter was the same one who had dropped her off last night. His mind tortured him with the potential that she might have said yes to the proposition the letter contained. Whatever feather the letter spoke of was not inside its folds. He was mauled by the idea of her having given it back to him.

When the sound of the shower upstairs stopped abruptly, he shoved the letter back into her backpack and zipped it. He ran back upstairs and lay in bed. Omkar listened to every sound that Aria was making in the bathroom with his heart furiously beating. The jealousy and betrayal he felt was like a fever sickening the marrow of his bones.

That day at school, Omkar could not concentrate. Every word his professors spoke was nothing more than a mediocre copy of another person’s genius. Though he felt like hours had passed, whenever he looked at the time, the minute hand had only traveled inches across the surface of the clock. He was no longer OK with Aria wandering around the city. He decided to tell her so just as soon as he saw her later that day. Having lost his appetite, instead of buying food at the cafeteria, he watched the other students in the outdoor common area. Catastrophe scenarios rose and twisted and fell like a molten swelling within him. It seemed to Omkar that everywhere he looked, all he noticed was other couples in love.

When his classes had finished, he spent a volatile 20 minutes fighting with himself to focus on one of his assignments at a table in the library before giving up. Determined to find Aria no matter where she had gone for the day, he let his feet carry him across the checkered marble floor like horses let out of the racing gate.

He had driven a three-mile-wide maze up and down the neighborhood trying to find her, and when he did, she was walking back toward the store. He parked the car and got out to open the passenger door for her.

Aria greeted him warmly at first, but quickly registered the somber mood he was displaying. “Is something wrong?” she asked, preparing herself for bad news. She scanned her memory to try to find some mistake she might have made that might have displeased Omkar’s parents but could find nothing.

“I just had a really crappy day at school,” he snapped.