“Well, why?” Aria asked, put off by the fact that a bad day would translate to him taking it out on her in this way.

“It doesn’t really matter. I just need to go home and take a shower,” he said.

Omkar parked the car directly in front of the store. He got out to open Aria’s door for her when Neeraj came bolting out. “Omkar, where is the key to the safe? I tried to take the cash in to the bank today and couldn’t find it.”

Omkar sighed with frustration. “Oh my God, this isn’t even the cherry on top of the cake. This is a rotten cherry on top of a bowl of ice cream that has melted,” he said out loud. Aria started laughing hysterically at his analogy. Omkar searched his pockets and scoured the crevices of the car, while Neeraj and Aria stood on the lawn watching him.

Eventually, Omkar stood up, defeated. “I must have left the keys back at school,” he said. “Look, Papa, I need you to watch the shop tonight. I have a project due and my study group is lazy so we’re way behind on it. I will find you the key – I just need you to watch the shop for the night.”

He stood there with bated breath, waiting for Neeraj to respond to his request. Neeraj folded one of his arms on top of his potbelly. He used the other one to accentuate his scolding. “I’m really angry at the moment ya, I’m really angry at this Western culture because it is … it is totally gotten into your mind ya. You have become totally brainless lately. Totally brainless you have become. How do you expect to have a good job or a good life with this irresponsibility? It is totally rubbish, Omkar. Totally rubbish.”

Neeraj walked back into the store and Omkar, looking dejected, told Aria to come with him back to college. Even though she trusted Omkar to understand his own father better than she did, Aria was confused about how Neeraj’s response could have been taken as consent.

Omkar drove back to his college, withdrawn and in complete silence, hoping that the library where he’d been studying had not yet closed for the night. There was no other explanation than that he had dropped the keys there in his haste to leave the building.

“You stay here, I’ll only be a minute,” Omkar said, leaving the car keys in the ignition and the engine running. Aria waited until she was sure he wouldn’t turn back, then pulled the keys from the ignition switch and got out of the car to follow him. She followed him through the warren of hallways and through the door of the library without him noticing. She watched him ask a woman there if anyone had found a little collection of keys.