Satya glanced at Lathifa, but the girl was still lying with her back to him. He let out a long, heavy sigh.
"I have to admit," he said, "in a week, Sonya and I have become very close, like lovers—I don't know, like husband and wife, I guess. You know, this kind of thing in my day was considered normal. A couple who live together even though they're not married yet."
He had to take another deep breath so as not to get carried away by his own story, become overly emotional, and then, maybe Lathifa would hate him forever.
"You know," he said, "that day, I had made up my mind, my heart… that I, I didn't just like Sonya. I love her. I went to her house with a bunch of her favorite flowers…"
Satya bowed his head, his chest rumbled, and his body shook slightly to hold back the disappointment and anger that suddenly grew inside him.
