In the middle of a heatwave and power outage in Kabul, Laila remembers Tariq. She feels equally guilty and convinced that what the two of them did was inevitable, “spurred by the knowledge that they might never see each other again” (181). She is troubled by the fact that she cannot remember exactly what he said in two weeks after his departure. At present she is aching, but in the future, time will dull the pain and she will only be triggered at random moments to think of their imprudent afternoon, so that “it would flood her, steal her breath” (183). 

Hakim interrupts her reverie and says that Fariba has agreed that they can leave Kabul. Laila excitedly imagines that if they go to Pakistan for visas, they can find Tariq. Kabul is full of rubble, from where rockets have fallen. She dreams that night that she and Tariq are together on the beach, wearing wedding bands. They pack and it is painful to go through objects that spark old memories and especially painful for Hakim to leave his books.

Then there is a “giant roar,” a “flash of white,” and she is hurled off her feet and knocked unconscious (188).