She became intensely aware of her heart thumping, of the blood thudding in her ears, of the shape of Tariq beside her, tightening up, becoming still. The kiss [in the movie] dragged on. It seemed of utmost urgency to Laila, suddenly, that she not stir or make a noise. She sensed that Tariq was observing her - one eye on the kiss, the other on her - as she was observing him. (Hosseini 156)
How long had she waited to hear those words from him? How many times had she dreamed them uttered? There they were, spoken at last, and the irony crushed her ... but it went on, his pleadings and her rebuttals, his proposals and her apologies, his tears and hers. In the end, Laila had to make him leave. (Hosseini 184)
Behind her, a flash of white. The ground lurched beneath her feet. Something hot and powerful slammed into her from behind. It knocked her out of her sandals. Lifted her up. And now she was flying, twisting and rotating in the air, seeing sky, then earth, then sky, then earth. (Hosseini 193-194)