Sun­day arrives, and Cyrus Shams finds him­self trapped in the tumult of his own emo­tions as he nav­i­gates his third day in Brook­lyn. The weight of his recent loss looms large, as the funer­al of his father still lingers in his thoughts. Seek­ing some sem­blance of con­nec­tion, Cyrus tries to reach out to Zee, though his heart feels hes­i­tant, unsure if he should bur­den oth­ers with his grief. He ulti­mate­ly decides against leav­ing a mes­sage, instead choos­ing to reflect on the stark real­i­ty of his father’s bur­ial, a small and inti­mate gath­er­ing. Among the few who attend­ed were Ali’s boss, Mr. Orenn, his Eng­lish teacher, Shireen, his girl­friend, and a hand­ful of friends. Despite their pres­ence, there was an unde­ni­able feel­ing of empti­ness, an aching void that filled the space with a heavy silence, as though the world had stopped turn­ing for Cyrus. The spar­si­ty of mourn­ers only deep­ened his sense of iso­la­tion, mak­ing him ques­tion how the moments of loss that affect one so pro­found­ly can be so uncer­e­mo­ni­ous­ly brief and shal­low in the eyes of oth­ers.

In the silence of the hotel room, Cyrus con­tem­plates the stark con­trast of his father’s pass­ing and the absence of emo­tion­al close­ness he had hoped for with his uncle, Arash. The emo­tion­al weight of the sit­u­a­tion press­es him, and so he reach­es out to Arash through What­sApp, hop­ing for some sense of con­nec­tion to soothe his tur­bu­lent thoughts. Despite the years that have cre­at­ed an emo­tion­al dis­tance between them, Arash responds with warmth, offer­ing a light­heart­ed con­ver­sa­tion about his recent attempts to learn French, even teas­ing about his assistant’s guid­ance. Their exchange, filled with both humor and care, serves as a much-need­ed respite for Cyrus, remind­ing him that fam­i­ly can offer small moments of reprieve amid grief. This seem­ing­ly triv­ial con­ver­sa­tion about lan­guage masks deep­er emo­tions, allow­ing Cyrus to find some com­fort in their bond. Arash’s casu­al man­ner offers a tem­po­rary dis­trac­tion, and yet, beneath the sur­face, Cyrus feels a sub­tle shift in his emo­tion­al state as he finds him­self lis­ten­ing to his uncle’s reflec­tions on life, death, and the pro­found com­plex­i­ties of exis­tence.

As their con­ver­sa­tion deep­ens, the weight of the shared fam­i­ly his­to­ry becomes more appar­ent, and Cyrus finds him­self revis­it­ing painful mem­o­ries of both their pasts. Arash’s thoughts on the absur­di­ty of life’s fleet­ing nature echo in Cyrus’s mind, help­ing him process the over­whelm­ing sad­ness and con­fu­sion he feels. Their dia­logue shifts towards reflec­tions on their family’s strug­gles, punc­tu­at­ed by Cyrus shar­ing a paint­ing that remind­ed him of his uncle—an attempt to con­nect his emo­tion­al world with Arash’s more philo­soph­i­cal per­spec­tive. Arash’s sto­ries, both poignant and reflec­tive, car­ry a deep­er under­stand­ing of the com­plex­i­ties of human exis­tence, show­ing Cyrus that he is not alone in the grief he car­ries. As they con­tin­ue their con­ver­sa­tion, Arash’s words pro­vide Cyrus with the kind of emo­tion­al clar­i­ty he has been search­ing for. He begins to see the nar­ra­tive of his life through a dif­fer­ent lens, find­ing a path for­ward that includes accep­tance, growth, and the recog­ni­tion that, despite the years apart, the bond between them remains unbro­ken.

Cyrus’s real­iza­tion comes as Arash speaks of the impor­tance of find­ing mean­ing and pur­pose, even in the face of over­whelm­ing grief and loss. The uncle’s wis­dom invites Cyrus to reflect on his own jour­ney, to embrace the con­tra­dic­tions and com­plex­i­ties of life, and to rec­on­cile the inter­nal bat­tles he’s been fight­ing. With each word spo­ken, Cyrus begins to process the dif­fi­cult emo­tions that have been haunt­ing him, par­tic­u­lar­ly the notion of fam­i­ly and the impact of their shared his­to­ry. Arash’s deep con­nec­tion to both the past and the present allows Cyrus to see that there is room for heal­ing, even when it seems impos­si­ble. The emo­tion­al and philo­soph­i­cal depth of their con­ver­sa­tion pro­vides Cyrus with a new under­stand­ing of the sig­nif­i­cance of rela­tion­ships, iden­ti­ty, and the process of heal­ing. The chap­ter con­cludes with a renewed sense of con­nec­tion between the two, as Cyrus begins to under­stand that, although the road ahead is fraught with chal­lenges, he is not alone in nav­i­gat­ing the com­plex­i­ties of life.