Mansour was in total awe. First he thought he had heard all her words wrong; but when she repeated them for the second time and even added more to her speech, he knew that nothing she was saying was normal, perhaps they were sane in her mind, but not in his. It was as though there was something in being married that she could not tolerate and should not face. When she had started talking, it appeared to him that the Neda he knew was gone and this venomous woman with crying face, still wearing her wedding gown, was not the Neda he knew. Her true, naked soul tainted him. Terror and weakness came over him in abundance.
"You've crushed me. You're so cruel!" That is all he could say.
"I'm crushed, too. I'm sorry."
Mansour stood up, hesitated for a moment, hoping for a kinder word from her or even she would admit that she was joking, and when he did not hear anything, he finally walked way from her and towards the building. Once more he turned around and took a glimpse of her. The strings of lights which were hanged over and amongst trees for the wedding, gave him enough light to see her pale and trembling lips. He decided to stop and say another word to her, perhaps a comforting one, but the lights went off suddenly. Everywhere in the garden went dark; and he changed his mind. He went into the building. He did not know what else he could say to a woman who is not in love with him and was so hateful. He decided to leave without her.
Neda sat there on the bench hugging her knees. It was dark. The night air was still and warm. Her despair slowly replaced by shame and fluster. However, as these emotions occupied her soul, she felt pride, too. She reflected on her short conversation with Mansour. He did not fight for her or with her. "What a blank and gloomy soul he must have." She thought to her self. her deep sighs came one after the other. They almost left no room for her normal breathing.
None of these which had only lasted less than fifteen minutes could not be hidden from Maryam, who was resting in Neda's room with the light off. No one knew that she was there. She had watched their interaction from window while sitting on Neda's bed. She knew something was terribly wrong. As soon as she saw Mansour walked out of the garden and into the building, Maryam ran out of Neda's room and down the stairs. On the first floor hallway, she came face to face with Mansour. He looked flustered with anger and fury. He did not look anything like a groom that had married only a few hours ago. Mansour knew of the two cousins' closeness; therefore, he decided to avoid talking to Maryam. But she blocked him, almost face to face with him. When he had no choice but to stop, she said:
"Oh, please don't do anything out of haste and anger. I saw you two from Neda's room. Let me talk to her."
Mansour had no idea how Maryam knew about their problems and disagreements, only watching from window in the dark! But he was interested to find out. In fact, he felt Maryam's friendship with Neda was one of the reason Neda behaved the way she did. He had planned when they would settle down in their new house and married life, to forbid Neda of having communication with Maryam, her cousin. Now this woman that rumour had it that her fiance had not showed up on their wedding day, wanted to help him. He was very much interested to know the reason for that big controversy and also was very determined somehow to discover it since no one ever talked about it. But for now, he had a bigger problem in hand. He married a young girl only a few hour ago and they already had problems. This woman, Maryam, could help him. He shook his head and took a step backward so as not to be face to face with Maryam and said:
"Go right ahead. She won't listen to anybody. I should have known!"
To Be Continued
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