Neda did not fight with Mansour any more. She did not see any sense to animate this man to something, to anything. The only things that mattered to him, were things that were not related to her. But on the other hand, her silence was worse than argument. They both knew the degree of disaster they both were caught in; and he knew he could not have anger from her anymore. His mind was not programmed for her quietude. He did not handle her silent. He had planted rage in himself to face her agony. But in this foreboding silence, he lost his balance while not being able to change her technique of defense. He was just a kind of person that every one knew him well but nobody cared for him. Everyone was happy to see him, and no one remembered him afterwards. He had wounded Neda by his indifference, but he had injured himself more. Her emotion was lamentable, his was futile. They had nothing to say to each other because she did not communicate and because he did not care.
But things could not stay that way. Their lives were like living in death or hell. They both needed an explosion, a thunder, and a fight. One morning Neda noticed that he was packing a suitcase before going to work. He was a teacher now. She stayed unspoken in bed, pretending to be asleep. After he left, she got put of the bed and searched his closet. He had taken almost everything, all his clothes, he did not have many, all his personal hygiene. He did not return that evening or the next. She did not tell anyone in her family that Mansour had left her. Two days passed. She saw her mother and her brother both days, yet she said nothing. When the second night, her brother brought food for her and saw that she was all alone again, he began quizzing her about the whereabouts of Mansour. She acted calm. She decided there should be no hysteria, no drama.
"He wanted to stay at school a little late to prepare himself for some exams his students will have."
Sohrab believed her since she was not crying; however, he was also suspicious. But it happened again. This time she said that he was seeing his mother. The next quizzing came when she was at her parents. Then everyone questioned her.
"We haven't see Mansour for awhile!" It was Sima, father's second wife. Father, as always was silent. Mother, as usual was in a different world. It was Sohrab, who looked at her in the eyes and told her straight forward:
"What is going on, little sis?"
And again Neda pretended that nothing was amiss. Sohrab drove her home almost every night. He would always go inside to check the apartment. His suspicious was unbearable. He could not stand it anymore.
"Go home Sohrab. I'm going to leave the lights on for when he returns home. I just go to bed. I'm tired."
One week passed. Before telling anything to her family, she needed to find out for herself where Mansour had been. She knew he did not have much money to stay in a hotel. She knew he was too proud to go to his mother and sister's home.
Curious and somewhat worried, after a week of not hearing a word from him, she went to school where he taught in the afternoon at the closing time when they let out students. She stood far back, heard the ring of the closing of school day. Surge of the students running down the few steps that would take them to the freedom of buying ice cream, talking, and... Then she saw him leaving the school building. A woman was with him. Neda was shivering behind a tree she was standing. She needed to see how this would end. Was this just a casual talking of two teachers, or something more sinister?
"Who is she? Another teacher!" At the beginning she was not much concerned. She went back home, but the woman, the other teacher had left an impression on her that she could not explain. Her mind said: "Oh, she was just another teacher!" Her heart said: "How intimately they talked to each other?!"
To Be Continued
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