PART 8 (part 1 [1]) (part 2 [2]) (part 3 [3]) (part 4 [4]) (part 5 [5]) (part 6 [6]) (part 7 [7]) (part 8) (part 9 [8])

From: Pejman, pejman4444@hotmail.com [9]
To: Payam, payamp@phtechnology.ir [10]
June 2, 1:16:15 a.m.

_______________

Payam jan,

To say that I am disappointed in you is an understatement. However, it is the most accurate interpretation of what I am feeling right now. After reading your email, I was really angry. Fuming. The initial email I wrote you was full of that rage. I am glad I cancelled it and I waited til I cooled down before writing to you again. However, the hurt is still there.

After being unfairly accused by my wife, it really stung for you to point your finger at me too. Yes, I know I am far from the perfect husband. I am the first one who will call myself a failure. I have told you so many times. It was you and Maman Joon who always kept insisting I was this wonderful person who just hadn’t explored his full potential yet. Baba usually would hide his face behind a newspaper during one of those motivational sessions. How right he was.

But to accuse me of having improper feelings about my sister-in-law! Do you realize what you are saying, Payam? Forget the “in-law” part. Kati is my “sister” period. It would be unthinkable for me to even plant the seed of the idea that you suspect me of having in my head. How unfair you are, condemning me from across the ocean, when you have no idea what is going on here.

And what do you base this opinion on? The fact that Kati and I shared a laugh? That this attempt at matchmaking Kati with that ridiculous DOCTOR Keyvan, with his Samurai-Mom’s beady little eyes watching over them, was pathetic? That I thought Nassim was throwing a ridiculous tantrum? Forgive me for thinking I could confide freely in you about my true feelings, without you resorting to ludicrous assumptions and the kind of illogical meandering that, frankly, I expected of Nassim but not you, dear brother.

I have felt so alone, ever since I moved here to Canada. Living among people who are called “family” but who are strange to me. Acting a character inside a play that performs live daily, twenty four hours a day. I have been so used to living behind a mask that I don’t know anymore who I am and where I am going. Writing to you was my only outlet.

No, that’s not true. Little moments like the one I shared with Kati also helped. But if you think I was being inappropriate, I will do as you say. Haven’t I been doing that already for all my life? I’ll just chalk it up to yet another directive from headquarters. Okay, let’s see… Mmmmm… how to ignore my sister-in-law who lives in the same town, visits the home I live in and goes out with my wife and I on occasion? Not an easy task, you will agree. But fine, I will try to do my best to minimize my contact with her.

But please please please, in return, Payam jan, do NOT go to Maman joon again with your so-called worries. The whole reason why I am in this hell right now is because I want to give her the illusion that I am happy, that all is well in the Great White North. That she does not have to worry anymore about her hapless Pejman. And then you go and ask her about Kati’s history!!! I don’t care how subtle you thought you were being. Maman has hyper-sensitive, long-ranging radars that even NASA hasn’t figured out yet. She is going to sense trouble in paradise and then, she will start her favourite pastime again: Worrying herself sick. And all for what?

All the information you obtained was some vague rumour Maman had heard a few years ago, on how Kati apparently dumped her fiancée two weeks before her wedding. So what? Is that what they call a “scandal” in these parts? Most people would be ecstatic if that was the worst anyone could say about them. Poor Kati. Being crucified just because she woke up in time, before making a big mistake, and she had the balls to do the right thing instead of shutting her eyes and jumping with both feet into the fire, hoping for the best. I wish that there were more courageous souls like her and less cowards like me.

In any case, you won’t have to trouble yourself or Maman Joon again for such garbage. Since both you and Nassim seem to think I do my best to stand up for her, from now on, I will join in with my wife and mother-in-law and denigrate and ridicule her every chance I get. I will smile in front of her and make a disgusted face and roll my eyes as soon as she has her back turned. I will invite every loser I meet on the street to come over for tea and crumpets with his dear old mum and try to shove him down her throat as her perfect match.

I hope you and Nassim will both be satisfied with this change. I didn’t know that being a good husband meant agreeing with everything your wife says, even if it means hating her very own sister. I was naïve that way. But no more. You win. I will obey.

Pejman.... >>> part 9 [11]

PART 8 (part 1 [12]) (part 2 [13]) (part 3 [14]) (part 4 [15]) (part 5 [16]) (part 6 [17]) (part 7 [18]) (part 8) (part 9 [19])