“Can I read it?”
Daniel passed me the phone.
The message filled the screen, forcing me to swipe down several times.
Daniel,
I’m reaching out to you because I trust you to recognize the seriousness of this situation. I also don’t want Maya reacting emotionally before we receive a straightforward answer.
If Harun Rahman is invited to the wedding, I will not be there. My brothers have agreed that they will not attend either. None of us is willing to share a room with a man who has shown such disrespect toward me and our family.
If you choose not to confirm whether he is on the guest list, we will take that as confirmation that he is and act accordingly.
This should not be a difficult decision. A loyal daughter would never put an outsider ahead of her own father.
I expect you to deal with this man-to-man and give me an answer.
For several moments, the only sounds in our apartment were the refrigerator’s low hum and the distant rush of cars below.
“I haven’t answered him,” Daniel said.
“Good.”
“I wasn’t sure if I should show it to you right away.”
“He knew you would.”
“Most likely.”
“No,” I said. “That was the entire point. He sent it to you because he expected you to convince me.”
Daniel leaned back in his chair.
“Maybe he assumed I could approach the subject more calmly.”
“He assumed you’re the one who gets to make decisions for me now.”
“That isn’t how I view our relationship.”
“I know it isn’t.”
I read the message once more.
The second reading did nothing to soften the insult.
Harun Rahman was not some outsider.
He had belonged to my family for nearly as long as I could remember.
Although we were not directly related by blood, our culture recognized him as an elder. Almost forty years earlier, he had married Laila, my grandmother’s younger sister. After my maternal grandfather passed away, Uncle Harun became one of the senior men everyone turned to whenever something important happened within the family.
He was present for births and funerals, graduations and engagements, celebrations and weddings.
He offered advice freely, whether anyone requested it or not.
And no matter how many children were added to the family, he never forgot a single birthday.
