Re: Online Saga
....continued from posts #1, 8, 17, 46, 68, 88, 128, 159, 175, 193, 210 & 223
Ali did not talk to Irrum for few days. He picked his daughter up from Irrum on Friday without holding any conversation. Next day, on Saturday, he was served with the divorce papers. Even though it was expected but Ali was probably not ready for it. He was shocked to receive that divorce petition. Ali called up Irrum right away and asked her to meet. She refused to meet and rather wanted to talk on the phone. Ali asked her to withdraw that petition. She said that was her final decision. Ali asked her once again if she was sure about what she was doing. Irrum told him that she would have preferred if he did not contest the divorce. She had filed the divorce petition without an attorney and wanted to have a mutual agreement without fighting through attorneys. Ali asked her to meet him for lunch so that they could talk about the settlement.
Irrum and Ali met on Sunday for lunch. Ali was very calm per his nature and offered Irrum two thousand dollars a month for alimony/child support until she was able to get a job. Once she could find a job, they would evaluate the child support per state guideline based on their incomes. They did not own any home at that time and neither had any money in their savings account. Ali had all his money invested into stocks and he offered half of whatever they had in stocks. He also offered her to take whatever else she wanted from the house. She could keep all the jewelry that she had already taken. She could keep the Lexus she was driving. She could take 50% of the 401K account he had. He also proposed fifty-fifty custody of their daughter to stay one week with each parent on alternate weeks. Ali had put earnest deposit towards two properties to purchase at that time. He asked her to sign quitclaim on those properties as he was going to pay for them from his half of the money. Or he could buy those properties purchased under their daughter’s name. Irrum refused to accept either of these options in regard to those two properties. They however agreed on the other terms and wanted to make them part of the settlement upon their court date. Irrum did not want to sign on any document until going in front of the judge. Ali started paying her two thousand dollars a month and they shared the custody of their daughter on weekly basis.
Ali was very depressed from this separation ordeal. He would spend long hours at his office during the week he did not have his daughter with him. The week he had his daughter with him, he would be excited and feel energetic. He would take her everywhere he would go except when he was at his office. His daughter was enjoying her time more with her daddy than that with her mother. He would get her ready for school in the morning, make her breakfast and then drop her at the school. She would go to a daycare facility after school until he would come from his office to pick her up at about 5:00 PM. Life was quite hectic but he was handling it well. His parents had gone to Pakistan now. As Irrum had not signed on the quitclaim, Ali lost the earnest deposit for both the properties. This separation had significantly slowed down Ali’s ambition that he had. Ali was also having a side business that he was doing very well. He ended up slowing down that business too because of his depression and preoccupied mind.
Rohi had started writing Ali emails on daily basis. Sometimes, she would have written few of them in one day. Ali would reply her once in a while. He was making sure not to lead her on. But to his surprise, just after a couple of weeks, Rohi told him that she had fallen in love with him. She told him that she had broken off with her other online boyfriend that she was talking to for six months or so. Ali got mad on her. He told her that he was not interested in getting involved with her or any other girl. However he had not told Rohi that he was previously married and going through a divorce. He was writing to her as good friend. But there was something about him that Rohi liked so much. She told him that she was enjoying the decent conversation or communication with him. She was really impressed with the fact that he very respectful and never talked any vulgarity that she was finding with almost all of the other guys on the net. She valued his advice and suggestions on all the matters she discussed with him. She liked his maturity in general. She did not care the fact that Ali was 14 years older than her. Ali on the other hand was well aware of this fact and therefore did not want to start any relationship with this young girl. The girl was actually very decent herself and Ali liked her in that regard. One day she wrote him that she had won some contest in her town and that was a big reward and honor for her. In order to congratulate her, Ali decided to go online. Not to his surprise, Rohi was already online. She was the quicker one to say Salaam first. She also said, “Oh my God, Ali is it you”? Ali congratulated her to win that contest. She went ahead and said, “Ali, I was praying to God to see you online. And look my prayers have been heard”. Ali told her to take it easy and not to get excited. He always pushed her to keep her concentrations more focused into her school.
Ali had called Irrum’s mom the week after he was served with the divorce petition. She was also shocked to hear about it. Irrum was not in good terms with her mom and was not discussing anything with her in this regard. Her mom named Waheeda told Ali that she was going to move to Seattle right away in order to spend time with her daughter so that she could gradually convince her to reconcile with him. She decided that that her daughter’s life was the more important than other things in her life at that time. She quit her job and came to Seattle. She called her daughter and told her that she had moved there because she had lost her job and now she wanted to spend time with her granddaughter. She did not want to make it look like that she came there for her reconciliation. Irrum was shocked to find her in Seattle. She told her that she could not keep her with her at that one room she had rented. Ali respected his mother-in-law just as if she was his own mother and he offered her to stay with him. The house was vacant anyway as his parents were in Pakistan. He suggested that she could stay with him and take care of her granddaughter. Waheeda always liked Ali very much so she agreed to stay with him.
Ali started going online again once in a while. Every time, he would go online he would find Rohi already waiting for him. She asked Ali if she could hear his voice. Ali reluctantly gave her his number. She called him right away and could barely talk to him for two minutes. She was too excited to hold any conversation. She did sound very nice on the phone. Ali told Rohi that with their age gape they had no potential for their future together so she should have looked for someone of her age. She got mad at him and assured him that she did not want anybody else. The girl was stronger than Ali in her determination to start her relationship with him. Ali realized one thing that this girl was vulnerable to fall for some wrong guy. He decided to play a role to protect her from any harm she could have possibly gotten from others. He took her to understanding that this love was mere a friendly love between them. He would be there for her anytime she needed to talk to him but they were not going to marry each other. Ali had given Rohi his calling card that she used to call him everyday. She would talk to him at least an hour everyday. He would make her laugh her lungs out the whole time they were on the phone. The girl would enjoy the simplest thing he would say on the phone.
Waheeda started to talk to her daughter gradually and tried to convince her to come back to her home to be with her husband. She emphasized on the future of her daughter that she should not make the little girl suffer. Irrum told her mom in clear words that she wasn’t going to ruin her own life just for the sake of her daughter. She also told her that her daughter was likely to be better off being in separate homes rather being in a house where her parents could not get along. Her mom asked her to set any terms or conditions she wanted on Ali and just come back. She assured her that Ali would comply with all of her reasonable demands and needs. She told her to stop talking to her altogether.
On one Friday evening in March of 2002, Ali called Irrum to let her know that he was on his way from his office to pick Ayesha up. Irrum told him that he could not take his daughter anymore until court decided on the custody. He reminded her about the mutual agreement they had about the 50-50 custody and two thousand dollars per month support. She told him that she would like the court to decide on their case. He then told her that he was going to stop paying her the alimony/child support until court decided on that too. She madly told him to go ahead and stop. This was another shock for Ali, which he courageously absorbed. He did not want to make any scene in order to give her any reason or evidence to use against him. So he went straight his home instead. Yet another pleasant surprise was waiting for him at the door. Two police officers were waiting for him at his door. They introduced themselves and asked him if he was Ali.
[RIGHT].....to be continued[/RIGHT]