“Daughter, you are our only child in the family, forget about Tashkent, you know that we have a lot of smart guys in our neighborhood, each one smarter than the other, with wealth families. Will I have to seek the way of Tashkent every time when I want to see you?” – Masturakhon reprimanded her daughter. “Now a family from Kircha is wooing you to marry their son, their son won a Green Card Lottery and in America now, and working as a lawyer there. They say he erns thirty thousand dollars a month. I would have married you to him, but America is far away, if you go far from me, I will not endure that…”
“Mommy, Tashkent is not far away. If you catch Afrasiyob train it will get you there in two hours…”
“No, I will marry you here, in our makhalla. Do you know shop holder Ato? He has more than 10 shops in Siyab Bazaar. They also reauest you for their son, if you agree you can meet him, and we can make the deal with them…”
“He hasn’t a definite job, he spends all he earns in the street, do you want to spend my life with him?” – Raykhona said sorrowfully.
“OK, then. What about the grandson of the Valikhodjaevs. He is good guy. He knows five languages, travels to 3-4 countries every month. He has done his PhD…”
“No, I will not marry him. I do not like being buried in the books…”
“You keep rejecting everybody I say. What have you seen in that guy from Tashkent? We don’t know him, his relatives. Your father will not agree, as well. There is another guy from the neighborhood. The son of Academician Vohid Abdullo’s sister. They also want you. We can start preparations if you consent.”
Having seen her daughter peeling at one point Masturakhon went out of the room being upset of that her daughter wasn’t hearing her advice.
Raykhona also doesn’t want to go to Tashkent, who wants to go far from relatives, friends? But life has its own rules, precepts of hearts and dreams. Does love not mean marrying a person who you adore, having kids from him, living with the beloved person? Raykhona entered her room with these thoughts and murmured to herself: “You stand between two fires, Raykhona”. She put her head on the pillow and went asleep.
The next day her mother told her daughter’s story to her father. He didn’t object, but said: “Of course, I want my daughter be with us, but if they suit each other we should not hinder. We have to investigate about the guy’s family.”