Page 176 - The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner 165

he came for me that day. I really believe he saved me.” She paused.
“So, does what I told you bother you?”
“A little,” I said. I owed her the truth on this one. I couldn’t lie
to her and say that my pride, my iftikhar, wasn’t stung at all that
she had been with a man, whereas I had never taken a woman to
bed. It did bother me a bit, but I had pondered this quite a lot in
the weeks before I asked Baba to go khastegari. And in the end the
question that always came back to me was this: How could I, of all
people, chastise someone for their past?
“Does it bother you enough to change your mind?”
“No, Soraya. Not even close,” I said. “Nothing you said
changes anything. I want us to marry.”
She broke into fresh tears.
I envied her. Her secret was out. Spoken. Dealt with. I opened
my mouth and almost told her how I’d betrayed Hassan, lied,
driven him out, and destroyed a forty-year relationship between
Baba and Ali. But I didn’t. I suspected there were many ways in
which Soraya Taheri was a better person than me. Courage was
just one of them.