Sameen met John when she went to visit her dad’s office on a gloomy Monday afternoon in February. She was 21 years old and had just dropped out of medical school after she’d failed her 4th year end of term exams. She was a heavy drinker and had blown through all of daddy’s money and had come to ask for another handout. John was 47 years old at the time and a divorced father of two sons. John and Reza were close friends and business partners as John owns a real estate company and Reza’s architecture firm works for John.
The two struck up a casual conversation while they were both waiting for Reza to finish up a meeting. But Reza had a public outburst in front of his staff and John when he saw Sameen waiting in his office and kicked her out of the building. John went to his meeting as planned and afterwards sought out Sameen. He sympathized with her, his relationship with his own father was strained and what shocked him more was that a man as wealthy as Reza refused to financially support his own daughter. So instead, John offered to help her out.
Sameen desperately needed money and was willing to do anything at that point. John wasn’t taking advantage of her; he offered to give her money only if she got clean and she agreed. He helped her go to rehab and subsequently helped her pick a new career given the fact that her plan of becoming a doctor had gone to hell. Their relationship was initially platonic but Sameen was the one that ended up catching feelings for him and they dated for 4 years until they mutually split up. He was twice her age and their relationship had run its course but Sameen was still heartbroken and struggled to get over the breakup. To Sameen, her relationship with John was probably the most stable relationship she’s ever had and they remain close friends to this day.
