Forbidden

Chapter 54

Ashley's POV

"Tell me what?" Meredith says.

"N-nothing. We were messing around, imagining that Kerem has feelings for you and that we won't tell you because you would faint with happiness." Samir lies and cracks up like we really talked about this. He's such a good liar.

"Shut up! Did you tell him I have feelings for Kerem?" Meredith almost yells, but can't hold her smile back because of Samir's joke. I'm standing frozen in front of her not knowing what to say.

"No, she won't have to tell me, Mer. It's been obvious since high school." He's messing with her, but she joins his chuckle and punches him lightly on his arm.

I try to act normal and giggle awkwardly, but she doesn't notice. Seconds later we say good night and I'm afraid to stay awake. She'd probably ask me questions until I spill out the truth, so I'd better act like I'm already tired.

Two weeks are through and we've organized everything. The house is so clean I can see my mirror image in every table in our living room. Hudson's parents are on the way to Zurich but I'm afraid they don't like me anymore. I was like their second daughter but now I'm her daughter in law. Hudson tries to calm me down and I act like it's ok, but it still bothers me.

Meredith and I went shopping for our engagement and I bought a long and pretty red dress. Meredith usually buys the same if we ever go out together, but for the engagement she chooses a short purple dress. We invited Kerem's family too but his parents won't come. When they found out it's Hudson who is my boyfriend they got angry. I never really liked his parents anyway. They gossip about people like there is nothing but drama in life.

Oh by the way, Hudson and Kerem became close friends and now talk about a lot of things. He told me that Kerem has feelings for Meredith but I haven't told her yet. I'm going to wait until our engagement is over because she won't appear if she knows. She's open for everything but if it's about Kerem she's so complicated not even I am as shy as Meredith is.

"They're here!" Meredith yells from the living room and runs to the door. Her parents have arrived from the airport and Hudson used Kerem's car to drive them here.

I'm sitting in front of my mirror to get ready for them and stand up immediately to greet them at the door. It's a cultural thing to greet the parents in law at the door and look nice. It shows respect to them. And I really respect them after so many years of friendship with Meredith.

"Hello, sweetheart." Her mother greets Meredith with a hug. The second she sees me I start to shake. I'm so nervous.

"Ashley, darling." She hugs me tightly. I join her hug and feel better.

"I saw you two flirting, but I didn't see an engagement coming." She whispers and giggles silently. I didn't either. I join her.

"You look gorgeous, honey." Marie-Anne compliments me.

"Thank you, Marie-Anne." I flush. I'm relieved that she's still in a good mood.

"You can call me mother or even anne if you feel more comfortable with that." She says with a better Turkish accent than Hudson. I almost get tears of happiness in my eyes.

"Thank you, Anne." I say and hug her again.

"Awe! Could you two now move on? You're blocking the traffic here. I'm just kidding! But really, hurry." Meredith messes with us. We just all laugh and I greet Carl... I mean baba. He allowed me to call him dad in Turkish too.

I can see Hudson's pride in his look. The way his parents appreciate me makes him happy. But Meredith also told me that his parents were very worried that he stays with Monika, that crazy woman. So I can understand them being happy about us.

My parents and Hudson's parents greet each other and everyone can see that they haven't seen each other in years. They sit in the living room and start a long conversation while Meredith and I do all the serving as is customary in the Turkish culture. They talk about tomorrow. The day we'll finally get engaged. I can't wait but I'm also very nervous. My father says he wants us to marry two weeks after the engagement. He doesn't want to wait long. My mother and he married one week after their engagement.

My father accepts that I'll live in Hampstead with Hudson when we marry, but I think Hudson likes it here. Maybe he'll change his mind and move to Zurich. I actually hope that a little so I can be near my family and they can see our future children grow up. But let's just wait.

Hudson's POV

It's getting late and I'm really tired. After we hanged out with Ashley's family and mine we actually wanted to stay in a hotel but Ashley's mother resisted to that and made the guest rooms ready for us.

I text Kerem to ask whether he'll come tomorrow and he replies with a yes. I never thought we'd become such good friends, but he likes my sister so why should I be angry at him anymore?

After texting Kerem I want to sleep but my phone buzzes again. Another text from Kerem or maybe Ashley wishing me a good night? I look at my bright screen but first I close my eyes and when I open them again I don't see any text from either of them I thought. It's just some random number.

*Hello, sweetie!* It says. Probably some drunk slut who hit the wrong number. As I want to delete this I get another text.

*It's me, Monika. Don't dare to ignore me!* She texts.

How the hell did she get my Swiss-German number?