Lone Star

Chapter 2

- Good morning, little one!

Eda came down the last step, crumpling her eyes as the light of day penetrated through the kitchen windows where her grandmother Semiha was preparing a hearty breakfast, with sweets and drinks of all kinds.

- Good morning, grandma, don't you think you overdid it with the food? It's just you and me.

Eda said, sitting around the table with a bank tablecloth with lots of candy cane painted.

- Oh but they're not all for us and anyway, once you're here, I want to spoil you like when you were little! Come on, take a piece of this strawberry cake: it's always been your favorite!

Eda sipped her coffee, interrupting her grandmother who was cutting her a piece of cake.

- Granny, thank you, but I'm just gonna have a couple of cookies for breakfast. I have so much work to send to the employees of the various sectors before they go on vacation!

She got up, nibbled on a biscuit, kissed her grandmother's temple, and proceeded back down the stairs.

- Eda, I was hoping you'd accompany me to the Christmas markets! The whole town knows you're back and many have asked me about you. I was hoping I could spend time with you like when you were a kid... you loved Christmas markets! Then, we have to decorate the house with lights and garlands, decorate the tree, and...

- Grandma, you know I hate Christmas and I don't care about decorations. Do what you want, unfortunately, I can't today because I have to work, sorry...

Eda looked at her grandmother with eyes of compassion, while Semiha was deeply saddened by the words of her niece.

- All right... I'll be there today if you change your mind! I don't know what time I'll be home tonight.

The young woman nodded and ran up the stairs to lock herself in her old bedroom to complete her work duties in the company of her coffee, her only best friend.

Eda entered the room and locked herself inside, and her gaze could not help but fall on the window with the shutters open to let the light and a fresh Christmas-scented winter breeze in.

She closed it feeling chills of cold running through her skin, and her gaze moved towards the window of Serkan's house, just in front of hers, where the night before a meeting of looks had caused much stronger chills in both.

Eda shook her head, regaining contact with reality as she noticed that her neighbor's window was closed and in his room, perhaps, there was no one.

She forced her brain to shift the focus to the work that was waiting for her but, inevitably, she wondered where her interesting and mysterious but annoying neighbor was.

- Eda, focus. A couple of interesting messages exchanged with him should not distract you from your work!

Eda wrapped herself in an extremely cozy white cardigan as she changed her pajamas with grey shorts and a white t-shirt, the warmth of the home was enough to warm her up: with her coffee on hand, she began a long day between computers and phone calls, despite being theoretically on vacation. But robot Yildiz, as they used to call her at work, had no other interests and gave no pleasure outside of accounts, investments, planning, and business.

After a quick lunch without even noticing the absence of the grandmother who was evidently busy in the Christmas markets of their small town because they were full of stands of all kinds with food, objects, books, and games as if it was a real fairy tale, Eda returned immersed in her sad world, not encouraged at all to set foot outside the house to discover the beautiful world of lights and festoons that brightened the streets of the city.