Early Bird (Erkençi Kus)(Part 1)

49. Cabin in the woods

Can pulls to a stop just outside of a high hedgeline that surrounds a small cabin, switching off the engine, leaving Sanem to look out the window curiously.

"Where are we?" she asks.

"My cabin. Photo studio. It's a bit of everything really." He reaches back to get his jacket that he took off long ago then gets out.

"Oh." He walks around to help her out. She is already halfway so he just needs to make sure her dress doesn't get caught in the door. "So, when you said grilled meat," Sanem starts with a frown, "did you mean you - ?"

"I'm making the food? Yes." He grins. "Are you okay with that? Because we can go to a restaurant if you want? I mean, you're dressed already."

"No," she shakes her head. "It's perfect actually."

"Good. Let's go inside and change. I have to have something for you to wear in here somewhere."

"Alright."

The cabin isn't that big, but it is lovely and rustic. It has just one long room, with chairs, a sofa, cabinets, a work desk, a small kitchen nook and a shower.

None of what it doesn't have mattered to Sanem as she entered, she was amazed by it nonetheless. It was cute and quaint and she loved it. There were old books and cameras littered along the side shelves on the wall, and she spun slowly, her eyes taking it all in.

"It's so beautiful."

"Thank you," Can says as he enters behind her. "I built it."

Her eyes snap up to his. "You built this?"

He gives a nod while moving to the back to flick a switch, turning on an overhead light in the dark corner.
"I come here when I want to be alone. I usually just turn off my phone and ignore everything else. When I'm here, I'm here, you know? There's nowhere I'd rather be."

"You're lucky," she says, looking around again. She's always wished she could have a place to disappear to when her sister or her parents got on her nerves. These days Deren was added to that mix along with Emre.

"It functions as my dark room too." Can lets the window blinds roll down. She smiles. "It's too early now but I'll probably use it later."

"Can I see how you do it?"

"Of course you can. When I'm doing agency printing and all of that. But not today. Not with these."

"Why not? I thought you said it was my photos? I'm curious about how they came out."

"I know you are," he walks to the other side, and then turns to her again, switching on a small lamp. "It's just how I work. It's a personal thing and a long story. I don't like showing my work off before I'm done with it."

"Alright," she nods, looking away. She didn't want anyone reading what she wrote either, so she could understand what he meant.

"Okay, uh," Can turns in the silence to a drawer behind him, "have a look in here for anything you want to wear." He opens it and takes out a sleeveless T shirt, fanning himself with the shirt he was in. "I'll switch on the fan for you while you dress okay?"

She smiles, nodding. "Thank you," she says on his way out and he nods, closing the door behind him.

Sanem spends a good five minutes just standing on one spot and looking around before she decides to find something to wear.

As she dresses in a pair of basketball shorts and an overlarge T shirt, she looks around her again at the inside of the cabin. She goes outside with the socks and flip flops in one hand. She wanted to feel the grass between her toes before she put them on.