Early Bird (Erkençi Kus)(Part 1)

67. Changing overnight

The next morning, Can is sitting upright in his chair, tapping a branch on the heel of his boot as he waits for Sanem to wake up. He didn't sleep very long the night before. His mind was too busy and as he sat here now, he was thinking again - this time about the upcoming meeting that she mentioned. He leans his head back, closing his eyes for a second and then looks down at her starting to stir. Her eyes open slowly and then focus on him. "Good morning," he greets with a smile.

Sanem sits up, still zipped up in the sleeping bag. "Good morning."

"Do you feel okay?" He kneels next to her. "You were sneezing constantly during the night." He feels her forehead. "Maybe you caught a cold over the weekend. Did you get wet?"

"I feel fine," Sanem shakes her head and he removes his hand. "Did you get any sleep?"

"Not much. I'm used to not sleeping, though so it's not a problem." Sanem nods. Somehow she wasn't surprised that he barely slept. "Are you ready to leave?"

"Sure."

He unzips her, patting her hair down that stood up from the static in the sleeping bag, then helps her to her feet.

"Thank you."

"You get all of this together," he waves at the sleeping bag and mat, "and I'll do the tent."

He lets her hand go and Sanem turns on the spot, looking back at him moving away. She wondered for a second what he had decided overnight. He looks much better...Or as good as he could look, under the circumstances... As she watched him, she felt a dark cloud settle over her.

She didn't think she could watch him go. She hoped quietly that there would be some good news today because she couldn't go through another yesterday.

**

Ayhan, Leyla and Osman eventually fell asleep in the living room after talking all night. Osman in his chair with Leyla and Ayhan on the sofa.

A phone pinging wakes Ayhan up. Her eyes open groggily and then widen at the big toe in her face. Wrinkling her nose in disgust, she pushes Leyla's leg off her and sits up. "Gross," she mumbles, "I didn't need that." She eyes Leyla's foot before getting her phone off the coffee table. "Oof, my back," she groans with a yawn before unlocking the phone. It was a message from Sanem. She reads it and then gets up and goes over to Osman. "Osman," she whispers. "Osman!" She shakes his shoulder and his eyes pop open. "Why is she still here?"

He sits up tiredly. "What?" Then his eyes land on Leyla and soften.

"Wake her up and tell her to leave."

"Have you lost your mind? What time is it? I can't wake her up now."

"Why didn't she go home? Her foot was in my face when I opened my eyes. Is that how your day is supposed to start? And why didn't you take her to your room if she was going to stay? Was it so you could look at her while she sleeps all night?" Ayhan purses her lips.

"That sounds very wrong and very - Shut up, Ayhan," Osman mumbles and stands up.

"Oh look, now he's going to wrap her in a blanket too so she's all cosy," she coos sarcastically when he grabs a throwblanket off the back of the sofa. "You know what's funny? For the last 20 years all you've done is look... Hey, remember that show we watched the other day? About the sloth that just sat there and did nothing for like 45 minutes? You're exactly like him." She rolls her eyes when he ignores her and just keeps tucking Leyla in. "Ugh, never mind. I have to go and change. Sanem needs me to take her some clothes." She starts to leave and then turns back. "Wake her up. If she's late for work she'll blame us for it. And tell her to be careful, aunt Mevkhibe's probably also awake by now." Ayhan shivers as she walks up to her room. "This house's entire energy changed overnight... I need a scented candle or something to cleanse it."