GOLDEN RULE

Stars

"Can I go home now?" I was out of breath. I was exhausted from training all day."The Golden Rule: Don't show your tiredness if you're exhausted. When you show that you're tired, the enemy will come at you even harder, and no, you can't go. Do 20 more push-ups, right away."I nodded wearily and started doing push-ups again.At one point, I couldn't get up from the weight he put on me. I just stood there."Move!" he said. My arms had no strength left, I was so tired. And now, with this weight on my back, how was I going to get up?I tried. I pushed myself, slowly did the push-ups, then got used to it and did them faster."20," I said and dropped myself to the ground. I lay on my back and looked up at the sky. I looked at those beautiful stars that looked like dots...I took a deep breath. I let out a deep sigh with a strong 'ahh'. My warm breath mixed with the cold air. Maybe it would reach the stars... Maybe they would feel sorry for my sigh and show me the way... But that was not possible, there was no other way. I was walking on the path drawn by others, they had drawn only one path for me, and it wasn't mine..."They're so beautiful, aren't they?" Yağız said, looking at the sky. He lay down next to me and continued his words,"Can I tell you something? When I'm alone, I talk to the stars, I confide in them. I advise you to do the same, they're really good at keeping secrets. Sometimes they help you. My loved ones, my family, my loved one, they all live there." he smiled sadly. "I used to look at the stars like you, wondering if my life would get better, but they felt sorry for me, so they couldn't do anything, or at least that's what I believe, that's what I want to believe. I know that being a dreamer is forbidden for us.They would threaten me with my loved ones, my family... In the end, I couldn't defeat one of them, just one. My family... My family also went to be with the stars. They watch me from there, they're watching... I was very sad, so sad... But I say to myself, maybe the stars did me a favor, that's how I deceive myself.I say; so that I don't have any weaknesses against my enemies, so that my hands and arms are never tied, so that they don't even threaten me; so that there is no leverage for my enemies to use against me, they took my family from me. That's why I only trust them. The only friend I have is the stars. No one can destroy them." he said and turned to me."The Ultimate Rule: No one should know your weakness, you should always be cold-blooded in life, everywhere!"I looked at Yağız and then at the stars.'No one should know Ela, my beloved sister, no one should know' I said to myself. If something happened to her, I would lose everything, I would have no one by my side. I couldn't bear it. That little girl couldn't live without me, she couldn't protect herself.I closed my eyes and didn't open them for a long time."You can leave at 1 o'clock," he said.I stood up. I helped him up as well. Just when I was about to leave, he tripped me and made me fall to the ground. I used the tactics he taught me. 

When I fell, I quickly rolled to the right and swiftly stood up, taking a few steps back. "What are you looking at? You can go..." he said. As I turned and started moving forward, he lightly kicked the back of my knee, causing me to kneel down. When he attempted to kick me again, I immediately dropped to the ground and assumed a push-up position. He missed his kick and I rolled on the ground to escape from him. When I got back on my feet, he had a mischievous grin on his face. "Well done, you can go now."

This time, I didn't make a move to leave. "Okay, you can go now," he said again. As I trusted him and turned my back, I heard a rustling sound. I quickly turned around, but there was no one there. When I turned back to face forward, Yağız was standing right in front of me. "Don't trust anyone!" he exclaimed and threw a right hook at me. I managed to dodge his hook and said, "I am your student!" before punching him in the stomach. Of course, it didn't faze him. "You need to hit harder," he said, shaking his head. "You're not hitting hard enough!" he exclaimed quickly. "I saw you when you were angry, back then you were hitting harder. You need to hit with all your strength, bring to mind whatever comes to you in that moment, but don't get angry."

"Okay," I said, raising my hands. "That's enough for today. Say hi to Ela for me."

"You can say hi yourself, I don't care about that little girl," I said, winking. I knew he was training me and he knew my weakness, but he had mentioned it himself, no one should know their weakness.