GOLDEN RULE

If I Have a Chance to Die...

"Ateş, wake up! Come on, get up quickly!" "What's the matter? Leave me alone," he said without opening his eyes. "Come on, get up, we're late. People wake up, you know. It's already 4:30, Ateş, wake up already. I mean, how comfortable can you be lying on the sand?" We had a fight in half an hour, and here we were still sleeping on the beach at night. "Get up, my dear, how are we going to get from here to there at this hour? Get up quickly!" I said, and he finally murmured and opened his eyes, sitting up. I held his hand and pulled him up. "Let's go!" I said, starting to run without letting go of his hand. He quickly caught up with me and started running too.

 The streets were just beginning to light up, with some street lights on and some off. We crossed streets, passed through avenues, descended stairs, climbed stairs, sped up, slowed down, our hands never letting go of each other, always running... Actually, we didn't seem to know where we were going, but our feet knew the way, and we allowed them to lead us. "Where were you?" a grumpy Yağız greeted us. I immediately threw myself onto the couch in my room. "Oh, Yağız, I'm so tired. We crossed mountains, hills, slopes, streams, and here we are. On the way, we fought wolves, bears, and even dragons. We rescued a princess from a tower too. We gave her to the dwarves. We broke free and made it here..."

"What are you talking about?" Yağız looked at me in astonishment. Then he composed himself and said, "We have 5 minutes until the match, your names will be called soon, get ready immediately. Hurry up!" I quickly got up and put on my clothes from the wardrobe. Ateş only took off his shirt and belt. How could I possibly fight against this visual spectacle? I was already defeated... When our names were called, we walked out together. Everyone in the stands watched us attentively and silently. Ateş stepped into the ring before me, extending his hand towards me with a bow to surprise them. Smiling, I took his extended hand and entered the ring. Everyone around seemed shocked, it was clear that they didn't expect such a gesture in such a place, at such a moment. Well, no one would expect it, after all, this was the battleground. Ateş wanted to play and have some fun, it seemed... When the bell rang, the people who usually shouted and cheered were watching us as if they had lost hope. I'm sure they thought we wouldn't fight, but they were wrong. On the contrary, it was going to be more competitive than ever. 

This time, it wouldn't be as easy as our first fight... This time, we fought not just to fight but to win. However, this time, I would win not money, but my love. We raised our clenched fists. Without taking our eyes off each other, we started to circle. Then he stopped, and I imitated him and stopped as well. This time, he started to turn in the opposite direction of our previous turn, and I followed suit. When I got bored after a while, I ran and jumped on him. Before he could figure out what was happening, he tried to throw me off by spinning, but I held onto his neck with my hands and tightly wrapped my legs around his waist. When he realized he couldn't throw me off, he threw himself backward onto the ground. "Ah..." he groaned in pain, and I saw him laughing as he quickly got up from on top of me. It was clear that he was having a lot of fun. 

Our hands went up in the air again. "Stop playing, let's fight a little," he said, showing a mischievous grin on his face. I smiled back and turned around in the same manner, but then I stomped on his leading foot when he lost focus and kicked him in the stomach when he bent down. As his head was still in the air, I pushed my airborne leg upwards and kicked him in the chin. When he stood up from where he had bent down due to the blow to his chin, I tripped him hard from behind, causing him to fall on his back. I pressed one of my feet on his stomach and leaned towards his face.

I smirked and said, "We'll fight when you can get up from the ground..." He immediately jumped up on his feet with a kip-up move. He quickly threw a punch towards my face, causing me to stumble. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he delivered a powerful flying kick to my stomach, making me bend over. As he saw me bent over, he was about to throw an upward kick, but I quickly regained my focus, crossed my forearms to block his kick, and swiftly started throwing punches at his abdomen, alternating between left and right. He grabbed one of my wrists, spinning me around and bending my wrist on my back. With his other hand and elbow, he trapped my free arm and held my neck. In this position, my back was against his chest, his left hand was on my throat, and his other hand was gripping my right wrist. Acting swiftly, I moved and forcefully stepped on his toes with the heel of my foot. I quickly snapped my head backward, hitting his nose. He groaned in pain and released his hold on me. Holding his nose with his hands, he staggered backward. We remained in the ring for a full hour. 

Our punches and kicks left us with bloodied brows and swollen eyes. We both looked exhausted and worn out, but we were still standing, refusing to give up. "If you throw one more punch, I won't be able to get up from the ground," I said, my resistance wearing thin. I wanted it to be over as soon as possible. When I said that, he threw a punch at me and instead of defeating me, he fell to the ground and lay there, accepting defeat. When the referee finished the count, he got up. "What are you doing?!" I asked, looking at him in confusion, and he simply blew me a kiss. The referee raised and lowered my hand, declaring me the winner. Normally, I would have been happy to win, but now I couldn't feel any joy. I quickly went to my room and collapsed onto the chair. My eyes closed on their own.

When I woke up, I found myself in Ateş's house, in his room. I was still wearing my half-tank top and shorts, the fighting attire. I took a shower and got out. I found a black t-shirt in Ateş's wardrobe and put it on along with my shorts. His clothes didn't fit me, and I hadn't returned his previous clothes either. My thoughts went back to that day; now I was even stronger, and nothing like that would happen to me again. The door was knocked, and it opened. "You look good..." "Now it's mine," I said, and he shrugged. "I won." "Palaz told me you defeated him..." "Hah, it didn't seem that way in the ring, but... I don't care. I won, now you can admit that you love me..." "Hah, I'll only tell you when I'm dead," he replied, just like me. "But you can't say it then, caaaan't," I said childishly, sounding so silly. "Then I'll tell you when I know or feel that I'm going to die..." "Oh... You mentioned death so casually, I'm fed up. Don't tell me if you won't. I'm leaving." "Where to?!" "If I'm lucky, to die..." I yelled as I descended the stairs. When I realized he wasn't following me, I closed the door and left. I went to pick up Ela. "Sister!" she exclaimed as she jumped onto me. "My little angel," I said, taking her into my arms. "How are you?" "I'm gooood," she replied with a smile. I greeted Kiraz, seeing her sister, and when she invited me to her house, I didn't decline. While Ela got lost in playing with her toys, we had a conversation. "How do you know Yağız?" we both asked each other at the same time. 

She answered first. "We've been friends with Yağız's mother since middle school. Yağız practically grew up in my hands. Back then..." she said, looking into my eyes and continued, "We used to spend months and weeks together as a happy extended family. But after he lost his family... Yağız didn't come back for a long time. When he returned, he distanced himself from everyone, especially from me. I was really sad back then, especially for Yağız. I thought it was because of his grief, but regardless of who he met, that affectionate, fun Yağız was gone, replaced by an icy wall. I tried to talk to him, but it was in vain..." She paused for a moment and then continued. "One day, I received a call from an unknown number. It was Yağız. He started calling me once a month. Then we started meeting for just an hour once a year. We weren't spending hours talking like before, something was clearly wrong, but I didn't insist. When it was just the two of us, he would act affectionate like in the old days, but if someone else was around or we were outside, he would put on a cold face..."

He was afraid... He was afraid that something would happen to Kiraz and that he would lose her too. That's why he didn't see her, he kept her hidden. "I still don't understand what he's doing, what he's gotten himself into... He always tells me not to ask, and I don't. Lately, thanks to you, we've been meeting so often. I'm grateful to you for being able to see my son more because of you," she said, and I smiled. "You, my girls, how do you know Yağız?" "We... He helped me... Well, he continues to help me. I'm learning things from him, he's teaching me, that's all..." I managed to say. I couldn't tell everyone about the hell I went through. "Is he giving you sports lessons? He mentioned that once..." "Yes, sports lessons..." "He had another student, a boy, but we didn't meet him. He always said, 'He became a very successful athlete,'" she smiled. She was talking about Ateş. "I met him, he's really successful..." "Are you as successful as him?" "I don't know, we should ask Yağız," we laughed. While we were engrossed in our deep conversation, my phone rang. "Aselya..." "Yağız..." "Where are you?" "I'm with Ela, we'll go home from here." "Let Ela stay there, you come to me. Be here in an hour," he said and hung up the phone. I looked at Kiraz apologetically. She closed her eyes and understandingly said, "We still have games to play with Ela..." I smiled and said goodbye to them, then headed towards Yağız's house. When I arrived at Yağız's place, he was hitting a punching bag in the backyard. "Let's go inside," he said without looking at me. 

I hadn't even realized how he knew I was there. I followed him as he walked towards the house. He took something out of a wooden box on the table, held onto my arm, took my hand in his, and forcefully placed the metal object from the box into my hand. He didn't let go for a while. When the cold piece of metal touched my hand, goosebumps formed all over me.