Early Bird (Erkenci Kus)(Part 3)

9. To ask forgiveness

"Rahmi dear, put this table at the very end please?" Mevkhibe comes out of the library just past 1 o'clock that afternoon and everything was starting to come together nicely for the opening in two hours time. "It's one of the smaller tea ones so it can't be too in the middle with the others, it'll look off." She turns her head and does a double take. "Now who put these chairs over here?" She asks loudly pointing at the chairs on her left.

"Just put them under the right category Remi!" Muzaffer's voice comes from inside and then he is right behind her with a poundcake in his hand. "Cake?"

She turns to him and nods. "Over there on the table. Bring it, I'll show you." She waves for him to follow her and starts walking over to the snack table. "Savory and sweet seperate, dear," she instructs when plops the cake down in the middle of the table next to the dolma.

"It is seperate," he shrugs. "I'm so tired already, and I've seen so much sweet stuff I'm about to enter a coma...Can't we take a break?"

"No breaks now. We have to keep going until we're done, it's part of our job. You can't get tired when I'm not."

"Of course," she lifts her hands and he nods. "It's for our library right?" He shrugs and grins at her, moving the cake to the left where the other sweet snacks were.

"Did it start?!"

Mevkhibe turns to Melihat running around the corner, her food contribution in her hands.

"Did it start? Am I late? Tell me I'm not late!" Melihat has three books tied with a string as well, dangling from her fingers on the hand under the bag of seeds she carried.

"No, you're not late," Mevkhibe chuckles and gives her a sidehug.

"Oh thank God," Melihat puffs tiredly. "Oh! My legs...I was afraid it started without me! But I made it..." she smiles, bending over with a scrunched up face. "I brought the seeds," she says when she's upright and holds up the bag.

"Of course," Mevkhibe blinks, "without seeds in the library, it can't be called one, can it?" Mevkhibe looks at the large bag of seeds with wide eyes and Melihat chuckles, opening the bag with a shrug. "Everyone is going to be  ts ts ts-ing all the time in the quiet building, but who cares about peace huh?" Melihat chews on one and Mevkhibe huffs, taking one for herself. "Lord, why bring the seeds?" Mevkhibe begs as Melihat shakes it off and turns her head to the side to see what the others were up to.

"Mevkhibe - " Melihat says after a minute, grabbing Mevkhibe's arm and starting to smile, her eyes on something at the corner.

"Hm?" Mevkhibe hums and turns to see what Melihat is staring at.

Her eyes widen when she sees what it is and the seed on the way to her mouth pauses.

'Mevkhibe - please forgive me my dear wife' the banner across the big bouquet of arranged flowers reads as it's carried towards them.

Walking around the corner behind the man holding the arrangement, is one Nihat Aydin, dressed in a pair of well fitted dark brown pants, a light brown p-coat, a black scarf and a white polo neck shirt. His beard has been trimmed as well as the hair he still had. It made him look years younger to those who knew him.

He smiles at her as she stares at a man she's never seen before. Nihat dresses in khaki and checkered button ups every day, so she has never seen him this way. He looks so handsome... she blinks, her head tilting to the side.

"Mevkhibe? What's happened to Mr Nihat?" Melihat gushes, grinning and nudging Mevkhibe, snapping her out of her staring. "He looks so cute."

Mevkhibe nods, smiling so only Melihat can see. "Yes, I noticed," she whispers.