Early Bird (Erkenci Kus)(Part 3)

20. Taking to the ring

"You with me? You know what to do?" Aysun asks as she and Ihsan walk up from her lingerie store to the teashop.

"I am, Aysun, I am, I understand. I'm not stupid you know? You don't have to keep repeating it." He looks at the group of men sitting at the tables. "We'll have to get them closer together...Although, a few of them are going to be in front of that screen watching the game for the next 25 years if you ask - "

"You're not listening to me, they're ready. They're angry about the changes. They hate this library. I heard it with my own two ears."

"Truly?" he blinks, looking from her to the men again.

"Go, I trust you."

"Why thank you dear Aysun, I'll do my best if that's the case. But I have to say, I think there's going to be some tact needed. I'll have to sit down and order some tea before I start."

"Tact? You mean money. How much?"

"200 lira."

"For a cup of tea?"

"No, for getting the job done. The tea is a bonus."

She stares at him. "Are you serious? What are you going to do with the money?"

"Don't you worry about that," he shakes his head, "everything will work out if it's in my hands...look at them, I'll definitely have to order something so I can relate."

She looks between him and the men and then sighs. "Fine," she opens her handbag and takes out her wallet. "I guess you're right."

"Of course I am." He watches her count off the money and smiles when she hands it to him. "Alright, let's go," he puts the money in his pocket, "we'll come back in later so it doesn't look suspicious."

"Where are we going now?"

"Just trust me, come on." He turns her and they walk up the sidestreet, ignoring Aysun's questioning.

**

Sanem pushes the cleaning cart down through from the storage room, her and Ayhan both dressed in their light blue cleaner's uniforms.

"Be careful, you're going to spill the water," Ayhan warns with the mop in her hands, steering the cart from the side, making it turn left.

"Ayhan," Sanem pulls the cart back to the right. Ayhan doesn't respond. "Ayhan - "

"Hm?"

"We don't have a lot of time. We need to clean and do it fast."

"I know. Let's start over here."

"No, you go this way and I'll go that way," Sanem trades places with Ayhan and grabs the mop, starting on the floors while Ayhan empties the trash cans and picks up the dirty towels.

Sanem leaves the mop after a few more wipes across the floor and takes a cloth and spritzer, walking over to a man doing leg exercises. She cleans the machine he's on, pressing on it by accident and he jumps up in pain, walking away from her stunned expression. What did I do?
She shrugs after a second and sits down on it, lifting the weights with her feet just to feel what it's like before she moves on to the next one.

Across the room, Ayhan is having her own problems with people missing the trashcans when throwing away their waterbottles. She glares at one and goes to pick it up, dropping it in the bag hooked to the cart.

As they clean, they get a whole lot done, Sanem accidentally switching a treadmill faster when she cleans the buttons, making the poor woman on it glare at her.

"Hey!"

"Oh, sorry! My bad!" Sanem turns away and leaves the woman, who slides back, losing balance and landing on the floor.