Erkenci Kuş: Bad For Me

Chapter 17: In Which Huma is finally cut down to size and banished to obscurity

Author's Note: The song, 'Bad for me' by Meghan Trainor ft Teddy Swims, is what inspired the title of this story. The moment I heard the song, I immediately thought of Can saying the lyrics to Huma.

Lyrics:

Please don't make promises that you can't keep
Your best intentions end up hurting me
No matter what, I'll love you endlessly
I know we're blood, but this love is bad for me

I can't tell you what I wanna say
'Cause I, I'm afraid that you won't change
Sometimes I just wanna scream in your face
But when you're in pain, I just walk away

And my, my therapist told me to write you a letter, hmm, hmm
She said if I did it would make me feel better
But it wouldn't do shit even if I sent it
'Cause you won't get it, you're too damn selfish, hmm, hmm

Please don't make promises that you can't keep
Your best intentions end up hurting me
No matter what, I'll love you endlessly
But I gotta run, I gotta run from your reality
I know we're blood, but this love is bad for me

Damn, it's hard for me to let go, from someone I held so close, hmm
Damn, it's hard for me to draw that line and leave you on the other side

But my, my therapist told me to write you a letter, hmm, hmm
She said if I did it would make me feel better, oh
But it wouldn't do shit even if I sent it
'Cause you won't get it, you're too damn selfish, oh

Please don't make promises that you can't keep
Your best intentions end up hurting me
No matter what, I'll love you endlessly
But I gotta run, I gotta run from your reality
I know we're blood, but this love is bad for me

And when you lie, and when you lie, there's a part of you that dies
That I'm left with, I'm left with, it gets hectic, it gets hectic
When you lie, and when you lie, I wonder why I try
But you can't help it, you're too damn selfish, hmm, hmm

Please don't make promises that you can't keep
'Cause your best intentions end up hurting me
No matter what, I'll love you endlessly
But I gotta run, I gotta run from your reality
I know we're blood, but this love is bad for me
I know we're blood, but this love is bad for me

***

In the opulent yet now eerily silent living room of the villa she once commanded, Huma sat as though a figure in a still-life painting—perfectly poised but devoid of life's vitality. The sunlight that streamed through the French windows cast a harsh glare on her face, illuminating the fine lines of stress etched into her once imperturbable visage.

Can stood at the threshold of Huma's impeccably designed living room, the air thick with the scent of her favourite lilies - a fragrance that now seemed to choke him. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides, and he could feel the thrumming of his heartbeat in his temples. He had come here for truth.

"Mother," Can began, his voice steady despite the tremors he felt inside. "We need to talk."

Huma, ensconced on a velvet chaise lounge, looked up from her magazine, her expression unreadable as she assessed her son's determined stance. The ice in her gaze could have frosted the glass of the floor-to-ceiling windows that framed the city's skyline behind her.