Edser OS and Short Stories

If I Came To This World A Hundred Times... Chapter 3

Serkan sat behind the dining table in his mother's house, looking grimly at a healthy steak in front of him. Suddenly, he lost his appetite.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Aydan asked, watching him intently.

"I'm not hungry." Serkan pushed the dish away. "Where is Sirius?"

"With Eda hanim." Seyfi answered, entering the dining room with a salad bowl. "She said she will bring him here tomorrow."

"Great." Serkan murmured under his breath, looking down at the table. "Where is my father? Can't he be bothered to come to dinner even when he's on retirement? What is his excuse now?"

He looked up at his mother, who swallowed nervously, and Serkan squinted his eyes. "Where is he?"

"Serkan, your father and I are divorced." She started slowly, assessing him. "He cheated on me."

"Amazing." Serkan barked, rubbing his face with his palms. "But where is he now?"

Aydan looked even more nervous at her son's angry demeanor. "Now he's in jail in the Bahamas."

"Fantastic." Serkan growled, resting his forherd on his palm.

Aydan desperately glanced around the room, trying to find a good subject to change the topic. She turned back at Serkan, who looked furious. "At what time do you want to leave for a party at Deniz's? So I would know when to be ready."

"It's a business party." He shrugged. "You don't have to go. I will greet the client and leave after half an hour."

"Serkan, this party is for you."

"I don't like parties, and no one asked me." He answered with a glare directed at his mother.

"You should go, stay longer, and spend time with your friends." She wasn't giving up, even after Serkan's murderous gaze. "And I heard Deniz's new place is very climatic. He renovated it himself, and as an amazing artist, he gives new life to old furniture, making wonders. You could use his services to elevate..."

"Oh, what an amazing find." He cut her sarcastically, speaking through gritted teeth, and his nostrils flared from anger. "Don't tell me that he came in a pack with everybody, who is new in the office, and now all of you are a big, happy family. If you say he's my best friend I will throw up."

"Serkan, what is with you today?" Aydan looked at her son with shock. "Deniz came to Istanbul two weeks after your disappearance, and he helped Eda's friends and Engin to take her out of your apartment because she was in a catatonic state, staying only with Sirius and refusing to let anybody in."

"Amazing." He barked again, fisting his right hand on a knife.

"Yes, he was the one, who convinced her to go out, promising her that he will use all his contacts to help her look for you." She continued. "You should know how this hope changed Eda and helped her to pull herself together. She started to run both businesses and look for you, and that gave her life."

"Aren't we rich enough to have the best detectives to look for me instead of some nobody out of nowhere?" Serkan snorted.

"Serkan, why are you so ungrateful?" Aydan looked incredulity at her son. "Deniz is a nice boy, who helped to keep your fiancee's spirit up in the moment she needed it the most. After that, she kept my spirit up, helped me, and gave me hope, because her belief that you are alive allowed me to survive. And he actually helps with interiors. Clients like his pieces a lot."

"Oh, so he's riding on my clients' list? Even greater!" Serkan shouted, red from anger, and pushed his chair back, making it fall to the floor. "So go party with Deniz! You can even adopt him in my place if he is so perfect!"