She doesn't know how it happens, but Sunday dinners with Ateş his family become a thing.
⌛
"Wait, so Gülfem hanim doesn't live here anymore?!" She asks him, shocked. He's walking her home, even though it's not that late, and everyone was still back at the house. Usually, Feraye would be the last to leave, but Yağmur wasn't feeling well, and Ateş had insisted he accompany them on their short walk home.
Ateş shakes his head, adjusting Yağmur in his arms when her head lolls to the side. "How have you not noticed?"
She shrugs. "I see her here a lot, and to be honest with you, I didn't- I haven't been paying attention to much of anything."
He chuckles, nodding.
Her brows furrow. "What's with that face?"
"What face?" he asks, raising an eyebrow, "this is my face, Feraye."
"Just say it- whatever it is you were thinking, just say it."
"I was thinking that it's just like you to be so immersed in your problems that you don't see anything or anyone around you," he tells her bluntly. One thing she can count on with Ateş is that he will not mince his words when she pushes him.
The words hurt, but he's not lying, and she had asked for it. "Can't argue with you there," she tells him flippantly. Their eyes meet, lock.
He looks away first.
⌛
"I have one!" Bora exclaims, startling her, and the next thing she knows, Feraye finds herself sucked into their conversation. "Remember when we called Ateş abi to get us out of jail and he ended up inside with us?"
Everyone around them laughs, except Ateş who gives him an unimpressed look and covers Yağmur's ears. "Young ears, Bora."
Her daughter giggles, leaning into him. She probably doesn't understand what they're talking about, but she'd happy to be there, in his arms.
Feraye laughs. "Why were you even in jail?"
Okan turns to Bora, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, Bora-why were we in jail?"
"I want to know, too," Gülfem says, glaring at the two young men.
Bora, in turn, glares at Okan, shoving his face when he leans close. "That's not important right now," he tells her, smiling like he's hoping she'll let it slide, "Did you not hear the part about Ateş abi being in there with us?"
Feraye turns to Ateş, raising an eyebrow. "Now this I have to hear."
He shrugs, abashed. "Bora got into a fight, Okan was somehow dragged in it, so Bade and Hazal naturally had to get involved too."
"You too?," Feraye asks the girls, chuckling. They both shrug, smirking.
"In their defense," Hazal starts, "those idiots had it coming."
Ateş continues, "so Okan calls me to bail them out, I go to the police station, and I see these guys walk out, totally drunk. They hear me mention these two knuckleheads and decide to run their mouths," he purses his lips, "so I put them in their place."
"I heard he knocked one of them unconscious," Bora informs her gleefully. Feraye shakes her head at him, smiling. Bora can finally look her in the eyes now, which is progress, considering how much he avoided her in the early days. Ateş has informed her, a couple weeks back, that the younger man is gathering the courage to have a conversation with her about his actions towards her years earlier. She's not sure how she feels about it, but she can acknowledge that the man has changed in the years she's been away.
