as the years go passing by.

sudden appetite

YEARS LATER

It's the fourth day in a row that he's noticed something strange. Not strange strange, just strange as in different. It's probably nothing but it tickled his brain in the way it did when he forgot something important, albeit with no real danger that comes with it.

He found himself glancing furtively at his wife beside him. A second ago she was spearing large chunks of sucuk and fried vegetables with her fork, now she's wiping off the sauces left from menemen with a strip of bazlama. He could swear a minute ago there were three rolls of sigara böreği but it is long gone now.

Huh.

"Are you eating that?"

Ferit glanced towards the questioning voice of his wife, she was looking down at his plate and pointed her fork towards a chunk of sucuk. His own breakfast was almost untouched, too busy in his musings. Without much thought, he moved the aforementioned piece of meat onto her plate. She hummed happily in return.

Something's not adding up here.

He made to lean his head towards Seyran but just before he voiced his thought, his mother casually piped up.

"Seyran, you're enjoying breakfast now? I'm happy to see."

Seyran, who was enthusiastically chewing, glanced at her mother-in-law and gave an impish smile. She covered her mouth and simply replied,

"I've just been having more of an appetite lately. The food all tastes so good."

Gulgun tilted her head and then chuckled softly. She pursed her lips and gazed at Seyran and Ferit, the former already eyeing the fresh cucumber on his plate while the latter had no clue what his mother's look meant.

"I'm glad you're eating more, Seyran."

That's all his mother said before she continued with her food, a small smile playing on her face. Ferit frowned, nothing she said was wrong per se, but the way she looked at them both- as if she knew something he didn't- made Ferit a bit edgy.

This time he did lean towards Seyran and spoke under his breath, just for her to hear.

"Seyran, what did anne mean by that?"

Seyran, who also continued with her breakfast (her second spoonful of menemen but no one's keeping count), leaned her head towards Ferit's and whispered back,

"What do you mean? She only asked why I'm eating more. I think the food tastes really good, that's all."

"But you don't eat breakfast."

"Yes, I do."

"You only take small bites of cheese for breakfast, aşkım."

Seyran hummed thoughtfully. He's not incorrect but surely there's nothing wrong with gaining an appetite for breakfast. If anything, it's a good thing.. right?

"But Ferit, you're always saying how important it is for me to eat more for breakfast. You told me it's the most important meal of the day."

He heard the sullen note in her voice and decided it's not something to mull over the dining table. He placed his hand on her thigh and gave a gentle squeeze. They'll discuss this later.

———————————————————

Later never happened and days came and went.

Seyran still enjoyed a hearty breakfast and Ferit decided to just drop the issue. Seyran was right, he had always been trying to get her to eat more breakfast after all.