The Princess & The Bodyguard

Important Dinner

*Leyla's Point of View*

Hello, there! My name is Leyla. Leyla Altunay. I come from the big and popular Turkish city Istanbul. I will tell you a little bit about myself.

Three years ago I graduated from high school. I had an amazing time at high school, filled with a lot of joy and happiness. And love... But, I will talk about this a little later. Now I will start with my background, because I believe it is quite interesting.

I come from a mixed marriage - my father, Ali, is from Turkey and my mother, Maria, is from the United States of America. For all I know, they have met several years ago, while my father was visiting university there. They obviously liked each other and got married almost immediately after they graduated. Most of the time we live here in Turkey, but around important family holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter we spend time in America, where my mother's relatives are. We celebrate both the Christian and the Muslim holidays.

Fortunately or not, I am an only child, since, after my birth, my mother had some medical issues, which prevented her from having more children. But I am okay with this, I do not feel like I am missing a sibling figure in my life. I already have my cousins who I love really much.

Speaking of my family, my father is of those traditional and more conservative people who believe that people, especially girls, should not make love before they get married, and also are not big fans of relationships without a marriage, he sees them as a waste of time. This is why I do not dare to tell him that I have been having a boyfriend for five years now. My mother, on the other hand, is not as conservative as my father, but still agrees to whatever my father says, since he is the dominant in our family.

My boyfriend... Ah... My heart, my soul, my best friend, the love of my life, my everything... My Mert... My dearest Mert... I cannot even describe how much I love this boy and how happy he has been making me ever since. I do not even know how I have managed to live through all these years when he still had not been in my life, in any way. I met him when I was in high school, we were in the same class. We both know we have been having feelings for each other ever since the first year, but confessed it in the second to last year, thus he was my prince for the prom the following year. As I mentioned, I never dared to tell my family I was dating someone, so whenever I wanted to meet with Mert, I needed to use an excuse that would not raise any suspicion.

Having a father like mine, we also should not forget or ignore the possibility of an arranged or forced marriage. My father has always had the opinion that I deserve to marry someone wealthy and successful, who would be able to provide me with a good and stable life where I would not have to worry about working. Motives like this are one of the reasons for an arranged marriage, which is one of my biggest fears. Because how am I supposed to marry someone whom I neither love nor at least know?!

And just as I though that my life was going on good, I was happy and I loved it, an event occurred, which brought a drastic change into my life.

*Author's Point of View*

*5th of September 2023*

It was a warm and sunny afternoon. Leyla was sitting onto the wooden bench in the garden, which was just a few metres away from the high school, which she and her boyfriend, Mert, used to visit for five years. It was a small garden, which was forgotten by most people around there.

In the heart of the garden there was an old oak tree, beneath which there was a wooden bench, which was worn by the time, yet it was still sturdy. The exact same bench which Leyla was sitting on at that moment. The oak tree and the bench together have witnessed so much of the great love between Leyla and Mert, that, if they could speak, they could write an entire novel.