Luce di Stella • Kenan Yildiz

Chapter 26: Monaco

🎶 Money, Money, Money — ABBA 🎶

Kenan POV

I was looking so forward to a bit of time with my family and friends at home - it wasn't a lot, but every minute counted during my hectic mid-season schedule. My dad picked me up at the airport and when we arrived at home, my mum had prepared her signature Krautfleckerl, which I loved. I had once tried to explain the dish to Bibi but she was about to vomit when I started mentioning cabbage. It seemed hard to try to convince Italians that other cuisines had equally good dishes as theirs.

After dinner, we sat down on the couch and I deemed it as a good moment to take out the present for my mother.
"Mum... I... wanted to give you this. As a thank you for everything you did for me" I said when I returned from my childhood room, holding the orange box in my hand. She gasped already when she saw it, but she definitely didn't expect what was inside.
"Kenan... How... wow... How did you get this?" she stammered, her eyes teary.

"Remember Bibi? She helped" I replied and smiled at them.
"That was really nice of her, how is she by the way?" my father asked and I took a deep breath.
"Good... good... We're... kind of dating" I admitted and while my mother's face fell, my father's eyes widened.
"This is a joke, right?" he asked and my heart started beating faster, I was nervous now after seeing their reactions.
"I... no, we really like each other and we're happy" I stammered and my father put his head in his hands, shaking it in disbelief.

"Kenan... She's not on your level" my mum said shyly and I started getting upset.
"Well, thank you, mum! That's just a very nice thing to say to your hard-working son!" I snapped back.
"You know I don't mean it like that! She's your boss! And... she's just out of your league" she replied, trying to be as calm as possible.
"And she's not Turkish, nor even a Muslim!" my father argued while I was boiling.
"We're young and just enjoying how life is right now, why can't you be happy for me?" I asked, almost exasperated.
"This is a huge mistake, you'll never see eye to eye with her" my father said, but I had enough and just walked back to my room exhaustedly.

My parents and Bibi had gotten along so well back in Turin, what was their deal now? I wanted to text her and tell her everything, because she was my comfort person, the one I turned to about everything, but this... I didn't want this to weigh on her. My parents would come around eventually. The next morning, I met up with Can and Ilyas, my best friends, hoping they would build me up after the fiasco last night with my parents.

"So, how's it going with your hot flame?" Can opened the topic, without me having to try. He definitely had a crush on her and was low-key jealous.
"Good. My parents however, are not so happy about it" I sighed.
"Well, what did you expect? She's not Turkish, nor Muslim. Plus, she's way out of your league" Ilyas chuckled and I rolled my eyes.
"That's literally the same thing my parents said" I huffed annoyedly.

"Well, can you blame them? Those aspects are literally the fundament of a solid relationship" Can said and I started getting upset again. Why was no one here having my back?
"No, love and mutual respect are. The other things are extras on which we can find a compromise on" I argued.
"Dude, good luck" Ilyas chuckled sarcastically and we continued to walk through the small city. Until my phone dinged with Bibi's special message tone.

She sounded happy via text and that made my mood a bit better too. Her happiness was my happiness. And then she threw me the lifeline when she invited me to Monaco. She wouldn't have done that without an ok from her family, as she was staying there, so that meant even more to me. Her folks, who were incredibly powerful people managed to somewhat accept me, not to mention her - maybe a bit crazy - godmother that regularly texted me and helped me out with restaurant locations for our dates or other small things.