The Hidden Heir

05. Was It A Dream

Eda felt a nudge on her back while sleeping and groaned before she opened her eyes, to look at her best friend, sitting cross legged on the bed, glaring at her.
Eda yawned and stretched herself as she slowly got up. She rubbed her eyes and looked towards Leyla, "good morning... What's gotten into you?", Eda asked sleepily.
"Did your highness sleep well?", Leyla mocked. Eda pouted in confusion.
"You took all the blanket and pushed me to the floor. I woke up cold and sore on the carpet this morning!", Leyla almost yelled at Eda's face.
Eda looked more confused, "what are you talking about? I don't remember pushing you down."
"Yeah! cause you were snoring your ass off!!", Leyla was annoyed, as she felt her body stiff, sleeping on the floor.
Eda moved forward, gave a sleepy hug to her and mumbled against her chest, "I'm sorry Leyla. I didn't mean to. I had weird dreams last night. I must have been in deep sleep."
"Weird dreams? What weird dreams?", Leyla tilted her head to look at Eda.
Eda looked up and smiled, "well... I would love to sit and tell you, but we both are getting late for our work.. We need to get ready and leave..", she said as she got up from bed and rushed to the washroom.
She halted at the door and turned to Leyla, "Oh, yeah... I almost forgot. Mr and Mrs Erol asked me to invite you to dinner to the bakery tonight. They wanted to celebrate a little, you know, for me, winning the Competition." Eda said, smiling brightly.
Leyla clapped her hands in excitement, "That's really wonderful. I'll be there as soon as I finish my work".
The girls got ready for their day, and left the house biding goodbyes to each other, as Leyla went to her clinic and Eda headed towards the bakery.

The day was as busy as ever for Eda and she loved every minute of it. She baked, tended to customers, spent her time with the lovely old couple, and adored the children that came to the bakery.
As the evening drew in, Eda's mind wandered to the events that occured in the park yesterday. And as if on cue, the door to the bakery opened and came in a guy, clad in a dark, leather jacket.
He walked to the counter and did not notice Eda, since she was tending to another customer in the dining area.
When Emir reached the counter, he was greeted by Mr. Erol. "Hello, welcome to Beautiful Bakes. What would you like to have?"
Emir stopped to look at the man for a second, before he turned around the bakery, his own eyes searching for a certain emerald orbs, when their eyes met, Eda stood frozen on her spot, the customer at the table, long forgotten.
Emir's lips turned into a small smile at the sight of Eda, and he nodded his head a little to her.
"Does she know you?", the question made him look back towards the counter, where Mr. Erol stood, all the warm welcome from before, replaced with a glare.
Emir stood, contemplating his answer, when Eda rushed towards the two men, "Yes Mr. Erol! W-We met just r-recently", She answered his question, tentatively.
Mr. Erol turned to look at the man in front of him, judging him from head to toe.
Emir suppressed his urge to scoff at the way Mr. Erol was trying to intimidate him off. And instead, he stretched his hand forward, "My name is Emir!"
Mr. Erol hesitated a little and glanced at Eda, to see her looking back at him with hopeful puppy eyes.
Mr. Erol sighed as he extended his hands to shake Emri's. "I'm Erol! ...... So, how do you know each other?"
Emir pulled his hands back and smiled, "We just... happened to bump into each other," he explained, while smirking at Eda.
Eda blushed as she remembered their 'little bump' at the park and bit her lips to stop her involuntary smile.
"I've never seen you before", Mr. Erol spoke, still judging the new guy.
"That's because I'm new to the town." Emir answered, looking back at him.
"Where are you from Emir?", Mr. Erol was in need of answers regarding this new person in their happy little bubble.
"Umm... Quite far actually", Emir replied , looking hesitant, which did not go unnoticed by Mr. Erol,
"Wh--?"
" OKAY!! That's enough for the day!", Eda decided to cut in, since she could guess where this conversation could eventually lead to.
"So Emir, What brings you here?", Eda finally asked, looking at Emir.
Before he could answer, ......"What's happening here?", came the curious question of Mrs. Erol.
All three turned to look at her, coming out from the kitchen, with a tray of freshly baked brownies. "Who's this?", she asked, gesturing towards Emir.
"Hi Mrs.Erol. I'm Emir, Eda's friend".
Eda looked at Emir with questions, and amusement, while Mr. Erol rolled his eyes, "I thought you guys just met?!"
"Doesn't mean we can't be friends", Emir's tone was stren and confident as he said it. Eda raised her eyebrow at him. Emir turned to look at her questioning gaze and he just shrugged his shoulders.
Mrs. Erol followed their gestures and smiled with excitement, "Oh! It's really nice to meet you Emir. I'm glad Eda's making new friends", she spoke as she glanced at Mr.Erol, then she smiled as she turned to look at Emir and Eda, "So Eda dear, did you invite him to dinner today?"
Eda's eyes widened as she realized what Mrs. Erol was planning to do, "Umm ... n-no Mrs. Erol ... ".
"Well then", Mrs. Erol said, as she looked at Emir, "Emir, we are having a very small dinner, here at the bakery tonight, to celebrate something special. Why don't you join us?"
Mr. Erol did not look happy, "Am sure Emir has some other things to do ... "
Eda was flustered by now, because she was not expecting to have dinner with this mysterious man this soon, "Y-Yeah! We shouldn't bother him with--- ", She was cut short with Emir's reply,
"Actually, I would love to join you guys for dinner", leaving Mr.Erol and Eda with no comments to spare.
"Wonderful", Mrs. Erol chirped with excitement. "So Emir, would you like to help me with these?", She asked, pointing towards the brownie tray in her hands.
Emir quickly walked behind the counter, "ofcourse", and he carefully picked the tray from her hands and helped her to arrange them on the display cabinets.
Mrs. Erol was full of smiles, "after, I need to put the tables up for dinner, so if you are free, maybe you could help me with those as well?".
Emir smiled heartily, "I'm free for the night Mrs. Erol. So, No worries, I got it"
Eda was speechless and did not understand what exactly was happening. She just stood helplessly as she watched Mrs. Erol and Emir got together and was getting things ready for dinner.
Mr. Erol sighed as if he lost a battle, and went back to tending to the last of the customers as the bakery came to close.
Eda was all over the place, both throughout the bakery and inside her head as she and Emir kept stealing glances between each other.
"Good evening everyone !", Leyla greeted as she entered the bakery. "Where's Eda?" she asked Mr. Erol.
"She's in the kitchen", he answered and Leyla Skipped her way inside to meet her friend.
Eda was finishing up with her Lasagne for their dinner, "Hi brat!", Leyla spanked her and Eda squeaked, "LEYLA! , you scared me!"
Leyla giggled, "you ready to celebrate?" Eda sighed and bit her lips, "No..."
Leyla was confused, "Why not?"
"Emir is here. He will be joining us for dinner", Eda's voice was nervous.
Leyla was shocked, "WHAT! How?"
"H- He just... I don't know... It just happened. Mrs. Erol invited him, and he agreed."
"Is he here right now? I din't see him when I came in", Leyla asked curiously.
"He is helping Mrs. Erol to set up the tables"
So both the girls went out to see that all the customers were done and the shop was closed for the day, as Mr. Erol was closing up the counter.
At the far end of the bakery, near the long windows, looking out to the hills, Mrs. Erol and Emir had set up two tables together, with trays of food and candles and flowers.
Eda took the lasagne and went to place it on the dinner table. And when everything was set, the five gathered around to sit.
Emir took off his leather jacket and placed it on a chair nearby, and rolled the sleeves of his shirts up, all the while his brown eyes locked with the emerald ones.
Eda gulped down the nervous lump in her throat at his gaze and those dark inks of his tattoos that stretched from his wrist, all the way up to his elbows, and the remaining, hidden behind those folded sleeves of his shirt.
Eda sat down, with Leyla to her right and Emir opposite, with Mrs. Erol by his side. while Mr. Erol sat at the head of the table near Mrs. Erol.
Eda tried to look anywhere else except Emir, because she felt herself struggling with the way Emir made her feel.
'Why was Emir here in the first place? What does he do? Where was he from? Was he interested in her? Do they know each other from somewhere before? ---'
Her curious thoughts were interrupted when Mrs. Erol spoke, "Leyla, did you have a long day dear?, you look worn out."
"That's because I didn't get to sleep properly. Thanks to Eda, I slept on the cold, hard floor!", Leyla snapped.
A snicker was heard at the table, at Leyla's explanation, and everyone turned to look at Emir, who looked like he was suppressing a laugh.
"Is something funny?", Mr. Erol glared and Emir cleared his throat, "No, not at all".
Though he said that, his eyes gleamed in mischief, as if he had something to do with Leyla sleeping on the floor.
"Anyways," Eda tried to divert the attention away from Emir, "I don't remember pushing you off the bed, Leyla."
"Yeah! Because you were busy having a weird dream...!!, Leyla scuffed.
And that's when Eda remembered.
She turned to look at Emir. "Right..., dream!"
Emir's eyes snapped to look at Eda's, but her Emerald orbs did not meet the dark brown's, rather focused on something a bit lower... his forearm.
Where he had a solid black tattoo of an arm band, thick strips, running all the way around his forearm, with black and white flowers intertwined between the lines, just like the one Eda thought she saw in her dreams. Or was it even a dream?