Turbulence

Chapter 17

Eda sat on the bed, looking through the window with her legs crossed and knees pulled to her chin. When, after a light knocking, the door to her room opened, she stood up, threw her packed bag over her shoulder, and turned to Serkan.

"Ready?" He asked, looking at her half-empty overnight bag.

"Yes, I packed only some essentials. The rest I will take later." She approached him and took his extended toward her hand.

"Thank you for doing this for me." Serkan pulled Eda closer, and she smiled softly at him. "It's only temporary until I will figure things out."

"It's ok." She stood on her toes to kiss his lips. "I don't want to be separated from you."

Serkan smiled and kissed her back before lacing their fingers together and pulling her outside the room. They walked through the base in silence, passing the buildings to reach the parking lot. It was very early in the morning, so there was nobody around, not even recruits had started their exercises yet.

Eda observed Serkan as they neared his car, parked at the very end, just next to the gate. She could tell he was trying to keep a brave face, but his facade was crumbling whenever he glanced toward the hangars or airstrip. His tensed posture and clenched jaw were unmistakable signs of his distress.

Eda took the car keys from Serkan's hand after he tossed their bags onto the back seats. She sat behind the wheel of his jeep and waited for him to climb onto the passenger seat. She started the engine, and the radio automatically started to play, but Serkan turned it off. Eda glanced at him, but he turned his face away from her to look through the window. 

She passed the gate, and when it closed behind them, she looked at the base through the rearview mirror. Even if she was going back to work in a couple of hours, it felt like something was ending in her life. As if she wasn't going to return here ever again and that short but intense, carefree time, before everything bad happened, when her biggest worry was how she looked in a new dress or if the man she had a crush on would look at her, was over, and now, she was entering a serious, adult life with real problems and real obligations.

Eda shook her head slightly, throwing those grim thoughts out of her mind, and concentrated on the road. She felt Serkan's hand on her knee and smiled at him. Maybe that crazy time was over, but she was going forward with the man of her dreams, starting the more serious stage of their relationship, and it was all that she needed from life.

When they arrived at the Bolat's mansion they were greeted by Seyfi and Aydan standing at the door. Serkan's mother, with a robe thrown on her nightgown and pale face without her usual impeccable make-up and styled hair, quickly crossed a couple of stairs and pulled her son into her embrace, which he didn't fight this time.

"Is Dad back?" He asked when Aydan was trying to discreetly wipe her tears.

"No, he's going to stay a couple of days in Ankara. Elif is at the hospital."

"At the hospital?" Serkan frowned, glancing worryingly between his mother and Seyfi.

"No, she has her shift. She's volunteering this year as a nurse." Aydan rushed with explanation, which visibly calmed Serkan down. She moved to Eda, who tried to stay out of the way but was pulled into a strong hug. "Welcome to our home, kizim."

"Thank you." Eda answered weakly, feeling suffocated by the strength of Serkan's mother's grip. "I don't want to intru..."

"Nonsense." Adayn stopped her. "I told you, you're family."

Eda nodded with a small smile as she noticed that the woman was on the verge of tears while Serkan looked visibly deflated.

"Are you going back to base today?" Aydan asked Eda, stroking her hair.