A Turkish Delight☆

Chapter 10: Silence

Mehmet:

I had so many things to ask her, starting from her name. But somehow, I couldn't gather the courage to do so. Until she finally introduced herself to me.

"I don't think we've properly met" she said. "I'm Nadine".

Finally! Ms. Beautiful Eyes had a name. After that, we sat in complete silence for the next 2 hours, exchanging a few glances every now and then, while I stared at the TV screen thing, pretending to watch a French Romantic Movie, until she willingly inquired about my visit to Pakistan, and we indulged in small talk. It didn't seem as difficult as I had thought it would be. Then why was I so afraid of it? It wasn't as if I was going to ask her to marry me. And I used to flirt with every girl back in the day when I was a salesboy. What had gotten into me? Had I lost my charm? But like I said, my brain had stopped functioning.

"You still remember me?" She asked. What a foolish thing to ask. How could I not remember the you? How can someone forget the purity and innocence in your eyes? But how would she know how mesmerized I was by her. As if I was under a spell. But what seemed puzzling to me was the fact that she still remembered me.

"What brought you here?" She inquired, how could I possibly tell you it was you, without creeping you out. But I did let her know unintentionally with a rather impulsive reply, which I immediately regretted and changed my statement. I told her that I owned the shop where we first met. She seemed delighted, almost as if she was proud of me. But why would she be happy over the success of an absolute stranger? This was, afterall, the second time we'd met. I guess she was only being polite.

I did not know what to do or what to say that would not seem inappropriate, so I stayed quiet. Although, I was eager to talk to her, to tell her about my life, ask her about hers. The only thing that kept me from doing so was the question 'would she be interested?' Probably not. Who would want to hear a sad, tragic story for 5 hours. But I really did want to ask her who she was? What was her story? But I just couldn't find the courage to.

And so we sat there, quiet, she was looking out the window, while I looked at the screen, and then at her and then back at the screen, for the remaining part of the journey, in hopes of the other person initiating the conversation. I still couldn't believe my luck! It was unreal, like a scene from a movie, kind of like the one I was watching, or actually pretending to watch. I was still trying to comprehend as to what was going on, both in the movie and my life too.

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"Passengers are requested to go back to their seats and fasten their seatbelts as we will shortly be landing at Istanbul Atatürk Havalimanı (airport)." The pilot announced.

What? So soon? This didn't seem like 5 hours! We hardly even talked! Would this be it? Will we never meet again after this? I didn't even ask where she was staying, should I ask her? Or would she not like it? But what's there to lose? I mean what's the worse that can happen? We are towards the end of the journey. Its now or never! What if we never neet again? With this thought I finally gathered the courage to ask her:

"I see you liked my country," I said with my dismantled English, trying to get her attention, "or is it us Turks that you find attractive?" I blurted this with a wink.

Shit shit shit! What did I do? She probably thinks of me as a pervert by now! Curse you Mehmet Gülsoy!

But her reaction wasn't what I had expected. She just laughed at what I said.

"Hahaha! Well, the Turks are cute, I must admit." She said with a wink.

I turned as red as a tomato. And I'm pretty sure she noticed too. Wow. This is not what I had in mind.

"So what brings you here beautiful?" I ask bluntly.

"You." She replied flirtatiously. Its as if the tables had turned. I had this weird, warm, fuzzy, feeling inside.

"Oh I see, so my lady is using my own dialogues against me. Nice"

"Hahaha. Just kidding. The last time we met, I was studying to become a doctor. Now, I have my Masters in Doctorate. In simple words, I'm a Doctor now!" She said enthusiastically. "I was really influenced by Turkey when I visited, 7 years back," she continued, "that I had made up my mind to come back and settle in Turkey once I complete my studies, and here I am."

"Oh wow. MashaAllah! (as Allah wanted)"

She seemed just as passionate as I did when it came to work. And I was proud of her, I genuinely was. I was actually in favour of women working, especially if they were passionate about something. Be it cooking, or singing, or becoming an artist or teacher or doctor. Seeing the sparkle in her eyes just made me so happy, in unexplainable ways.

"Well then, allow me to be your personal guide. I can take you to places that you probably would have missed out on your vacation." I willingly offered my help without her asking.

"That would be amazing! Thank you!" She said, excited as ever. "But I wouldn't want to be a hindrance to you and your work."

"Oh my girl! Don't think that way, you're here as my guest for the first month of your stay." I said trying to convince her. I really wanted to spend as much time as I could with her, to get to know her better.

"Haha, you're very kind. But I don't want to be a burden."

"My girl. I can spare at least an hour for you. Tell you what, I'll give you my number, feel free to call me whenever you're free. Mehmet will be at your service, my lady."

"Wow, I'm already being treated like a VIP and we haven't even landed as yet. Haha." She laughed.

"Not a VIP, my girl. A princess." I winked. I got my mojo back on.