Love Me, Istanbul

#7: It's A Small World

That evening Demir came back to an unpleasant surprise. Lying at his doorway were two men bound in cuffs, the contents of their backpack scattered over the tiled floor. Demir picked up a tiny device from the floor - a listening bug. Standing by the door, Vedat rubbed his knuckles as he gave Demir a smug look.

"How was your date with Selin Hanim?" Vedat smirked. "Did you kiss her goodnight?"

"Ne işiniz var burada Vedat?" Demir said, pointing to the two men screaming through their gagged mouths. "Bu ne lan?"

"Sen var ya," Vedat said, shaking his head in amusement. "You'd better change your locks. Or else your girlfriend's uncle won't let you live your life in peace."

Demir said nothing. He hated himself even more for being attracted towards Selin Sever because she resembled a memory of his past. 

"Sağol, Vedat," Demir said. "Get them out of here."

After Vedat had sent the two men for questioning, he and Demir went for a walk by the Bosphorus. Vedat had received a call from Altinkaya earlier that evening - telling him to go to Demir's apartment. Altinkaya had alerted Vedat of Demir's meeting with Levent Sever - who was also on the top of their most-wanted list of criminals. Apparently, Altinkaya had been tracking down Levent Sever for a long time - but he could not arrest him because of insufficient evidence.

"Has Altinkaya ever told you the real reason of tracking Levent Sever?" Vedat asked. "Yani, apart from what we know."

Demir shrugged. "Bilmiyorum" he said, although his gut instincts told him otherwise. There are a handful of ultra-rich criminals in Istanbul, he thought. Why was Levent Sever on the top of the list? Unless...

"Olmaz," he said under his breath. "Saçmalama. There is no way Ekrem Amca will know about this."

Vedat frowned. "Efendim?"

Demir snapped out of his thoughts. "Bir şey yok," he said.

"Eeh, you haven't told me anything yet," Vedat said suggestively. "About your romantic dinner with THE Selin Sever and her uncle."

"Ne romantik ya, Allah Allah," Demir said, rolling his eyes. "It was a formality. He knew about the accident and wanted to thank me."

"Evet," Vedat said sarcastically. "We just saw how he was going to thank you."

Demir said nothing. His dinner with Levent Sever was a strange one after all. Levent seemed totally undisturbed by the fact that he is a police officer. In fact, Levent treated him like a friend - he told Demir personal stories about his family, how his brother Semih drowned in the Black Sea along with his sister-in-law many years ago. Levent even commented that Demir has a rare surname - unlike the typical family names like Yilmaz or Oktay. Demir wondered if Levent Sever has conducted a census throughout Turkey for every surname in the country. Sitting beside him, Selin was all smiles and laughing heartily at her uncle's jokes. He saw how she has been throwing endearing looks at his awkwardness, and her catching him staring at her soft lips more than he should. A million thoughts raced through his mind. You shouldn't have gotten friendly with her, he reprimanded himself. You should have stayed away. Now, look what you've gotten yourself into. 

Seeing the disturbed expression on his friend's face, Vedat sighed. "You're not thinking Selin did it, are you?"

"Bilmiyorum Vedat," Demir said quietly. "Nothing makes sense şu an."

Vedat smirked. "When it comes to Levent Sever, nothing ever makes sense."

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