A Latte Love in Istanbul

A LATTE LOVE IN ISTANBUL

Episode 1 - The Rainy Cup ☕

Daphne is an eighteen-year-old girl living in the beautiful city of Istanbul, Turkey. She is the only child in her family and lives a simple, happy life with her parents. Her father works a regular job to support them, while her mother is a housewife who lovingly takes care of their home.

Time passed smoothly. While most of her friends were already in romantic relationships, Daphne had never experienced love. Deep down, she also wished to fall in love and experience that beautiful feeling.

One day, she went out with her friends to a local coffee shop. Working there as a waiter was a tall, incredibly handsome boy. The moment Daphne saw him, her heart skipped a beat. She felt an instant attraction towards him, and a sweet feeling of love blossomed in her heart.

Daphne couldn't take her eyes off him. She just kept staring.

He walked over to the table where Daphne and her friends were sitting. "What would you like to order, miss?" he asked.

But Daphne was frozen, still looking at him.

Her friends noticed. In the end, they had to place the order themselves.

After he walked away, her friends asked her, "Why were you staring at him like that?"

Daphne avoided the question. "So... where should we go after coffee?" she said, changing the subject.

Daphne spent the whole day with her friends. But that night, she couldn't sleep at all. Even in her dreams, she only saw that boy.

She decided she would go back to that café tomorrow and try to talk to him.

And just like she planned, the very next day, Daphne went to the café, hoping to speak with him.

But when she got there, he wasn't there. Instead, there was a different guy working as a waiter.

Daphne couldn't understand why the boy from yesterday wasn't there. Still, she didn't turn around and leave. She walked up to the waiter who was working there now.

"Excuse me," Daphne asked. "I came here with my friends yesterday, and there was a different waiter. Why isn't he here today? Is he on leave?"

The waiter replied, "Oh... you mean Aiden? He only works here part-time."

Daphne asked, surprised, "Why does he work part-time here?"

The waiter explained, "He's still a student. He's in college. He works here part-time to cover his classes, food, and other expenses."

Then Daphne asked, "Doesn't his family pay for his expenses?"

The waiter saidThe waiter said, "No, it's not like that. Aiden only has his mom. His dad died in a car accident when he was little. His mom worked so hard to raise him and put him through school. That's why Aiden works here part-time to pay for his own expenses. He also tries to take care of his mom as much as he can. His mom's dream is to see Aiden become a doctor. So Aiden is working really hard to make his mom's dream come true."

Two days later, Defne received a call from an unknown phone number. She answered it.

The call was from the other waiter who worked at the café where Defne had gone looking for Aiden that day.

That waiter asked her, "Are you the girl who called me the other day asking about which campus Aiden studies at?"

She replied, "Ah... yes, that's me. Did you find out which campus Aiden studies at?"

He said, "Yes, I found out." And he told Defne the name of the campus where Aiden studies.

After that, she thanked him for his help.

Now that Defne knew the campus name, she started wondering how she could go and meet him. Then she called her best friend and told her everything. She told her friend everything she felt about Aiden, that she loved him.

After hearing everything, her friend asked, "Okay, so what are we going to do now?"

Defne said, "I want to meet Aiden, but I don't know what I should say to him first."

Her friend said, "Let's both go. My brother is a lecturer at that campus. Let's go as if we're going to meet my brother. Then we'll talk to Aiden like we met him by accident."

Defne agreed, and the two of them set off to go to that campus.

Defne and her friend went to meet her friend's brother. After meeting him, Defne and her friend said, "Is there a student named Aiden at this campus? We need to meet him."

But her friend's brother asked, "How many people with the same name are there at this campus? Which Aiden are you two talking about?"

Defne said, "He's the one who works part-time at a coffee café."

"Ah... you mean Aiden Ayaz. If it's this time, he should be at the library," her friend's brother said.

Defne and her friend went to the library to see Aiden, but he wasn't there. The two of them looked for Aiden everywhere, but they couldn't find him. Both of them were tired from looking for Aiden, so they went to the campus canteen to get something to drink.

They got two drinks and were about to sit at a table when Defne's friend saw that Aiden was also sitting at a table in the canteen. She pointed Aiden out to Defne too. The two of them decided to go and talk to where Aiden was sitting.

So they went to where Aiden was sitting, and Defne talked to him.

Defne: "Hi, how are you? You probably don't remember me, right?"

Aiden looked at her in surprise and said, "Oh sorry, I don't remember you. But if you introduce yourself to me, I will remember."

Defne said, "One day I came to the café with my friends to have coffee. You were working at that café."

But Aiden still couldn't remember right away. Because so many people come and go to the café every day. Aiden said, "Oh sorry, I can't remember you right away."

Then he asked Defne, "So why did you come to talk to me now? Do you need something?"

After that, Defne told him, "I need a favor from you."

Aiden asked, "What is it? If it's a favor I can do, I'll do it."

Then Defne asked, "Can you help me find a job at the café where you work?"

Aiden said, "Okay, I'll talk to the owner of the café and let you know. Can you give me your phone number so I can inform you?"

Defne happily gave him her phone number.

About a week later, Defne received a phone call. She answered it. It was from Aiden.

Aiden took the call and said, "Hello Defne, this is Aiden. That day you gave me your phone number and asked me to find you a job at the café I work at, right?"

Defne said, "Ah, yes. So Aiden, did I get a job at the café?"

Aiden said, "Yes Defne, you got the job." Hearing that made Defne very happy.

"So Aiden, what do I have to do?" Defne asked.

"You have to work at the cashier. Because they were looking for someone for the cashier. After I told the café owner about you, he agreed to give you this job. You can come to work starting tomorrow," Aiden said.

Defne said, "Okay, I will definitely come. What time do I need to come to work?" she asked Aiden.

"Come to the café by 8 in the morning. That's when the café opens," he said.

Defne thanked him for his help.

After that, Defne made a phone call to the other waiter who worked at that same café. That person answered, "Yes Defne, tell me. Couldn't you find Aiden at the campus?"

Defne said, "Oh no, I found Aiden. I called to tell you something important."

The waiter asked, "What is it?"

Defne said, "I'm coming to work at that café starting tomorrow. Aiden got me the job there. When I come to work tomorrow, act like you don't know me before. Pretend you don't recognize me."

"Okay, I'll do that. But why are you saying that?" that person asked.

Defne said, "Oh please don't be mad at me. I haven't forgotten that you helped me. If Aiden finds out that you know me, he'll know that I came looking for him that other day. That's why I said let's pretend we don't know each other."

The waiter agreed.

The next day, Defne went to the café at the time Aiden told her. At the same time, she saw Aiden walking toward her from behind. When he came close, Defne said, "Hi, Good Morning Aiden."

He smiled and said, "Good Morning Defne."

At the same time, the owner of the café came and opened the café. The owner talked to Defne and said, "Aiden told me about you. I hired you for the cashier job because I trust you a lot."

Defne said, "Oh sir, please don't worry. I'm not someone who cheats. I will do my work properly."

"Okay then, you can start working from now," he said.

And Defne started working. Aiden was also working. Today was Aiden's work day too, that's why he came as well.

At lunch time, Aiden and Defne sat together and had lunch. Time passed like that. About 6 months went by. Now Defne and Aiden have become best friends and are very close.

[ To be continued in Episode 2... ]