Chapter 1
ASYA
Everything kept turning in life. Nothing stayed the same. Well, at least, not much. Three hours from now, even the sky won’t be the same. Be it the clouds, the shadows, the light… Something would have changed.
It all kept turning.
Like the colorful windmills on the balconies, like the postcard turnstiles that tourists turned to decide what to pick to send their family and friends back home. Or the wheels of the cars passing down the street and sometimes, at the next bend, the most incredible thing could happen to you. What you never thought you needed, what you didn’t think you wanted, here it was, yours for the taking.
Like I said, it all kept turning.
Turning like the clothes in this dryer I’d been staring at for the past ten minutes. I was sitting on the bench at the laundromat, staring at these colorful materials bouncing all over the place. Not that I was finding it fascinating but the smell of clean clothes perfumed the whole room and, apparently, had quite some calming effects on me.
I loved coming here, it wasn’t a chore for me, it was relaxing, taking me to a place where it was easy to just be.
The buzzing of my phone got me out of my trance. I saw my friend’s name and answered the video call.
“Hey girl, how you’re doing ?”
That was Meliha. My best friend. My sister. Well, not biologically, but we were raised together. She loved vintage stuff, hated shopping and had quite a bit of a temper.
“A bit tired but fine, you ?”
“Don’t ask”, Meliha started and I could see her putting on her sunglasses while walking. “I went to talk to the boss about the productivity ideas I had. Remember?”
“Yeah and how did it go ?” I asked while taking out the last round of dry clothes.
“Nowhere. He didn’t even want to hear me out.”
“Ouch. Do we have to bury somebody ?”
“Not yet. I got your essential oils with me.”
Pelin was calling now, I answered her video call too. Her smiling face glowed through my phone screen.
“Hey girls, what are you doing in this beautiful day ?”
That was Pelin. My other best friend, we met online. The complete opposite of Meliha. She was always so polite and sweet with everyone. She had a degree in art history and was always looking for more ways to protect the environment. Plus, she was a bookaholic. She may not always have a phone on her, but you could be sure she had a book.
“Laundry.” I said, showing them the t-shirt I was folding.
“On my way there”, Meliha said.
“Wait, Melo, how did work go?” Pelin asked.
“Very well”.
“Cool.”
Silence.
“Wait, that was ironic, right?”
“Yep.”
“But you said you were gonna talk with your boss about that productivity thing ? Wait, did you get fired ?”
“No, why would you think that ? He just didn’t want to hear my suggestions.”
Another silence.
“Tell me you didn’t kill anybody.”
I smiled at Pelin’s question. We both knew Meliha a little too well.
“Why ya’ll talking like I’m a murderer or something ?”
“Because we know you. You can be… dangerous”, Pelin confessed.
“What ? I am quite calm and rel…”
We heard a boom as if somebody was hitting on the hood of a car.
“Don’t get behind a wheel if you can’t drive ! This is the road and this is the pavement. Put that finger down right now, I’ll cut it !”
Yeah, Meliha was calm… when she was sleeping.
“Well, I was doing some groceries at this new green store that just opened at the corner of my street. Let me get these home and I’ll join you at the laundromat”, Pelin offered.
“No need, girls, I’m almost finished. Let’s meet at aunt’s, okay?”
“Got it.”
“Noted, bye sweetie.”
“Bye girls, be careful.”
Istanbul. The city I grew up in. Overpopulated, sometimes quite dangerous but it had amazing sides to it. I greeted uncle Emir at his simit (turkish brioche) stand, his smile was so large the corners of his lips almost touched the white beard on the sides of his face. A little ahead, uncle Tufan’s restaurant was full as the smell of beautifully cooked meat hit my nostrils.
I didn’t know all of Istanbul but I knew this part right here. In this neighborhood, people were satisfied with the life they had. We always helped each other out. If they saw you on the street and you had a sad face, they would take you to their place and feed you tea and cakes till you feel good again. I liked it here, I grew to love it and cherish it, a simple life.
Of course, sometimes (maybe too many times), I wondered what the future held for me, if I was destined to stay here forever. I used to have so many dreams, I still had them, it’s just… The world was good at blurring your dreams till you lost sight of them.
I was walking home with my two baskets full of clothes, my head in the clouds, when a yellow bicycle cut my path. I looked up and recognized the boy.
“Idriss, what’s going on?”
“Asya abla (big sister), you need help?”
“No thanks. What do you want?”
His shoulders slumped down a bit as he took a moment before answering.
“I need some money to buy a book for school.”
“What about your parents?”
“You know... my mother didn’t receive her salary yet and my father…”
I couldn’t help but feel for this boy. His father was disabled and spent most of his time on the couch at home and her mother worked hard to make both ends meet. I switched the baskets to my other arm and searched my pocket before taking out some bills.
“Here.”
“Thank you, Asya abla.”
He smiled brightly and took off with his bicycle.
“Don’t spend all the change in candies!”, I screamed as he was already down the road.
I sighed.
“Or your mom’s gonna have my head again.”
Once home, I let aunt Leyla know the girls were coming. She was setting the table for lunch when uncle Fatih came in. He was still wearing his garage uniform. He was quite a good mechanic and very friendly, which made the garage a very popular place in the neighborhood. He always had a kind word for everybody.
“Hola family! I have great news.”
Aunt Leyla gave me a knowing look. She knew her husband always had crazy ideas and fantastic news to tell us almost every day. His brain never seemed to stop working, he saw opportunities everywhere.
“What’s the big news?” Aunt Leyla asked. “Tell us.”
He was about to sit down but she stopped him.
“No, no, first you’re going to wash your hands at least fifteen times. The girls are coming for lunch, you’re gonna kill everyone’s appetite with that oil smell.”
“But it’s…”
“You’re not sitting at my table with these dirty hands, old man.”
He sighed then winked at me before talking.
“As you wish. Old woman.”
Aunt Leyla threw her kitchen towel at him as he raced to the bathroom.
“Say that again!”
I held back a laugh at the scene while finishing preparing the table. These two were like cat and dog. Aunt Leyla was a softie but she sure knew how to make herself heard. Uncle Fatih came back drying his hands with a towel as I was pouring him some tea. He was staring at me, smiling.
“Asya.”
“Uncle.”
“Asya”, he repeated with more mischief.
“Uncle”, I repeated, confusion all over my face.
Aunt Leyla came in with some nice dish and saved me from this awkward moment.
“Here it is.”
“Is any of you interested in what I have to say?”
“Honey, there’s my perde pilav (rice dish) on the table, how can your news top that?”
“It’s a great news!”
“You’ve had about twenty great news this week, give us a break.”
“Oh, so you keep tabs on me now?”
“Smell this.”
She took the dish and made it dance under my uncle’s nose.
“It does smell really good.”
“Ha, you see?”
He went for it and she slapped his hand away.
“Your daughter and Pelin are coming. I already put some aside for you and the guys.”
“My lovely wife so thoughtful”, uncle Fatih answered lovingly.
She smiled and finally asked him about his news.
“Oh yeah, the news!” He said, putting down his tea. “I found a match for our Asya.”
I put down my tea before it even made it to her mouth.
Well, I didn’t know there was another Asya in the family because they sure weren’t talking about me.
Aunt Leyla was suddenly glowing with curiosity and I was too confused to do anything but stare at the table.
“What? What do you mean? How?” Aunt Leyla asked, excitement oozing off of her.
“A man came to the garage, something was up with his car. It was time for prayer and Adil and I were going to the mosque. We told the man we would pray then come back to take care of his car.
He didn’t seem in a hurry. He said he was heading to a business meeting with people he sure didn’t want to do business with so it was a good thing his car was having issues. I offered him to come with us since he wasn’t from the neighborhood and his car wasn’t going anywhere. He said he hadn’t prayed for a while and we went together. We came back, talked about our lives while I was working on his car then he told me about his son. I told him about our Asya, and that’s how it happened.”
“That’s amazing, Fatih!”, aunt Leyla exclaimed with a resounding hand clap.
“That’s what I keep saying!”
I held back a sigh. I should’ve known it was coming. It’s been two summers that aunt Leyla was on the prowl to get me a husband. Summer was coming and the son-in-law-hunting season was starting earlier than usual.
Plus, she’d always been the one wanting to set me up, not uncle. Usually, he just rolled with the flow. But this time, they both looked so invested.
The door opened and the girls walked in.
Great, I need all the support I can get.
“Mmm, it smells delicious, Aunt Leyla”, Pelin said.
“There’s plenty for everyone. Come here, girls. Honey, I’ll bring you your bag.”
“Hi girls, how was your day?”, uncle Fatih asked.
“The usual, uncle.”
“Same old same old, dad”, Meliha said kissing her father’s cheek.
“Have a good meal”, he said before taking the bag aunt gave him and walking to the door. He turned to me before leaving. “We’ll discuss that later, don’t forget.”
I smiled at him as the girls were sitting down.
“What’s to be discussed later?” Meliha asked, going for a peanut.
“Uncle found me a match.”
Pelin choked on her water and Meliha’s scowl could’ve been etched into granite.
“What do you mean? How?” Meliha asked.
“He met someone at the garage, they went to pray together and apparently, he has a son so…”
Meliha’s rising tension could be felt from at least one mile around.
“So what? Is his son a sociopath? A bone collector? A perv? Do we know anything about him?” Meliha had always been overprotective of me and especially during match-hunting season.
Aunt Leyla started filling Meliha’s glass with water.
“What are you talking about at the table? Rinse that mouth right now, young girl.”
“What? Did I say anything wrong? I’m not giving my sister away to some weirdo.”
“Why do you always think the worst? Maybe he’s a nice guy”, Pelin intervened, eating some peanuts.
Meliha and I glared at our friend.
“Look, mom,”, Meliha said with a wide smile, “we got a volunteer here, he can take her if he wants”, she said pointing to Pelin.
“Oh, so you’d give me away just like that?” Pelin asked a bit offended.
“Faster if I could”.
Meliha took a sip of water and Pelin looked down, disappointed.
“Nice to see you value me that much”.
“You’re welcome”, Meliha answered with a smile.
The rest of the day went well. At dinner, uncle Fatih still carefully opened the subject, but I could see that even if he tried to tamp down his enthusiasm, he was really into it. I felt uncomfortable but still put on a smile.
In my room, I turned to look at my laptop and refreshed my email page. No. No new job offer and no response from the ones I replied to.
I worked from home as a freelance translator. My income wasn’t the most stable. Weeks would go by without my making a penny. I was desperately looking for a distraction right now and work would’ve been a great one. What time was it?
11:13 pm.
I sighed and resumed staring at the ceiling where the galaxy light was projecting all these beautiful little stars. I was letting my mind relax and travel away when I heard a knock on the door and sat up.
“Come in.”
The door opened and Meliha came in with her pillow. She ran and jumped on the bed next to me. I lied back down and Meliha followed, staring at the stars with me.
“How you’re holding up?” she asked.
“Good”.
“True answer. Now.”
Yeah, she could read me like a book.
“Is it a crime to be single?”
“Of course not. Where did you get that from?”
“People expect you to live your life so fast. I just need to figure myself out, you know? But sometimes it also feels like the perfect moment is never going to come so what am I actually waiting for?”
“Listen, if you don’t want the guy, don’t agree. Daddy’s gonna recover, don’t worry. I support you, you know that. If you need to wait more or even never get married at all, I got your back. But whatever happens, be sure you’re doing it for the right reasons. Whether it’s a yes or a no.
I turn to smile at my best friend.
“You always know how to make me feel better.”
“What are sisters for?”
We talked a bit before falling asleep under the stars.
***
The next day went smoothly. Uncle did ask me to think about what he had said, but there was no pressure. Aunt, on the other hand, was strangely quiet on the matter. Maybe she was already making plans with all the suitors’ families she would invite over all summer long to find me a match.
A shiver ran down my spine at the thought. Summer hadn’t even begun.
I decided to take the matter into my own hands and accept a meeting with the man and his family. Of course, I would reject him like I did all the previous times and life would go on as always.
I met with the girls later that day.
“I accepted to meet with them.”
“You’re sure?” Pelin asked.
“Yeah, well, we’ll meet, talk and share a bit about each other, then figure out we’re not a match and go back to our life. Separately. Story’s over.”
Meliha remained silent, sipping on her lemonade, examining me with an all too-seeing eye. Pelin adjusted her glasses on her nose before talking.
“Well, it’s just an idea, but have you ever thought that you might actually like him?”
I blinked a few times. I couldn’t hold it in, I just laughed.
“Yeah, that’s a funny one.”
“She’s not wrong”, Meliha added.
I stared at the girls in disbelief.
“What is going on with you guys? I thought you had my back.”
“We do, don’t be silly”, Meliha said.
“Of course we do. We just never heard you agreeing to this kind of thing on your own before.”
They weren’t wrong.
“It’s just that it was always coming from aunt before, I’m used to how she acts so I never took it seriously. I’ll do the same with uncle. I’ll humor him, he’ll see we’re definitely not a match and maybe, this way, they won’t meddle with my love life anymore.”
“Yeah, well, I heard aunt Leyla was already talking with aunt Aybüke, her son’s coming from Ireland in two weeks.”
Meliha rolled her eyes.
“What? So soon?” I asked with a grimace.
Pelin looked sorry, sipping her apple juice. I just let my head fall back.
I hated summer season.
