We were still stubbornly refusing to pull our eyes away from each other when a throat-clearing from beside us snapped me out of it. Demir — with those coffee-colored eyes — was looking at me with a small smile on his face.
"Welcome to our neighborhood."
I smiled and nodded in greeting, and he held out his hand for a handshake.
"I'm Özgür."
"Deniz."
"These two could be Deniz's boyfriend, my love — Deniz is my close friend now too."
You could see how much Aslı loved Özgür in her eyes. Özgür seemed nice too — the two of them looked at each other like they were gazing at a rare treasure.
"Is that so? I'm so glad to hear it."
Another hand was held out in front of me. I slowly lifted my eyes from the hand to its owner — those blue eyes were watching me carefully.
"We haven't met."
While Özgür and Aslı watched us closely, I raised one eyebrow and kept my eyes on Demir. Of course I wasn't going to shake his hand. Rude I wasn't going to forget his rude behavior.
"I don't need to meet you."
I watched as Demir's eyebrows shot up immediately, while Özgür raised his in surprise.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
His sharp voice made me flinch, but I still held my ground and set my jaw.
"It means I don't want to know you."
His eyebrows furrowed in confusion again. He tilted his head to the side, narrowed his eyes, and stared at my face.
"Why?"
"Why? Maybe because of your unnecessary rudeness to me? Or maybe because you tried to interrogate me just because of what happened? What do you care?" I said. He turned his head away, took a deep breath, and ran his tongue slowly over his lips. I couldn't tear my eyes away — for a moment, my gaze rested on his wet lips, and my breathing sped up on its own.
I forced myself to look elsewhere. He was a striking man, and I was watching his every move like a lunatic. That was wrong.
"Did you at least find out? Am I from the neighborhood or not?" I said, leaning toward his face. "Hey, you."
His face changed instantly — I could tell he was gritting his teeth from the hollows in his cheeks. He was so on edge. Was it because I was the first person to stand up to him? I smiled sarcastically. I still couldn't figure out why everyone in this neighborhood obeyed him. Though I hadn't seen much yet — we'd only moved in a few hours ago, and look at what had already happened to me...
"Looks like you've got a lot of nerve. No one talks to me like that."
"Who do you think you are?"
"The king of this neighborhood."
My face stayed impassive as I shrugged and crossed my arms over my chest. His eyes briefly drifted down to my prominent collarbones.
"That doesn't change anything. Even if you were the president, my attitude would be the same. You can't tell me how to act around you."
"Is that so?"
As I slowly shook my head, I saw the vein on his forehead throbbing like it was about to burst.
He was angry. Angry that I was standing up to him.
"Are you sassing my brother?"
Özgür stared at me with disbelieving eyes as I shook my head and met Demir's death glare.
"I don't take orders from anyone. Get that through your thick skull — learn how to talk to a woman, then we'll speak, you rude jerk."
I was about to turn and leave, but changed my mind and let my eyes meet Demir's sea-blue ones one last time.
"Oh, and by the way — I'm Deniz Güneş. I'm not at all glad to have met you, Demir Kozcu."
We were stunned by the guests — they were women who'd come to welcome us to the neighborhood. It seemed like they'd be friends with my mom too, which made me happy. We'd been cooped up in that old house for years; who knew how much this would mean to her.
When I served tea to the women, I tensed up involuntarily as they looked me over approvingly. A beautiful blue-eyed woman, sitting with grace among the group in black, smiled at me.
She was incredibly beautiful.
"Hello, Deniz — I'm Ahu. We're like one big family in this neighborhood, so please don't be shy around us. Asude, my dear, never hesitate to knock on my door if you need anything at all."
She had a heart as beautiful as she was. My mom nodded with a smile on her face — she seemed a little excited. It would be the first time she had friends.
"Thank you, Ahu. Please don't hesitate to knock on our door either."
"Why would my mom hesitate? The neighborhood's their oyster now."
A woman whose eyes had been twinkling since she arrived let out a loud laugh — while no one else joined in, she just kept drinking her tea without a care. Wait a second. Ahu was Demir's mom...
"And I'm Aslı's mom. My name's Zeynep,from what I've heard, you and my daughter get along really well, which makes me so happy."
"Yes, Aslı's a wonderful girl."
We chatted pleasantly for a while — Aunty Ahu and Aunty Zeynep had really hit it off with my mom, settling into a proper women's gathering. But it was clear no one liked Aunty Nuran, who'd obviously come here to gossip.
"Dear Asude, I heard you're a widow."
My eyebrows shot up immediately. I heard Aunty Ahu clear her throat as if to warn her. Before my mom could speak, I looked at Aunty Nuran with a sharp tone. What a disgusting way to put it.
"Mom's not a widow — she's single. Watch your words, Aunty Nuran."
She took an annoyed sip of her tea and wrinkled her nose.
"Oh, come now, what's the difference? Widow, single — same thing. We'll find someone for you here either way; you're a single woman at the end of the day."
I couldn't take it anymore and stood up. My mom looked at me in fear as I fixed Aunty Nuran with a death glare.
"Deniz, my dear, please calm down."
Aunty Zeynep spoke nervously, but I didn't take my eyes off Aunty Nuran as I pointed toward the door with my hand I showed.
"There's no room for gossiping women in our house, Aunty Nuran. Leave now, before I throw you out."
She stared at me with wide, shocked eyes. As she stood up and headed for the door, her words made me snap even more.
"Oh, how rude! A girl your age throwing an older woman out of the house. Did your parents not teach you any manners? Though I suppose what can you expect from a kid from a broken home."
That was it — no one could stop me now. I grabbed her by the arm and practically shoved her outside, shaking my finger at her as a warning.
"Who do you think you're calling rude! If you ever talk about my mom like that again, don't expect me to call you 'aunty' anymore, Nuran! Our family business is none of your concern. Now go home!"
She ran off in shock, and as she left us, I took deep breaths over and over to try and calm down. My mom looked at me with sad eyes and stroked my hair.
"It's okay, my angel — calm down."
I shook my head and kept breathing deeply as Aunty Zeynep smiled and hugged me.
"Don't worry about her, dear — we know what kind of people you are. I should head off now too. Asude, maybe you'd like to come visit us sometime, and Deniz — see you soon."