When I stormed into the house, even though my mom wanted to ask what was wrong, she stayed quiet and waited for me to calm down. We managed to get the house tidied up by evening. Tired as we were, it was a sweet kind of exhaustion for us both.
"Come on, honey — look, dinner's ready."
I pushed myself up from where I'd been lying down and was about to head to the kitchen when the doorbell rang. I walked over to open it, and there stood a girl with blonde hair, coffee-colored eyes, and a smiling face looking back at me. I guessed she was our neighbor.
"Hi, I'm Aslı. I wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood."
I smiled, nodded, and held out my hand.
"Hi, I'm Deniz."
"Nice to meet you."
"Come in, please."
She looked at me hesitantly before stepping inside, and when she met my mom too, we all sat down at the dinner table. It seemed like I'd already made a friend.
That was a wonderful thing. I didn't know this neighborhood yet, but thanks to Aslı, I would.
We chatted as we ate, and after dinner, Aslı and I sat at the table in the garden, starting to talk over tea.
"So, do you like the neighborhood?"
I took a breath and let my eyes wander across the area. When I remembered what had happened in front of the trash bin, my eyebrows furrowed in anger.
Those filthy blue eyes.
"I like it. But everything would've been better if I hadn't run into that jerk."
She looked at me with confused eyes and giggled. She was right — get a grip, Deniz, talk properly.
"Who's that jerk?"
"Oh, just some lunatic! I jumped into his arms when I was running from a dog, then apologized, but he just wouldn't stop grabbing my arm and asking if I was even allowed to live here. When I talked back, he got all high and mighty asking 'who do you think you're sassing, and in whose neighborhood?'"
Aslı's eyes went wide as saucers. She gasped excitedly and covered her mouth with her hand. Oh my god — what a shriek that was.
"What! Tell me right now."
She was so worked up that I forgot my anger and giggled. This girl seemed a little scatterbrained in the best way.
"As soon as I realized I was in his arms, I jumped down, of course. I was embarrassed, obviously, but then things went south. 'Who do you think you're sassing in my neighborhood' — like I was supposed to watch my tone for him. Lunatic jerk!"
"The guy."
I looked at Aslı with confused eyes. The guy who? She was staring at me with sparkling eyes, the complete opposite of my own.
"I don't get it?"
"What was he like?"
"Blue-eyed, sharp gaze, sandy brown hair, a light scruffy beard."
She shrieked and jumped in place — I stared at her, my eyes filled with fear. My first friend had lost her mind.
Aslı'ya baktım. İlk arkadaşım deli çıkmıştı.."Vallahi delikanlı!"
"Kim bu delikanlı?"
"Karşılaştığın kişi bu mahallenin kralı."
Duyduğum gerçekle kalbim tekledi. Adam doğru söylemişti. Kral da ne demekti?
"Na-nasıl bana baştan anlatır mısın?"
"Demir Kozcu. Namı diğer delikanlı. Bu mahalle onun. Her ev, her dükkan, en önemlisi herkesin gönlünde insanlığıyla taht kurmuş bir adam.
Sert bir mizacı vardır, çatık kaşları asla gevşemez, burada ki herkes onun adamıdır. Dikkat edersen görürsün, adamlarının yüzük parmakların da bir yılan dövmesi vardır. Ama bu yılan dövmesinin anlamını sadece adamlari ve kendisi bilir."
Zorlukla nefes alarak yutkundum. Demir, namı diğer delikanlı. Nedense içimden bir ses bu adamın karanlık olduğunu söylüyordu ve yanılmayacağıma adım kadar emindim.
"Peki delikanlı lakabı nereden geliyor?"
"Deli çünkü. Tam bir deli. Öfkesiyle harmanlanmış bir deli. Delikanlı öfkesiyle ve deliliğiyle herkesi yakıp kül eder."
İçimde sıcak bir şeyin kaynadığını hissettim. Neydi bu his. Bir anlığına gözlerimi kapatarak onu düşündüm. Çatık kaşları, sert çehresi, denizin I thought. Furrowed eyebrows, a sharp jaw, eyes the color of the sea's blue... Aslı watched me curiously while I looked away and rubbed the back of my neck.
"She's crazy, that one."
"You're the first person in this neighborhood to talk back to him — and pray he didn't do anything to you."
What did that mean? Could no one talk back to him? That man couldn't have done anything to me.
"I should go now. See you tomorrow."
I forced myself to pull together, stood up, and walked out of the garden with Aslı before hugging her.
"I'm so glad I met you, Aslı. See you again tomorrow."
"Me too, my dear."
"Aslı..."
At the sound of a deep voice, Aslı and I turned around. My eyes immediately locked with those blue ones, and I held my breath as I stared at him. When I finally tore my gaze away, I noticed the man Aslı was now hugging — he must have been her boyfriend. My eyes drifted back to the blue ones. He had his hands in his pockets, his sharp stare boring right through me.
And this time, I was wrong.
We would be seeing a lot of each other.
Demir was right. This wasn't over here.
It was just beginning.