Mermaids in Turkey

Chapter Twelve

Days passed and Ayça didn't hear anything from Alp. She was not surprised because she had said some pretty hurtful things and she still had not been able to scrub the look of his face from her memory. She threw herself into the tasks around the hotel to keep her mind occupied, but when there was nothing to do she sulked around reading Pablo Neruda. If Nehir and Selma had any inkling about what happened between Ayça and Alp neither of them said a word. 

Until one morning she received a mysterious text from Uger. 

EMERGENCY! PLEASE COME TO THE SET!!!

Ayça felt her heart drop as she texted Uger back if Alp was okay. But he didn't respond. She grabbed her bag and ran out of the hotel. She jumped into her aunt's old truck and rushed to the set. 

The commotion on the set was ten times that of it was the first time she had visited. She desperately asked around where Alp was and if he was okay. But the people just shrugged their shoulders and couldn't give her concrete answers only making her anxiety sky rocket. 

"Sancak, what are you doing here?" 

Ayça turned relief washing over her to see him standing in one piece and not injured. He was dressed in a black suit with a crisp white shirt, his arms bulging at the seams. His usually unruly locks were slicked back into a half pony tail. She couldn't formulate the words, the mere presence of him made her inexplicably nervous. Luckily for her another voice stepped in. 

"I texted her" 

It was all it took for her to snap out of her stupor "You said it was an emergency" she turned to glare at Uger. But he ignored her. As Alp let out a groan and pinched the area between his eyes. 

"Ali! She is here!" 

A man with a thick black mustache dashed in an assistant clamoring behind him "This is her?" he asked as he circled around Ayça as if he were inspecting a piece of meat at the butcher shop "She will do very nicely...you are perfection" he finished with an over exaggerated air kiss.

"Alp what is going on?" 

Uger stepped forward not allowing Alp to get a word in "Alp and Gamze are supposed to be filming a commercial today. But the clumsy fool broke her leg coming out of her trailer this morning..." 

The flamboyant director stepped in "We need you my beauty to step in and play the lead" as he smoothed her hair gently flicking it behind her shoulder. 

Ayça scoffed as she swatted him away "No, absolutely not! I don't know the first thing about acting" 

The pushy director waved his hands as if he were waving to an invisible audience "Don't worry it is not difficult, you will mostly just stand and exalt your beauty"

Finally Alp stepped forward, the desperation dripping from his words "Please we need you" 

Ayça sighed as she rolled her eyes crossing her arms across her chest "What do I need to do?" 

They failed to mention the little detail that hair and makeup alone would take nearly three hours. The wardrobe department had her try on dress after dress only to settle on a black silk one with a dangerous slit. A garter was slipped over her thigh and a prop gun was strapped into it. 

"What is this commercial about?" she asked as her hair was being styled into loose waves that cascaded down her back. 

The stylist told her that the premise of the commercial was of two spies, played by her and Alp, who were breaking into a museum. The perfume they were stealing was part of a legend that told that it was the worlds most powerful aphrodisiac.