Your Grace - Burak Çelik

CHAPTER 30

A/N: Excuse me if you recognize any scenes from the previous chapter, I replaced some from there to this one for the sake of the plot and layout 😅 but I hope you all enjoy it nevertheless + ik the cat in the picture isn't Jax but idk his/her name HSJDH

The family continued to converse with Ayedah over dinner, mainly chit-chatting and throwing in stories from during Burak's childhood as they playfully embarrassed him in front of her, though within decent boundaries of course. Burak would add on his own share of tales about his siblings to defend himself, and Ayedah found herself enjoying the fun banter between them as they talked and skittishly argued, making each other laugh or go red from embarrassment. It was something Ayedah never experienced in her own household back in London when she was younger, and part of her was somewhat jealous of what Burak had with his family- but her happiness and joy for him overpowered any negative feeling or envy, and she was glad for herself that she got to experience it with them that night.

She had not even started eating the main course yet even if she had already taken in Burak's mother's meze, due to the conversations they were having. But Ayedah finally got to do so after she laughed at the end of one of the stories Mustafa had told about when Emirhan was just a baby; Burak and Busra would take turns babysitting him- as the age difference between him and his two older siblings was quite large- and one of the days when it was Burak's turn, he had accidentally put baby powder into the bottle of formula he was supposed to make for him, instead of the milk powder. Poor Emirhan had not been able to drink it after tasting it once, and it was only when Burak's mother had gotten home that he learnt he had used the wrong powder for the solution.

"I hope he knows by now how to make a milk bottle from baby formula," said Busra with a sly grin at her brother. "I'm still not going to let you make any for Alparslan." "Good idea," said Emirhan, the victim of the small yet funny misfortune. "And Ayedah Abla, you shouldn't let him do it either when you both have-"

Burak clapped a hand over his younger brother's mouth, glaring daggers from his icy eyes into his brother's; Emirhan's were nearly identical to Burak's own eyes, yet they had a jolly and youthful look in them contrasting with his older brother's glower. Burak's parents and Busra laughed at the scene, and Ayedah chuckled softly before she finally was able to turn to her food, and she began to dig into the kofte that Burak had cooked for their meal. As she spooned the dish into her mouth, her eyes nearly fell out of her sockets from the smoky yet delicate taste that flooded her mouth.

"Oh wow," she gasped out, after she successfully swallowed a mouthful of meat. She blinked at Burak, before asking, "Y-you cooked this?" Burak smiled at her bashfully and nodded. "It's amazing," Ayedah complimented, her praise causing his eyes to sparkle at her. "How-when-where did you learn to cook like this?" "I learnt how to mess around with simple foods when I was serving in the military," answered Burak. "During my acting hiatus. I continued to do some volunteer work in one of my father's soup kitchens afterwards, and that's where I found that I quite liked to cook. Later on, when I started to live on my own again I asked my mother to teach me." "We were surprised, but in a good way," said Sema, smiling at her son fondly. "It did not just teach him how to work with food, but we bonded in many ways we never knew we could have done so. I wish we had done it earlier, but I am happy all the same." Ayedah smiled, her heart warming when he saw how close Burak and his mum were. She wondered that if she and her mother had cooked together, maybe things would have turned out differently between them. Yet she did not let the thought spoil her mood- she wanted to be happy amongst the gleeful people around her, who seemed to enjoy her company.

"Now let us continue to talk more about you," said Sema, turning to Ayedah as they ate. "Yes, you now know quite a bit about us," chirped Busra. "Tell us more about you." "Well, what would you like to know?" asked Ayedah, curious to what they were going to ask her. "Let us start off simple, shall we?" asked Sema, Ayedah nodding in agreement.