Looking For His North Star

Chapter five

"Yes!" The boy's eyes were soft.

"A bad guy took you from us, just before that. But I found you, didn't I?"

Yusuf nodded against his chest.

"Then again, someone kidnapped your aunt. But I found her too..."

"Yes, uncle Ziya told me that you saved auntie, just like a superhero giant!" Yusuf said looking animated.

A ghost of a smile passed over Yaman's lips.

"Do you know what it means? It means, no matter what happens I'll always find you and your auntie, when you're apart from me. We'll always find our way back to each other, because we're a family..."

Yusuf gazed up at him, his eyes adoring.

"You will find auntie, won't you uncle?"

"I will".

"Promise?"

"Kirimli promise", Yaman said, eliciting a laugh out of him. "So how about going to school today? Does that sound good?"

Yusuf nodded. Yaman stood up.

"Well done. Then prepare yourself and come downstairs, quickly. We'll have breakfast outside and I'll drop you off at school".

************************************

Once he dropped Yusuf off, Yaman called Nedim for his daily updates about the search.

"We're on high alert, Yaman", Nedim informed him. "We've looked everywhere. I even keep an eye out for the news of your rivals- for threats, requests for ransom, anything. Firat called me today. He's on look out for any missing person news. I've even doubled the prize on information about Seher..."

"Are you sure, you've looked everywhere?" Yaman asked. Even to his own ears, his voice sounded desperate.

Nedim was silent for a moment.

"Yaman", he started. "It's been two months. We've searched everywhere else, but there's one place I've steered clear of. I didn't want to ask..."

"What is it?"

"The morgues", Nedim replied. "We haven't checked the local morgues yet".

Yaman almost dropped his phone.

"What are you saying, Nedim? How can you say something like that? How..."

"Yaman, listen to me", Nedim said. "I've browsed through countless missing person files. Zuhal checked every clinic and hospital..."

"Zuhal?" Yaman growled. "Who asked her to..."

"I know you don't believe her but she's been very helpful", Nedim interrupted. "She found me a list of new patients and clients in every hospital and clinic in the near vicinity. Even though it's illegal and we had to pay a lot of cash as hush money..."

Yaman couldn't believe this. He'd only kept Zuhal in the mansion as long as he did, just for his brother's sake. After Çanan's betrayal and Seher's disappearance, Ziya's condition had deteriorated from bad to worse. The doctors had to change his medication and the new meds included tranquilizers which would put him to long hours of coma- like sleep. Yaman knew that Ziya blamed himself for everything that happened. In his rare waking moments, the only solace he seemed to have were looking after his flowers and having tea with Zuhal's little nurse- (whose name now he remembered as Çiçek) on the porch. Yaman didn't want to further disturb his peace by asking Zuhal and Çiçek to leave.

"I never told you to drag Zuhal into this matter", Yaman said firmly. "You might trust her but after the file fiasco she pulled, I stopped trusting her. Check through the hospitals and clinics again..."

"But...", Nedim started but Yaman cut him off.

"Do it, Nedim! If you don't want to hurt Zuhal's feelings don't tell her about the search, I don't care. Just get it done. Put all of our men to work!"

Yaman disconnected the call before Nedim could say anything else.

The morgues... No. Seher wasn't dead. He wouldn't allow it. And she'd promised- she'd promised that they'd be together until wrinkles filled their faces and their hair turned white. She had to keep that promise.

As always when he was faced with crushing pain, his instincts led him to the person who'd given answers to most of his problems.

Arif baba.

Yaman knelt next to his grave, running his hands through the fresh soil. Arif baba was the first person who'd seen his potential, apart from his brothers. He always knew what to say to Yaman, when life put countless hurdles in his path. He'd been more than just a mentor to him- he was the father he'd never had.

He'd lived through too many losses. First his father, then his brother and sister-in-law... He'd been able to bear Arif baba's death solely because he had a family who supported him. He had Seher by his side.

Yaman reflected that if it wasn't for Arif baba, he wouldn't have found Seher. He wouldn't have found love or the happy family he'd been craving for his whole life.

Now his family was falling apart- his brother was fading away and his North Star was nowhere to be found.

Yaman didn't know how much time he'd passed at Arif baba's grave. He'd replayed Seher's recording over and over on his phone.

"I have only loved you in this life... That didn't change even for a moment... And it won't change..."

He held onto life with those words. When he stood up to leave, he felt a lot calmer.

He checked his phone. Çenger had sent him a message saying that Yusuf had been picked up from school. Good. Yaman was thinking about buying Yusuf some cotton candy for old time's sake, when suddenly his phone rang.

"Yaman", Nedim's voice sounded somewhat different. "Yaman, I have brilliant news for you! You have to come quickly..."

His heart skipped a beat.

"We found Seher!"

❤️

Surprise in the next chapter!

(I absolutely adore Yusuf- Yaman interactions. So cute!)

Also, this story is trying to escape from me as soon as possible. So expect some haphazard, bullet like updates 😂

If you enjoyed the chapter, give a vote and drop a comment 😘

-nocturnal4ever