Same, same but different!

Part 17

Kıvılcım: At first she was giggling and then she blackmailed us.

Kıvılcım muttered.

Fatma blinked.

Fatma: She what?

Kıvılcım: She said if I didn’t read her Charlie and the Chocolate Factory before bed, she’d tell Ömer’s mother.

Fatma laughed so hard she nearly fell off the counter.

Fatma: Oh my, that child is brilliant.
She’s already learned leverage!

Kıvılcım: Don't laugh, it's not funny.

Kıvılcım insisted, though the corner of her mouth twitched.

Fatma: Are you realizing that Ömer can't keep his hands off you?

Kıvılcım didn’t answer but the blush on her cheeks told Fatma everything she needed to know.

Ömer's House:

The house was quiet the kind of calm that only came after Mavi’s laughter had faded into yawns. Her room glowed softly under the dim nightlight shaped like a little moon. Kıvılcım sat at the edge of the bed, her voice low and melodic as she read the final pages of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Mavi’s eyes fluttered, her lashes heavy with sleep, but she tried to stay awake, her small hand clutching the edge of Kıvılcım’s sleeve.

Kıvılcım: (smiling, whispering) It’s okay, canım… you can sleep. We’ll find out what happens to Charlie at another time.

Mavi: (murmuring) You promise?

Kıvılcım: (soft laugh) I promise.

Her voice melted into silence as Mavi’s breathing slowed, the rhythmic calm of deep sleep taking over. For a moment, Kıvılcım simply sat there, watching her. She reached out, brushing a lock of hair away from the little girl’s face, tracing the soft curve of her cheek with the back of her fingers. There was something sacred about it the innocence, the trust.

She didn’t notice Ömer standing in the doorway.

He leaned against the frame, sleeves rolled up, his tie gone, eyes fixed on the sight before him. There was something in his gaze tenderness, awe, something raw and wordless. Kıvılcım’s presence there, in his daughter’s room, felt right in a way he hadn’t dared to imagine before.

After a moment, Kıvılcım sensed it that quiet awareness of being watched. She turned, her eyes catching his.

Kıvılcım: (whispering, a faint smile playing on her lips) How long have you been standing there, Ömer?

Ömer: (his voice low, almost husky) Long enough to forget why I came here.

She smiled, shaking her head slightly, but her eyes softened when he came closer. He stopped beside her, and for a while, they both looked down at Mavi, her little hand still curled around the edge of the blanket, her breathing even and peaceful.

Ömer: (quietly) You’re good with her. She adores you.

Kıvılcım: (looking at Mavi) She’s just as easy to adore.

A silence settled between them gentle, weighted, full of things neither dared to say aloud. Then, almost without thinking, Ömer spoke.

Ömer: (softly) Did you ever… want a daughter?

Kıvılcım’s fingers paused where they were tracing Mavi’s hair. She looked down, her expression tender but touched by something sad.

Kıvılcım: (after a moment) I did. I always thought I would. That dream just… slipped away.