A Turkish Delight☆

Chapter 2: Beautiful Eyes.

Song: Little Things-One Direction

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Nadine:

The perks of traveling by first class are many. You get those big-ass convertible seats, with a comfy pillow and a warm blanket. You get to watch all your favourite movies and TV shows. And best of all? You can order whatever you like, whenever you like, and it would be served in a matter of minutes.
All these thoughts were running through my mind while going through the jet bridge. I was so excited. And why shouldn't I be? I was traveling to the place I loved the most! And that too through first class! This was the first time I had ever traveled through first class.

To top it all off, I had the window seat. Oh how I loved sitting on the window seat. When we would travel together as a family, my sister and I would fight over the window seat every single time.

As I neared the door, the aroma of Turkish coffee filled the air. This suddenly excited my olfactory receptors and stimulated my memory centres.

They say our nose is the most advanced organ, we can sense up to 1 million different smells and just one stimulus is required for us to get reminded of something.

This specific smell though, took me back 7 years, when I first visited Turkey on a family vacation. It was then that I fell in love all over again with the place and I was determined more than ever to come back here and settle. I clearly remember, each and every detail of that vacation. It was a much needed and deserved escape, rather than a vacay, from my studies and from reality.

Little did I know that 7 years down the road my fate would bring me here again.

17th October 2015

After a long day of sightseeing, visiting the Topkapi fort, the beautiful Sultanahmet Mosque, or as others would know it-the Blue Mosque, and the Hagia Sofya our tour guide had now taken us to the one of the biggest Bazaars in Europe with over 4000 shops, the very renowned Grand Bazaar. It was around 6 p.m. and we had been out of our hotel since 9 a.m. I, for one, was so tired, that I just wanted to go home. Also, I hated shopping with a passion. My mother, not so.

My father and I were casually sitting on one of the chairs outside the big confusing maze when I suddenly stood up and said, "Baba! I'm going to fetch Amma. I'm tired and sleepy and I want to go back and sleep!"

"Beta, calm down. Let her do what she likes. And do not go in that maze its very confusing. I lost my way too."

"I won't. Now will you please let me go and get mom?"

Amongst me and my father, there was no chance he could win. And so I rushed inside, in hope of finding my mom and getting her back to the bus.

I was wandering around, fascinated by the beautiful hand made Turkish lamps and shawls and carpets on display. The smell of Turkish Kahve (coffee) filled in the air-the same smell that I sensed while boarding the plane. When I was suddenly interuppted by a voice.

"Good evening madam, would you like to check our shawls?"

When I looked towards the source of the voice it was a handsome looking guy well dressed, with bluish-grey eyes, and dark blond hair. He would be in his early twenties. He was fair but not the vampire kind of fair. He was tall but not too tall, probably around 5'10". He spoke in a sweet gentle way, though his voice was rough and manly. He wasn't the owner of the shop, rather an apprentice.

"How do you do? Are you lost or looking for someone?" He asked.

I was awestruck I had no idea what to say, so I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"I'm looking for my mom, I don't need your help." I immediately realized how rude it sounded and immediately apologized. I always had a problem with controlling my tone, one of the reasons why others had a problem with me-more on that later.

"Where are you from?" He asked politely.

"From Pakistan" I replied abruptly.

"Oh Pakistan! They have really beautiful people inside out. They are just like our brothers." He replied with dismantled, jumbled up phrases, trying to be as polite as ever.

I nodded, being in a confused state of mind.

"Well it was nice meeting you." He said as he held out his hand gesturing to shake mine, "won't you shake hands with a Turk?"

I blurt out a laugh rather with confusion. "Sure, why not."

"By the way you have beautiful eyes, my lady." He says.

At this point I had turned all pink, that was my weakness, I would blush as soon as something cute or embarassing happened to me. I say an awkward thank you hoping for him to leave my hand which he hadn't as yet.

I heard my mother saying my name from behind and I immediately let go off his hand and ran towards my mom. My sympathetic response had kicked in and all the sore muscles and cramps that I had earlier had somehow disappeared.

"What are you doing here Nadine?"

"I came to find you mom. Lets go please!"

"Oh but won't you have a look at what I got at such a good price?"

"No mom, we can see that once we reach the hotel."

14th October 2022

To this day I regret not asking him for his name. I must have searched him everywhere, on every social media platform. On Facebook, on Google on the official webiste of Grand Bazaar. But no website could narrow down 'good-looking Turk, in his 20s, working in Grand Bazaar' to him.