KEREM
"Buabuaaaabuuuuubrrrrrbrrrr."
In his attempts to speak and play with his mouth, he spits up and I watch him from the side as Thammy celebrates those weird things Ali does. Doesn't she realize you're not a normal kid if you do that? With what need do you have to guarantee that my son is someone so strange? I don't think you can send a child to a psychiatrist so soon, do you? I know of children who at his age can even walk, but my son I fear that he will not follow the normal course of the rest of the kids that have been born at the time.
Will Zara's death affect his development?
Thammy catches my disapproving look and promptly wipes Ali's drool, however, I'm woken up by Elijah from my side who appears before they come to take our breakfast order. Thammy and Neville will have breakfast alone, Juliet for her part, we have let her sleep a little more (I don't dare to look her in the eyes again after what happened yesterday. When Neville found me I wasn't crying anymore, but I was on the edge. I don't know if I collapsed due to a panic attack. After talking for a long time, we came to the conclusion that my running away would be something with harmful consequences and that whether I wanted it or not, Juliet would allow me to reach Massera, something that up to now it could not be opened to me as a certain possibility).
"Dude! What a joy to see that you are still here."
As soon as I see Elijah, I stand up to find him in the company of Ian. I notice the latter in a hurry or angry, I don't know. Did he argue with Elijah?
"It was not in my plans to do something different. How about you?"
"Nice to see you too, friend. Have you had breakfast yet?"
"Nope. I was waiting for you" I inform him.
They then wave to Thammy and my son, but Ian walks up behind them and pats Ali on the head.
"How are you, champ? I saw you when you were born. To think that last time you were a kid who practically fit in the palm of my hand and now you're huge."
Ali's face is surprised when she notices Ian talking to her.
Thammy notes,
"He's a strong boy and very smart."
Yes, of course smart. Spitting and not even taking a few steps in the time he already has.
"Dude, we're running late," Elijah tells him.
"Excuse me," Ian says to Thammy, they say goodbye to Neville and we turn around.
On the way out of the hotel, I watch the glass elevator coming down (this one has a view from the ground floor of the hotel) and I find that Juliet is coming down with her eyes lowered, looking at her cell phone.
I snort, thinking about the chances that she's flirting or doing whatever with someone else.
"Isn't she your son's Turkish teacher?"
Ian speaks to me.
And I turn to him.
"Something like that."
We go out.
"She's pretty," he adds. "Very nice. And smart. She was telling me about her trajectory in translation and she has a good LinkedIn profile."
Did they even stalk each other on social media?
"Did she pass on her resume to you too?" I ask, trying to control myself so that anger doesn't try to surface again in me, because the confusion and anger situation ends up taking over me and putting aside any possibility of coherent reasoning.
"Why would she do that?"
"I never saw that," Elijah comes to his defense. "It turns out that the girl received a proposal from someone who seems to be very important to us and it will be the key that allows us to put our capital in a company that pivots well in the market."
"Wow, really? It doesn't surprise me, in fact, I think I have the gift of detecting when a person has a lot of potential and is capable of growing more than expectations or conditioning dictate."
By the time we get into the car, Juliet is still the topic of conversation. What did I do to deserve this punishment?
I get in the front, Ian is driving, and Elijah is in the back.
"She's also a beautiful girl, but I already got a red card for noticing it," Elijah warns, standing up between them.
"What's up man? It's not bad to find a girl who is both equally relaxed" Ian, who doesn't understand my motives at all, tells me.
Maybe Elijah does, but it's not like I like him to try to make jokes about my love or sex life, my wife having passed away recently, unless I have little respect for her memory.
But of course they wouldn't understand.
Because surely they never loved anyone like Zara
My silence is palpable in the environment, when Ian finally notices:
"I'm sorry, old man. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
"Forget it," Elijah tells him under his breath.
"Hello?"
A call comes into my mobile. I don't even notice that I don't have the contact saved, which I never do, but this call serves as a necessary excuse for me to stop paying attention to this pair of stupid people.
"Mr. Kerem Deniz?"
"Yes? Who is this?"
A man is on the other side.
It's a voice that sounds familiar to me, but I'm not quite sure where until it introduces itself:
"You are contacted by Germain Fox, representative of the Human Resources department of Yen Airlines."
Boom.
I think my heart just exploded inside me at that statement.
Boom.
I don't finish processing what's happening.
"Mr. Deniz?" insists on the other side.
"W-what do you want?"
My voice is harsh, with anger.
Ian and Elijah around me are also tense and defensive.
"We would like to subpoena you as the legal husband of one of the passengers on flight number 0045-3355-K that had a destination to Canada on the past date of..."
"Summon me for what?"
I already know what flight it is.
Precisely the one that never reached its destination, I know well what it is about, the one that changed my life forever and many other families.
"We want to quote you to explain details that we have been able to discern about the technical failure that caused the accident and the legal course of the insurance that you will charge..."
"What I will charge? Are you kidding?!
"These are special conditions because the stopover fee to Madrid will be refunded."
"What stopover in Madrid?"
"Your wife had a stopover in Madrid."
"What?"
Ian asks me concernedly,
"Dude, is everything alright?" and pulls over to the side.
"Sir, do you have a lawyer with whom we can communicate?"
"Listen to me, sir. I don't even remember your name anymore, I don't even care. In the first place, I have no intention of charging anything for what they did, taking my wife from me. It is an aberration, what they propose. And secondly, she didn't have a stopover to Madrid so I ask that you never bother me again in my life. I don't want to hear from you again."
"I'm sorry Mr. I will try to update the technical team so they can review the information, but it is our duty to contact you again, otherwise it will be done from the judicial department."
"Do what you want to do, I have nothing more to discuss with you. Bye."
And I hang up.
Ian and Elijah are staring at me as I go into a trance from the horrible argument I just went through.
"Why did you stop? Wasn't it enough for you to laugh at me earlier? Let's go! Start the car!"