It was her first day as his private chef. There was no one around when she walked into his house, just a menu placed on the kitchen counter. As she finished cooking, Bulut appeared with Tarik.
"Hello Nazli" He said.
"Bulut" She hugged him.
"Did you finish cooking? Can we play now?" He asked.
"It's lunch time Bulut. You need to eat." Tarik said and Nazli agreed.
"Fine, what about after I eat?" He asked.
"Hmm we can if you promise to empty your plate" She said thinking.
"Let's eat then" He said, dragging her to the table.
"Looks like he's not going to leave you. I'll carry on and sort out a few things then." Tarik left as he thought there was no point in just standing there.
"Bulut last sip of juice, okay? No wonder you are not eating. If you fill yourself up with juice, how will you eat?" She scolded him playfully as he seemed to focus more on drinking juice than eating.
"How many times did I tell you not to drink juice while eating, little monster?" She heard and raised her head from his plate to look at the source of the voice.
There he was standing behind Bulut's chair ruffling his hair. She did not want to face him as then it reminded her of the reality. She needed to talk to him but not before Bulut. He sat down on the chair beside Bulut and finally acknowledged her.
"Hello" He said, surprised to see her there.
"I was planning to leave when Bulut wanted me to feed him." She said reading his expressions.
"That's okay. I'll get my lunch." He said standing up.
"I can heat it up if you want." She offered. She did not know what made her do it.
"Fine" He sat down.
She placed the food before him and watched him intently as he took a bite.
"Not bad" He told her, but she knew he liked it more than that. Rather than the praise or criticism she got once the meal finished, she always focused on the reaction people had after they ate the first bite.
As he ate quietly, she could not stop herself from watching him. She wondered what was happening to her. It was wrong. She should rather focus on telling him the truth. She drew her attention back to Bulut. She saw them both tease and feed each other. His entire persona changed around Bulut. He was more relaxed and fun.
"Where's your plate?" Suddenly, Bulut asked her and it brought her out of trance.
"I'm fine Bulut, I need to go now" She needed to escape, so she left.
xxx
He looked in the direction she left and wondered what happened. He came home to have lunch with Bulut and found her at the table, not that he was complaining. He stood around and watched them both for a while before making an appearance.
The food was delicious, but he was not going to admit it. Somehow, he felt she understood him even though he did not praise much. While he was savouring his meal, he could still feel her attention on him. He thought maybe he could talk to her post lunch, but she left.
"She promised to play with me if I finished lunch" Bulut crossed his arms.
"But you didn't, did you?" Ferit copied him.
"Fine I don't want to eat anymore." He sulked.
"Ok, let us make a deal. Finish your lunch and I'll take you out" He loved pampering his nephew.
Once they finished their lunch, Ferit took him to his office first to attend a meeting and then planned to go out. His sister called as he was out of the meeting,
"Hi Ferit, how's the little one?" She asked.
"He's good. We're just planning to go to the cinema" He said.
"Oh, but could you take him for his vaccination first? I forgot he had an appointment today this afternoon." She forgot about it until she got a reminder that morning.
"Don't worry I'll take him now..." He said and cut the call.
"Can we go now?" Bulut jumped as Ferit entered his room.
After instructing Engin to handle his pending list, he drove Bulut to the hospital.
"Why are we here?" Bulut did not like hospitals.
"We need to get your vaccination done" Ferit guided him towards the paediatric ward.
"But I don't like injections..." He said.
"Aren't you my brave lion? Why are you scared of a small injection?" Ferit lifted him in his arms. Bulut was still apprehensive.
"How about we get the injection done quickly and go to the cinema? We can get some ice-cream as a treat I guess." He knew Bulut loved ice-cream and would do anything he was asked for.
"Fine..." Bulut agreed to get it done. Once the doctor was ready to inject, he closed his eyes and held Ferit's hand tightly with his free hand.
"It's done. You deserve an ice-cream" Ferit held his face waiting for him to open his eyes. Bulut opened his eyes and hugged him.
They went to the ice-cream parlour first and then to the cinema. It was late by the time they got home so went to bed directly.
Next morning, Ferit waited for Bulut as he sipped his coffee. He is usually awake by 8:00am and it was already 8:30 am. He went to check, only to find Bulut burning with fever. He immediately called his doctor, who said it could be due to vaccination. He was advised to give him some paracetamol and wait till afternoon. If the temperature does not go down, he could bring him to the hospital then.
Ferit picked him up and walked to the living room. He placed him on the sofa and fed him some breakfast.
"I'm not hungry. I do not want to eat" Bulut said.
"You can't take medicine on an empty stomach. Just have a little bit more" Ferit coaxed him.
After feeding him medicine, Ferit switched on the telly as Bulut lay in his arms. He was cranky and cried to watch his favourite cartoon.
"It'll hurt your eyes." Ferit tried to convince him but he would not listen. He gave up and picked his iPad to check on his work.
xxx
Nazli walked in wondering if he was home. If he was not home, at least there is an excuse to not talk to him. She entered the kitchen but there was no menu anywhere. She could hear a few noises and went to check.
While the telly was on, she saw them both sleeping. She turned it off and admired them. Bulut was sleeping on Ferit's chest as he sat in his lap while Ferit slept as well in the seating position. His neck is going to hurt later, she thought and went to place a cushion under his head.
As she was adjusting the cushion, he woke up and looked at her surprised.
"Support for your neck" She said moving away.
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
"There was no menu" She said, recalling Ms. Iqbal telling her that she only must follow the menu she's provided with.
"He's got a bit of temperature" Ferit said looking at Bulut.
She placed her hand on Bulut's forehead and he was burning.
"Let me make some chicken soup" She immediately went to the kitchen to prepare some soup.
Ferit carefully placed Bulut on the sofa and followed her.
"You don't have to prepare" He said as he saw her rummaging through the fridge for ingredients.
"It would help him." She carried on with her work.
"I'll be in the study in case he wakes up." He left understanding she was determined to make it anyway.
As she finished preparing soup, she wondered if she should prepare some tea or coffee as he was working. She needed her special tea to recharge her, so she decided to brew an extra cup. It was an Indian tea with lots of spices in it. She tasted it first in an Indian restaurant in London and it was her favorite ever since. She was not sure where his office was. She could only see the lounge and study from the kitchen. She walked in the direction he left and noticed a door at the end of the corridor. She walked in unsure of how he would take her interference. She could see he was busy talking with his headphones on and eyes closed. So, she just placed the cup on the edge of his desk and went to check on Bulut.
Bulut opened his eyes as she put a wet patch on his forehead.
"Nazli" He said.
"Hello Bulut... would you like to eat some soup?" She asked.
"I'm so tired. Can you feed me please?" He asked.
"Sure. Let's' go" She said, picking him up in her arms and making him sit on the dining table.
She fed him while narrating a story. It was one of her fondest memories of her brother.
A boy was painting a beautiful picture when a girl joined him asking if she can paint as well with him. He gave a paper and a brush asking her to be careful and not to spill anything. The girl being small did a very messy painting while the boy's painting seemed very beautiful. They debated whose painting was better and it upset her. She spilled the paint on the boy's painting. Their mum came just then and found the messy painting and carpet.
"You're not supposed to play with paint. What are you doing here?" Mum scolded the girl.
"It's not her, it's me" The boy said.
"You're supposed to finish your assignment, not make a mess. Clean it up now and no sweets today" His mum scolded him and left.
Without saying anything, he started to clean the mess.
"I'm sorry..." She said.
"Hmm I can forgive you if you help me" He said thinking about it.
"Why did you not tell her it was me?" She asked him as she collected the brushes.
"You're my darling sister. How can I let mum punish you? Besides, how can you stay without eating chocolate?" He said and hugged her.
Tears welled up her eyes as she recalled her brother, but she held them back.
"I wish I had a brother/sister." Bulut said listening to the story.
"Sure, if you promise to be a good brother then god might send you a little brother or sister soon" He said.
It was then she noticed him standing near the door.
Was he there all the time? She thought.
"I thought I asked you to let me know if he woke up" He looked at her.
"You were on a call so I... " She didn't know what to say,
"I don't drink tea at this hour and definitely not with all the strange things in it." He said smelling the cup in his hand.
"It's just some spices... Besides, you shouldn't judge food even before tasting it." She said.
"Uncle, I finished my soup. Can I have a biscuit now?" Bulut asked, interrupting them.
"But we don't have any..." He said.
"Nazli can we make them?" He asked with his twinkling eyes.
"We can but you need to get better first" She said.
"I feel better now." He said.
"Don't make too many and don't leave them outside. Please make sure to clear the mess unlike last time." Ferit said, picking up a glass of water and walked away while she looked at him in surprise.
"Did we make a mess Bulut?" She tickled Bulut and they set about making some cookies.
xxx
When he opened his eyes, he spotted a teacup near the edge and picked it up. He only had tea occasionally and was more of a coffee person. There was also a strong aroma from it, and he prefers not to experiment with his food unless he is sure what is in it. It had to be her, who placed it there. He went with the intention of telling her off but stood by the door as he saw her feeding soup to Bulut, narrating a story. She shared a great sibling bond like he did, he thought. Softening up a bit, he walked in to answer Bulut's question. He looked forward to teasing Bulut's parents with his question.
It is going to be interesting to deal with her, he thought as he came back to his desk after they decided to bake cookies. He could only hope they do not make too much mess. Engin called him,
"Yes Engin" He replied.
"There's a situation here, can you come in just for 15 min?" He did not want to disclose further so not to upset him.
"Bulut's unwell... I can't leave him alone." He did not want to leave Bulut at home and go.
"I understand but I just need 15 min... I can send Tarik there." Engin suggested.
He understood it was important otherwise Engin would not suggest it knowing Bulut was unwell.
"I can look after him..." He heard and turned to see Nazli standing at the door with Bulut.
"Sorry I wanted to check about the next dose of medicine..." She continued as he stared at her wondering why they were snooping on him.
"Fine Engin... I will be there. Ms. Nazmiye is here, so no need for Tarik" He cut the call.
"Bulut mentioned you gave him medicine at breakfast. He would need another dose as it's been more than 4 hours." She explained in detail.
"I forgot about it." He went to get the medicine from the cupboard in the kitchen.
Once, she administered the medicine, he went to get ready. They exchanged numbers and though she assured him that she would call him if something is wrong, he made sure he informed her again.