24

Tahti straightened her hair one last time before dropping the hair straightener on the dressing table, as she surveyed her reflection in the mirror, later that night.

What was she even doing? This guy wasn't even her boyfriend yet so why was she acting so impulsively by dressing up to get his attention? She had needed a little alcohol confidence and had even downed a can of beer before his arrival, as there was no way she could have sex with him sober.

She slightly pressed her lips against each other, reconsidering her decision to let him come over again, that night and she hurriedly picked up her phone. She would just tell him not to come.

The doorbell rang, with her eyes widening as shivers shot down her spine. How did he arrived so fast? She blinked.

She made to fetch the door but hurried back to take one last glace at her reflection before she walked over to open the door, silently repeating words to boost her confidence for the night.

"Hey." He smiled and she stepped back so he could come in.

"Come in." She said, tucking her hair behind her ears as she walked over to the living room to sit on one of the arm chairs.

"What's it with the alcohol?" He asked and she followed his eyes to the cans of beers on the dining table. He had an eagle's eye, she observed. How had he managed to find out so quickly?

"I thought it'll be nice to drink together..." She was saying and he turned to her. "I thought it would be fun."

He turned back to the beers and she figured he was looking at the empty can, which was in front of them. "Oh, Well...I drank some already." She explained. There was no way she could do have him around while being sober.

"This is cheating, don't you think?" He smiled as he walked over to her.

"What do you mean?... We didn't decide on anything." She replied and he perched down beside her.

"Weren't we going to study human anatomy together?How are you going to teach me if you're drunk?" He asked and she turned to look away when she recalled she had promised to teach him the course, back at school.

How could she have forgotten that to think that they were going to have sex, that night?

"Oh, that's right...We were supposed to study human anatomy...Yeah. I guess we should start studying." She said and he snickered.

"Stop laughing." She pouted and she flinched when his hand reached out to trace a highly tantalizing fingertip along her jaw line.

"I have a gift for you." Demir said, remembering the package he had stored in his bag earlier at the studio.

"A gift?" She asked, shocked.

"Yeah, a gift." He said, reaching for his backpack, which was by the side stool.

She froze for a bit but relaxed when he picked up his bag in one hand and took her hand in the other, pulling her to her feet and towards the bedroom.

He helped her seat on the bed before he drew a wine colored velvet box from his bag gave it to her.

She collected the box in her hand admiring its' tender feel to her fingers. She found the latch and snapped it open. In the box staring back at her was a crescent moon with star sun catcher.

She simply stared at it mesmerized up till he took it out of the box to attach it to the window frame. The moment was almost dreamlike, it was like everything came naturally to him.

"All done." He said, when he was done and walked to crouch before her. "Do you like it?"

"Yeah." She said with a slow nod and raised her head to look at it again. "It's so pretty."

"It will be prettier with the sunlight in the morning." He told her and her smile widened as he slowly leaned towards her to kiss her, very slowly as if he was savoring something delicious but didn't want to rush. First, her bottom lip and then, her upper, then both.

She hurriedly withdrew to take a breather when she recalled she was going to try to play hard to get for a night.

"You got me again." She whispered and he smiled. Playing hard to get was obviously not going to work.

"Hang on." He said and pulled out his phone from his pocket before dialing someone.

Her phone rang almost immediately and they turned to see his name on the ID.

"You saved my number." He said and she turned back to him with a smile as he took her hands in his.

She could stop him at that moment, she thought as he lifted one of her hands to his lips.

Her heart was thudding madly in her chest and her blood roared as she watched him kiss her hands again, both this time.

He pressed his lips to hers, for a brief kiss before he lowered his lips to send kiss down her neck.

It wasn't the first time he would be kissing her like that, but his kiss seemed to get better by the moment, she thought.

His lips made their way to the back of her shoulder and she wanted to protest when he stopped to sweep her hair over the other shoulder, exposing her back.

"You know...you have a mole here." He said, huskily.

"Where?" She asked and he touched the spot.

"Here." He replied and she slightly pushed him back to take a look at it, but her eyes couldn't get to the place he was pointing to.

"I didn't know...It's the first time."

She turned back to see he was staring at her. "You look even more pretty today."

So he had noticed, she smiled to herself. Dolling up herself for his arrival hadn't gone to waste.

Demir dipped his head down and pressed his mouth to hers, in the most delicious way and her brain shut up entirely. Her arms wrapped around his neck, cinching her to him, and she put her hands in his hair, feeling the silken strands between her fingers.

His mouth was hard on hers, unyielding; then he put both arms around her and pulled her against him. His lips softened as he gently pushed her to the bed and she could feel the rapid beat of his heart, taste the sweetness of apples still on his mouth. She wound her hands into his hair which curled around her fingers, silky and fine. Her heart was hammering, and there was a rushing sound in her ears, like beating drums.

There were so many reasons why she should stop. But she was still attracted to him, like crazy even at that moment and it felt like this was meant to happen between them. That one simple reason buried every of her concerns again.

Demir slowly began to seep into her life as days rolled into weeks and a lot of things start to change between them. For starters, he started to spend nights at her place, and as time went by, they started to order meals to have dinner together, and then he started to help out in house chores too.

Demir was seated on one of the sofas in the living rooms when she walked out of the bathroom one morning after having her bath.

"Get washed." She told him as she patted her hair dry before she walked past him and he reached to pull her into his laps.

"Demir." She whined and he leaned to kiss her on the lips. "You should get washed."

"I'm starting work at the department office." He said.

"You decided to do that? Aren't you busy?" She asked and he received the towel from her before helping her to dry her hair.

"I won't work that long. Just for a while...It's because of you." He said and she turned to him, a surprised look on her face.

"Me?"

"Come visit often." He said and tucked a wet strand of hair behind her ear.

out hair behind her ear for her.

"Why should I?"

"What?" He asked and she tried to resist the urge to laugh. He smiled when he realized she was trying to pull his legs and he covered her head with the towel.

"Come visit me, okay?"

Tahti turned to him, knowing she just couldn't win against him. "Okay, I will."

She noticed girls kept flocking around Demir, even when he was working in the professor's office.

"Demir. Where's that sun catcher you made last time?The moon and star shaped one?" A girl who Tahti suspected to be one of his juniors, asked.

She looked up from the past questions she'd been revising as she waited for his answer.

"Oh, that? I gifted it to someone."

Another sighed, disappointedly. "That's too bad. I wanted to see it when it was finished...Can you tell us how to make it?"

"Tell us. "

"Learn that from the ceramic and glass students.Demir is mine now." Andre said and the girls frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

Michelle turned to glare at them. "Darn it, you're so noisy. If you're done, please just leave."

Tahti noticed they didn't look happy as they turned to head out and she lowered her head to look over the questions. "Okay."

"I heard he doesn't date, but I guess he has a girlfriend.I wonder who it is." One of them said on their way out.

"She must be really pretty." Another added and she raised her head to throw a glance at Demir, who was also observing her from the corner of his eyes.

Their relationship only existed at night and Tahti sometimes felt like they were lovers.

"It seems like you don't do the dishes when I coming." Demir said as he washed the dishes one night.

"You caught me." Tahti said and wrapped her arms around him from behind. "I think you're pretty good at housework.Will you do the laundry too?"

He turned to slant his eyes over his shoulder. "Should I?"

"Yes." She eagerly replied and he snaked an arms around her back before pulling her to stand in front of him.

"Then let's do it together." He whispered, lowering his lips to her neck.

"No. I don't want to do it."

Even though they got along so well like couples, Tahti couldn't deny the fact that Demir still remained a mystery to her, as he always kept his personal life in the dark.