32
The iron wasn't soldering properly, Demir noticed during his late night work that night, so he took off his welder's mask and raised the glass to have a closer look. It turned out that the welding flame thrower was a little faulty.
Dropping his mask, he walked over to the store, which was at the back of the studio in search, for a better flamethrower when he heard people walking into the studio.
"There it is." He heard Adriana sigh in relief and he guessed she had forgotten one of her stuffs again. She was always fond of forgetting things.
"By the way, don't you think there is something going on between Tahti and Demir?"
"Hey..." Adriana started and Demir wondered if she was upset with what Sarah had said.
"What?"
"Honestly, how could Tahti date a girl like Demir?" Adriana asked.
"What? What's so wrong with her? Tahti us pretty."
"That's not what I mean." Adriana sighed. "Demir is the problem. He's not sincere with anyone and that's why I ended things with him, after a few dates."
"Really? You're the one who rejected him?" Sarah asked and he could detect the excitement in her voice.
"Yup. I got as far as I could from him but Tahti didn't. There are rumours about her too. What a way to end her school life." Adriana concluded, with a click of her tongue.
"I know, right? By the way, is that all? You're sure you didn't forget anything else? I can't come back here because of you."
"I didn't."
The voices faded and Demir knew they were on their way out as he leaned against the wall. Sincerity? Towards the opposite gender? He had lost that feeling a long time ago.
She was right, though. No matter their disputes, Sol would still remain her best friend.
"I..."
"Get out of the way." Someone yelled and their heads whipped round towards where it had come from.
"What was that?" Jennie asked, and the girl turned to run in the direction of the studio B.
"You asshole." The man yelled as he strode over to grab Demir by the shirt, pulling him to his feet. Demir yanked himself free and punches him hard across the face, which made the man to stagger back in shock.
On gaining the upper hand in the situation, Demir strode over to pin the man to the wall with his left arm before he could recover, raising his right fist to throw a hit.
"Demir, stop." Tahti cried out before he could register another hit on the man's face, and he was just turning to see if she was fine when the other man took advantage of the diversion, and switched places with him, regaining control of the situation.
The first punch sent blood seeping out of Demir's mouth and Tahti, scared of someone dropping dead, rose and started to pull the angry man from Demir.
"Wait...Sir..."
"Let go." He snapped and Tahti tightened her grip around the man as he turned to glare at Demir. "I'll kill you...I swear I'll kill you."
Sol and Jennie came running into the scene, a minute later and Sol was quick in trying to help her subdue the man while Jennie swept out her phone to dial the police.
Tahti turned in time to see Demir, nearing them and she raced over to push him away from the man, who kept yelling and trying to throw punches.
"Hello, police...I'm at the Loyore university right now and a man..." Jennie was saying over the phone but Tahti couldn't hear her clearly as the man kept cursing and swearing and Tahti's worry increased when Demir didn't say a word.
"Sol, don't let go of him."
Fortunately, the police were on patrol nearby, so they drove straight up to the scene to arrest both men.
"We'll be off now." Sol told her, once the men were cuffed and seated inside the car and Jennie turned to her, surprise on her face.
"What? I'm curious to know..."
"Call me if anything happens, okay?" She asked and Tahti slowly nodded in embarrassment. That day had been the worst she had ever had in a while.
The silence in the car was rather electric as the police drove them to the station and Tahti looked out through the window, wondering how she had gone from being a single girl to tangled up in a complicated relationship and then, to a men's fight, while looking at the tons of street lights that the car drove past.
Since it had been a men's fight, one of the officers had led her to the visitor's counter on arrival, where she was seated for over thirty minutes, while waiting for the officers to get to the bottom of what had happened and at the same time reflecting on her mistake of letting Demir into her life.
It was a couple of minutes to nine, when Demir finally walked up to where she was seated, after the investigation, wearing his usual cool look and Tahti sighed on seeing him. She had to end things that night.
"How dare you touch someone who's taken?" The man asked, from behind him and Tahti turned to him in shock, wondering if she had heard right. But the nonchalant look on Demir's face and his shrug said it all, she had heard the other man right.
"If you ever come near my sister again, I'll kill you. Filthy scumbag."
Tahti couldn't believe her ears. So he was double timing her?
"Young lady..." The man called and she turned to him. "Let me give you some advice. You should see a decent guy. You'll ruin your life if you date an asshole like him." He said and turned to glare at Demir, one more time before he stormed out of the station.
Tahti sighed as she returned her eyes to the guy before her. The man's advice has come too late. She had already ruined her life.
"You had something to say? What's it?" He asked, a minute later and she thinned her lips, being in no mood to talk.
"Let's talk later. I'll go home now." She said and turned to leave, when he took hold of her arm.
"Didn't you get hurt? Let's go to the hospital." He said and she yanked herself free from his hold.
"It's fine. Just worry about yourself..." She was saying when her eyes fell on the bruise on his lip.
Jennie couldn't get that night's scene off her head, even as she rode the swing at the park, which was a few metres from her place. Sol hadn't objected when she'd told her she wanted to stop by the park and had gone with her instead.
"I bet they're totally fighting...I think I just made things worse by reporting it."
"No. You did the right thing and it's fine now. Tahti could have gotten hurt." Sol replied and Jennie raised her head.
"I did well, right?" She asked and Sol nodded before she dropped her head again. "But Tahti was trying to stop that man from hitting Demir. It was so cool...I'm sure she must have been so scared, that time...She could have been angry at him, but she took his side."
"I guess it's because she likes him a lot." Sol added and gave Jennie's hand, on the hand of the swing, a little squeeze and Jennie recalled they hadn't settled their matters yet.
"I should go." She said, springing to her feet before she turned to leave.
"I'll take you home." Sol said and Jennie turned to her.
"You're acting a bit strange today. Do you have something to say?"
Sol hesitated, wondering whether to speak or not. "We didn't finish what we were talking about."
"It's fine. This is how we always make up as if nothing happened."
"I feel we shouldn't do that this time." Sol said, with a sigh. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about leaving as an exchange student."
"I was more upset by how you said that was the extent of our relationship." Jennie told her and Sol frowned.
"Hey, you're the one who..." Jennie pouted, cutting her off and Sol sighed again, knowing she couldn't win against her. "Alright. I'm sorry about that too."
"I'm sorry about how I acted at the flea market...But why aren't you sorry for not telling me about that Ralph guy?"
Sol tilted her head with another sigh. "Hey, that's unfair.Ralph and I aren't dating."
"Then, what's your relationship with him?" She asked, raising her chin.
"We're just friends."
Tahti returned to the sit-out, which was on her way home where Demir was seated, with his heads in his palms, holding a icepack. She was supposed to head home after they'd been done at the police station, but she couldn't force herself to leave after seeing the injury on his lip.
"Here." She sight, looking away as he raised his head. "Put this on your lip."
"Thanks." He replied as he received the icepack from her. "I didn't want you to see me like this."
"You nursed me when I was sick, so let's call it even now. I'm going home." She said and turned to leave when Demir sprang to his feet with a question which made her halt.
"You aren't going to see me anymore?' She heard him ask and she turned to him. Of course, she wasn't. Not after that night's incident. "I want to stay friends with you."
His last statement ticked her off. "Friends?" She snorted. "What do friends even mean to you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why did you lie to me? You said you weren't seeing anyone else." She asked.
"Is that so important?" He asked, wearing that nonchalant look on his face again, and at a moment she despised it the most, and Tahti felt like hitting him.
"Then, what do you want from me? Why are you so keen on seeing me?" She paused for a moment to think of likely reasons. "Oh, I get it...You want someone who is just stupid, so you can..."
"Why are you suddenly being like this?" He interjected, with a frown.
"Are you surprised? You always draw the line like this, reminding me every single time that there's nothing between us. You just want to see me when you want, but you're scared I'll get clingy? Don't worry..." She said, with another snort. "That's not going to happen."
She was just turning to head home when Demir reached out grab her arm, spinning her to face him. "It's not like that."
"Then, what are we?"
He seemed confused by her question. "Weren't you cool with how we were until now? Why are you suddenly..."
"That's true." She said, cutting him short, to raise her voice. "I'm sorry for acting so cool with our relationship until now. Honestly, I haven't heard anything good since I started seeing you. I even pretended not to notice even when I knew you weren't sincere because..." Her voice dropped, at the realisation of what she was about to say hit her. She liked him.
She only wished he could tell her he liked her in return, but it was clear that, that was never going to happen.
She dragged in a ragged breath, trying to calm herself down before she continued. "But I can't stand this anymore. Let's end this."
"What?"
"It's funny, right? There's nothing to end anyway."
"Tahti Lee..."
"Thanks for giving me a reason to decide to end things."
His hold on her arm suddenly loosed and he soon let go of her arm. Tahti thought she had managed to put him in shock for the first time, but he slipped his hands into his pocket, with a sigh.
"Alright. Let's end this...You're the one who gets to decide anyway."
Tahti blinked her disappointment. So he wasn't going to apologise or hold on to her? "You're really... You're really a jerk until the end." She said and tears crawled down her cheeks, the instant she turned to leave.
