66

Demir directed his car towards the entrance of Tahti's apartment, before the pulled to a halt. She had been so against it when he'd offered to drive her home after lunch, at Henry's restaurant but had decided to go with him when she had heard the sincerity in his voice, after he had told her that he wanted to go with her to her place.

"Thanks for the drive." She said as she unfastened her seatbelt and reached to open the door of the car.

"Wait." He called out and she slowly turned to see him take out a box from the gearbox before snapping it open to reveal a bracelet.

"A present for you." He smiled as he leaned forward to take her left arm, to fasten the ends of the bracelet around it.

She raised her hand to look at it and he withdrew back to his seat.

"Did you make this yourself?" She asked, on seeing his usual signatory of a crescent moon with a star.

"Yeah."

"It's pretty." She smiled and whipped her head to face him. "You can actually sell this."

He would make a nice amount of money if he'd sold the sun catcher too.

To her surprise, he laughed.

"Why are things so funny when you say them?" He asked, his laughter dying down to end in an S. "You should go in and get some rest now."

"Thanks." She replied, grabbing her bag with her as she alighted the car.

She looked down at the bracelet again and stole the glance at him, over her shoulder before she turned to walk in.

Demir smiled once that she'd walked in, glad she hadn't rejected his present but the smile faded when his phone beeped, with a pop-up message from Stella.

«Can we meet right now? I have something to tell you»

April fell back into as her seat, when she was done playing the sixth round of Mobile Legends, at the internet cafe that afternoon. She had been on her way home earlier when she had run into her gym coach, who was off to play some games at the cafe.

Wanting a chance to see Derek, she had tagged along and took him to the cafe Herley had talked about and was surprised the internet cafe had about seventy percent of high school girls in attendance, with most of them flirting around with Derek, who was acting all smiley around them much to her distaste.

She dropped her eyes to look down at the time on her wristwatch. It had been quite a while since she'd started playing and yet, her order hadn't arrived yet.

Grabbing hold of her mouse, she moved it to the chatroom on the monitor with the cafe attendant.

†Why isn't my food coming?† She typed, before punching the enter button.

†Who's having the food?† came his response.

Why was he concerned about who had ordered the food?

†Me. My friend's on strict diet.†

†That's good. I didn't place your order yet.†

"What?" She asked.

Was he kidding?

"You little..." She swore, as she picked up her phone, beside the mouse to dial his number. Did he take her for a joke? Why on earth would he suspend her order to attend to the others? Was he attending to this high school girls?

She gnawed on her lower lip, when the call ended, without answer from the other side.

"You didn't pick up?" She asked, turning to glare at her phone, as if it was the one responsible for the problem at hand.

She dialled his number again as she stormed towards the counter, only to find it empty. He wasn't there? She wondered as she scanned around and her eyes fell on his phone, which wasn't far from where she stood.

However, what caught her attention was the name his phone bore, when she was calling.

A hearty smile crossed her glossed lips as she lowered her phone to end the call.

"Why are you here?"

Her head jerked up to see Derek, walking towards her from the other side of the counter. He had probably turn up from the gent.

"Why didn't you place my order?" She asked, trying to sound indifferent.

"You shouldn't eat stuff like that. Didn't you day you had gastritis? It will only ruin your stomach?"

"What is it to you? Who are you to nag at me?" "I'm your friend." came his gentle reply. "Friends should care for each other. I should worry about your health."

Friend? She thought silently as she smiled. He had his feelings for her, that was why he had served as 'My Forever'.

"Why are you smiling like that?" He asked, noticing the mysterious grin on her lips and she turned to him.

"My Forever? What's that? Isn't that childish?" "What ?" He asked and lowered his hands to search his pockets for his phone. "Where did I put it?"

"Do you mean this?" She asked, gesturing to his phone, which was beside her and he was quick to snatch his phone before returning to his pocket.

"I already saw it."

"You're not supposed to snoop around?" He said, sounding a little upset.

"What time do you get off today?" She asked, cupping her chin and he turned to look at her. "Why are you asking, though?"

"Let's go on a date."

There was no need to play hard to get anymore.

It was a couple of minutes to one when Demir pushed in the door to the cafe, before walking in. Stella was already sitting by the window, looking outside at something he couldn't place and he smiled as he walked over to join her at the seat opposite her.

"Hey." She returned drily, not casting a glance at him, and he leaned back into his seat to fold his arms.

"What's up? Is your health acting up again?" He asked, knowing fully well it would get her to look at him, which worked as well as she wrenched her eyes towards him.

"No." She replied, with a sigh. "I came to say goodbye."

She smiled, on seeing the surprise written all over his face.

"You're leaving?"

"Mmm. This week."

So she was finally leaving. She'd once told him that if she left America for the second time, nothing will ever make her return to the country.

"When is your flight? I will drive you there." He said. It was the least thing he could do anyway.

"It's fine." She said and returned her eyes to look out again. "I don't want that kind of vague generosity from you, neither do I want to get swayed again." She turned to reach out for a cup of latte, to take a drag from it before she lowered it.

"I don't want to pretend anymore. They say you can't act him indifferently, if you really like someone...I just realised it's true."

"I'm sorry." He apologized. She had been his first love, back then in high school and he had been crazy over her, the while they had dated, but they had broken up when he had started flirting with other girls, which was something she couldn't tolerate.

"It pays to be honest. You're actually apologizing."

"I'll contact you if I go to England. We can meet up." He said. She would probably be over him, by then. He had known she came back from England because of him, but he couldn't go out with her because he had been involved with Tahti.

"No, I'm not going to see you anymore. Having no relationship with you is better than staying like this by your side." She said and he sighed. So she had really made up her mind. ithis was the end for them, he thought as he watched her rise to spread out her arms as she walked towards him.

"Give me one last hug." She requested and a smile crossed his lips as he rose to embrace her for the last time. She'd been a good lover and a friend.

"Bye." She said after they disengaged.

"Bye." He replied and she went to pick up her purse, before she headed out of the cafe.

Demir sighed again as he sank back into the sofa and he watched her flag down a cab outside the cafe.

Stella was finally leaving his life but could he still have the opportunity to be honest about his feelings for Tahti?

The silence between them was nind numbling as they walked down the neighborhood park, which was a stone's throw from the internet cafe. April kept weighing the options of getting rejected or accepted as they walked on, until Derek cleared his throat, which reminded her to speak up.

She reached into a pocket to take out a set of keyring and hung them on her fingers to show him.

"This is what I ordered to your house, the last time. They are matching keyrings...I had no idea we would wake up before I gave it to you." She said and turned to him. "Are they pretty?"

"Yeah."

April gulped, wondering how she was going to go about asking for a make-up.

"Well...I was wondering...if you know..."

"I don't." Derek replied, and she exhaled.

"Well...Do I have to say this out loud?"

"You have to talk for me to understand."

"Give me your hand." She sighed and he slightly raised his hand to her before she deposited one of the keyrings into his palm and close up his fingers over it.

"Be my boyfriend again...It was all my fault the last time." She said and lowered her head. "I will change...I'll be a really good girlfriend to you. I promise you."

"Seriously?" He asked and she raised her head to see he was looking down at her.

"I promise." She said again.

He thinned his lips as he shyly looked away and and April considered going on tiptoes, to give him a peck when he pulled her closer to him for an embrace. She smiled as she ran her arms over him.

"I love you."

"I love you too." She replied and dragged in a breath. "Gosh, I missed this smell."

"Are you a pervert?" He asked as she pulled away from her to look her full in the face.

"Let's go on lots of dates from now on." Her voice faded, before she added. "I'll try staying abstinent, just for you?"

"What? Abstinent? All of a sudden?" He blurted.

"You don't like it?"

"You don't have to do that." He said and she smiled.

"Why?"

Derek raked his fingers through his hair. "I'm a man...and you know...I like it too."

"You like what? You have to talk for me to understand."

She smiled again on seeing the fluster on his face.

"You know what I'm talking about."

"What are you talking about?" She asked, running a hand over his shoulder.