Branded to be Loved

4. Café Talk

I didn't just believe what I had just done. Why running away? It’s not like he knows me, it’s not like I want to know him, partially. I really suck at deciding anything related to these sexy guys, that’s why I always aim for bad guys like the motorcyclist that day. It's clear that I was totally drooling over for him. And, I definitely wanted… don't want to meet him in future. Damn Thea, now I wanna curse her to die just so to escape from her lame dare.

Now what would I do? I had just hammered my own foot. Damn again.

"It's like you've seen a ghost or something, what happened??" Racheal drags me out of my unconsciousness.

"No, it's nothing... just some...” I was speechless, totally.

"What is it, dessert?" Racheal questioned Sahara annoyingly, who is currently smirking devilishly looking back.

“Don’t know why, but why the guy from that café seems familiar?” Sahara snaps back curiously. What actually got into her?

“Wait, what?” Racheal asked confusingly.

‘No.’ was what came across me.

I rubbed off the expression of heart-struck teenager before they could drag me to another fairytale of theirs. It's a different thing that I was really heart-struck this time.

“Oh, come on, Elle. We are not like you, having an eye just for one guy...” Sahara huffed it off like usual.

Racheal interrupted, “Then find someone. Btw what do you mean? Oh! No, wait. Please keep that to yourself. Cause you didn’t have any guy to hang out with. Right Haydon?” both of them stared down me.

“Technically yes, or no.” yes, because she usually eyed everyone and no, because Sahara did tell me about someone sometimes ago.

“What type of answer is that?” Racheal accused furiously. Sahara smiled and hugged me satisfyingly making Racheal angrier.

“Asil Sevim Aldemir.” Sahara trailed softly besides my ear.

“Hun?” I was confused what did she exactly said.

“Asil Sevim Aldemir is his name.” Sahara answered clearly and then smiled at Racheal.

“There, she got his name already.” Racheal distastefully stated.

“Sound so royalty.” My unlocked mouth blurted out.

Sahara laughed softly, “but it’s better for us if we maintain our distance from him.”

“And why is that?” Racheal questioned her.

“Because Elle darling,” she looked at her and then to me, like she was about to reveal the deepest darkest secret, “because…,” she sighed further, “I said so, ha.” And then she laughed like a chipmunk.

My threatened breath found it’s way outside with a relief.

Racheal stared at her dumbfounded, “seriously…, really the lamest one dessert.”

“Okay, seriously. I heard so much about him, like so many things that I didn’t knew about him before. He is more of, what we say…” Sahara was stretching it further, that I can’t wait for.

“Bad boy type.” Sahara finished.

Racheal took her time and then she turned to me, “You.better.stay.away.from.him.” she stated like she was seriously threatening me with her sentence. And they all know my exact taste in boys.

“You can relax Elle. Tell me if cuddles ever dated any guy from our school, hun.” Sahara backed me like she used to.

“Yeah, makes sense actually. Then… I’m relaxed.” Racheal took a satisfying sigh.

‘Yeah, it did make sense. But I think Sahara forgot to mention that he isn’t from our school, technically. Thea was rather well informed about him being graduated already, he is officially not from our school anymore, isn’t.’ damn my disastrous mind.

Bad boy, I don’t think Thea mentioned that.

Asking him his name is really futile now as I already know his name, but as the dare goes by, I’ve to ask him his name in front of everyone. She better prepares for this one, and I think everyone could be anyone not just my classmates or anyone I personally know, isn’t.

“Okay, stop. Can we please just stop talking this and have something to eat first, I’m dying from hunger now.” Sahara reminds us with an annoyed face of her. We were talking there for decades that we actually forgot to eat.

“Thank God! That you’re hungry or else we would have been standing here like giraffe.” Racheal taunts her.

“Why don’t we eat something chilly?” I asked them.

“Why in the first place you ran away from that café?” Sahara questioned deliberately.

“Because, I didn’t find anything there to eat and Elle didn’t want to any sweets.” I finished.

“I saw burger there.” Racheal asserted quickly.

“Well, I saw a large size pizza there, and sandwich, and…” Sahara joined.

“And Mexican roll…” said Racheal.

“Don’t forget, that cheesy burrito…” Sahara continued.

“And a bagel with cream cheese and chocolate.” Someone joined from behind.

“No.” Racheal cried.

“Ah.” Sahara sighed annoyed.

With a harmony we all went against that choice of snacks and glanced at the source of that unwanted voice, and we found Prim holding a pair ice cream cup in her hand.

“Want some.” Prim offered me another ice-cream cup.

“No.” I quickly rejected her offer.

Racheal pulled myself closer to herself, but it didn’t affect Prim, “okay. No problem, I can finish both.” She sighed and dipped that small spoon in the ice-cream cup which was already unwrapped and walk past us, “and yeah please add me in your group because I think every group is already full and I don’t think that any of them will add me.” She dumped herself in our shoulder like that.

All that running, facing Thea and most of all seeing that Aldemir guy… hun??

“What was his name, again?” I asked Sahara.

“Whose?” Sahara played clueless.

“That guy from the café.” I remind her of previous incidence holding her hand and walking backwardly in front of her.

“Oh! Him.” Sahara recollect quickly.

Racheal softly laughed and asked,” who is asking?”

“General knowledge guys.” I defended myself.

Racheal laughed jokingly, “oh my! Didn’t know that his name will become an answer of general knowledge someday.”

“Leave it then.” I tried avoid getting that answer, damn I was totally blushing…

“Print that name in your mind cuddles, ASIL SEVIM ALDEMIR.” Sahara highlighted name so strongly that I bet it’ll ever leave my conscious.

“Why that accent is so damn welcoming?” I sighed deeply.

“Because my dear,” Racheal tune in, “it’s Turkish, love, a pure one.”

“Oh! My my.” Sahara rolled her bangs like she is getting interesting in him.

But Sahara had already given up on him isn’t. She never gives second glance to anyone she rejected once.

“Let’s head back to that café then.” I proposed, “let’s eat anything both of you have saw back there.”

When we entered that café again. I hoped for him to present there, but he wasn’t. My bad, I would say or not or I would have walked backward for sure this time. With blushed face I casually search through the counter, absentmindedly I banged with someone while walking forward, “sorry.” I apologized.

“Nah, it’s ok junior.” A heavy voice replied.

I looked up and saw a leaner figure in front of me, “really apologizing, should have watched my steps.” I apologized again.

“Then, it still okay to get enchanted by this sweet aroma.” Andy sweetly replied. Another leaner and taller figure appear from behind and he put his hand around Andy shoulders. “Have you finalized anything?” Sloan questioned Andy. Am I that invisible? I asked myself.

“Andy? Don’t tell me this is the girl you’re proposing to?” Sloan turned to face Andy.

“From where it is appearing in your mind?” Andy questioned Sloan.

“No,” he laughed it off, “that blushed face says so much.” Sloan point his finger towards me.

Andy looked at me and then smiled again.

I warily cover both of my cheek and turned away replying, “this isn’t what you are thinking.”

Both of them looked at each other unobservant of the current situation. It suits them as they always were free minded individual.

“Where did you get lost this time?” Racheal waved her hand through the little crowd.

“Tell me when did I lost before?” I asked her confusingly.

“Oh! No, not once, just some figure of speech.” Racheal replied.

“Someone’s studying these days.” Sahara joked picking some packed food.

“We are taking out?” I asked.

“Yeah, because we are already late.” Sahara replied coming toward us.

I checked my wristwatch and sighed with relief that we aren’t that late like before.

“I met Andy today.” I said deliberately cause I know to whom I’m asserting this for.

“Really!” Racheal asked.

“Where and when? Where was I at that time?” Sahara questioned back-to-back.

I laughed and said, “in the café, he was with Sloan.”

“Oh!” was what a relieved sigh of Sahara. I bet you’ll know it now to whom I was asserting the previous sentence.

We walked entangling our hands, eating on the way towards our class, unaware of what is going to happen next.

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