Date for Three
500 Words
Kerem’s invitations became more frequent. Coffee. Dinner. A walk along the Bosphorus. Each time, Selin had to carefully consider whether accepting would maintain her “normal” facade or tip into something more complicated.
“You should go,” Murat said when Kerem knocked one evening with movie tickets. “The girls are watching. If you say no every time, they’ll think you’re regressing.”
“Are you sure?”
“No. But logic says you should go.”
So Selin found herself at a movie theater, sitting beside Kerem in the dark. The film was some action thriller she wasn’t really watching. Instead, she was acutely aware of two things: Kerem’s presence on her right, warm and alive and very much there. And Murat’s presence on her left—cool, invisible, and intensely focused on her.
“This is insane,” she thought. “I’m on a date with one man while my dead fiancé watches.”
When Kerem’s hand accidentally brushed hers reaching for popcorn, she felt Murat’s presence flare. The temperature dropped. The person in front of them pulled their jacket tighter.
“Sorry,” Kerem whispered, pulling his hand back.
“It’s fine,” Selin whispered back. But she tucked her hands in her lap for the rest of the film.
Afterward, walking back to their building, Kerem was quieter than usual.
“You okay?” Selin asked.
“Yeah. Just… I keep feeling like I’m missing something. Like there’s something you’re not telling me.”
Selin’s heart raced. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. It’s just a feeling.” He stopped walking, turning to face her. “Selin, I like you. I think that’s pretty obvious. But I also feel like… like maybe you’re not ready. Or maybe there’s someone else?”
“There’s no one else,” Selin said. Technically true—Murat wasn’t someone else. He was… complicated.
“Okay.” But Kerem didn’t look convinced. “Listen, no pressure. If you want to just be friends, that’s fine. But if there’s ever a chance of something more… I’m here.”
That night, back in the apartment, Murat and Selin sat in silence for a long time.
“He’s a good man,” Murat finally said.
“Don’t.”
“No, I mean it. If things were different… if I wasn’t here… he’d be good for you.”
“But you are here.”
“For how long, Selin? Forever? Is this really sustainable?”
The question hung in the air. It was the question neither of them wanted to face.
“I don’t know,” Selin admitted. “I don’t have answers. All I know is that right now, I choose you. Every day, I choose you.”
“Even though I can’t give you what he can? A normal life? A future?”
“Even though.”
Murat’s presence moved closer. “You’re impossible, you know that?”
“So are you. That’s why we work.”
- Writer
