“Well, that was interesting,” Yonka says. Adel is startled and almost trips over his suitcase.
Yonka removes her head dress and her high heel shoes and tosses them on the floor. He watches her walk down to the hallway with a confident sway as she enters a room at the end. Will he and his new bride be having their honeymoon in there? Adel stands alone awkwardly in the living room with his suitcase beside him—waiting. A few minutes pass when finally the bedroom door swings open. Yonka comes out dressed in black leggings and a tight tank top, the top of her bust spilling out of the neckline. In her arms she is carrying blankets and a pillow. She walks past him as she drops the bundle of bedding on the couch. Adel shakes his head in disbelief.
“What is this?” he asks.
“Let’s just get this straight out on the table. I’m not that little kid you used to tease and call donkey back in grade school. And I’m definitely not the girl my grandfather wants me to be.” She glares at him.
“So you don’t want this arranged marriage?” he asks.
“Not any more than you do.”
Adel pauses. “So…”
“So, you stay out of my way and I’ll stay out of yours. Oh and at the first of the month, you have to give me your share of the bills. You should be paying for all of it since you are technically my husband. But whatever.” She turns around and picks up her purse from the couch. She rummages inside.
Adel nods. “I guess you are not a traditional wife who stays at home and let the husband make the rules.”
Yonka laughs. “Isn't that the truth?” Her hand still in her purse finally pulls out a cigarette and a lighter. She turns towards him and lights up her cigarette. Adel makes a face. With a smirk on her lips, she comes up close to him and blows smoke towards him. He turns and coughs.
She looks him up and down, inspecting his features like he was a prize cow. Finally she says, “You did grow up to be somewhat nice looking.”
He frowns.
She continues. “But I bet you’re still the boring Mr. Know-It-All I remember when we were children.”
He says, “I do not remember you well.”
She reaches over and caresses his face. She nuzzles her face on his shoulder and places hot kisses on his neck. He stiffens and turns away. This doesn’t stop her. In a husky whisper she says, “This is our wedding night, my sweet Turkish husband.” She pushes him down on the couch and climbs on top of him, sitting provocatively on his lap.
Who does she think she is? He stands up suddenly causing Yonka to lose her balance and fall to the ground.
“Hey! Is this how you treat your bride?” She tries to pick herself up from the floor.
He looks down at her in disgust. “Act like a respectable woman. Have you no shame?” He picks up his suitcase and walks down the hallway.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Yonka asks. She follows after him. There are two doors on each side of the hall. He flings open the first one only to see that it is a laundry room. He opens the second door which leads him into a small bedroom with a twin size bed. The room is cluttered with boxes, shopping bags and clothes. Shaking his head, he drops his suitcase on the floor. He gathers all the items on the bed and carries them into the room Yonka had entered earlier. On the wall above a king size bed, he sees a large portrait of Yonka on the wall confirming that this indeed was her bedroom. He walks across the room to double glass doors opening into an enormous walk-in closet. The closet is bigger than the cell he had at the detention centre. Still carrying Yonka’s things, he walks inside looking for a place to dump them. He trips over one of many pairs of shoes strewn on the floor. The boxes slip from his hand and land into piles of clothes and handbags in the corner. He is amazed beyond belief. How many shoes or purses can one woman own?
Behind him Yonka yells, “Do not touch my stuff! What do you think you are doing?”
Adel turns around angrily and looks her in the eye. “The other room is mine. Your stuff stays in your room. You stay out of MY way and I’ll stay out of yours. You get in my face and see how miserable I can make your life!”
Yonka steps back in shock. She pauses for a bit. Then she makes a face and snarls, “Well that’s a real nice way to start our honeymoon, husband of mine.”
Before Adel can say another word, the phone rings and Yonka turns around and walks back to the living room.
* * *
Later, in his new room, Adel tosses and turns, trying to fall asleep. Yonka’s loud laughter and chatter from her room makes all his efforts pointless. Grey wafts of cigarette smoke creep under his door and fill the room. Adel checks his cell phone. It is two a.m. in the morning. He sighs heavily, shakes his head, turns over and puts the pillow over his head. Maybe if he pushed it hard enough, he could smother himself to sleep.
Chapter 21
Online venture
One afternoon a few weeks after the wedding, Adel comes home with Kamil carrying a big “Best Buy” shopping bag. Adel is like a boy ready to open up his presents on his birthday. Yonka comes out of the kitchen and looks curiously at them.
“What's in the bag?”
Adel gives her a cool smile. “Wouldn't you like to know?” She scowls but doesn't leave. She watches intently as Adel and Kamil empty the bag on the coffee table.
“Come on, open it,” Kamil says. Adel opens a box and brings out a bright shiny new fifteen inch laptop. Adel carefully takes out all the items from the box. Yonka reaches over to touch the laptop. Adel pulls it away from her reach.
“You don't want to show me your new toy?” she asks.
Kamil chuckles. “Ask nicely and maybe he will let you play with it.”
Adel rolls his eyes. “Whatever. Come on, Kamil, let's go to my room.” Kamil picks up the shopping bag and follows Adel who has his laptop under his arm. Yonka crosses her arms on her chest and pouts.
* * *
Inside Adel's bedroom, Adel shows Kamil how to surf the internet, clicking and typing excitedly. Kamil looks over his shoulder amazed at what he sees on the screen.
Kamil says, “So you think you can make money doing this?”
Adel turns to him. “Of course. Isn't this fantastic? I can run my own business right here from my room.”
Kamil says, “But where will you store the items you want to sell?”
Adel smiles. “I won't have to store anything. This is the beauty of it. It's called drop-shipping.”
Kamil says, “Ok. It is all new to me. I can't wrap my head that you can sell something without even seeing it.”
Adel says, “It is the age we live in, my brother. We have to... hmmm... how do Canadians say... Go with the flow?”
Chapter 22
Fate would have it
Adel and Kamil walk around the university campus. They are enjoying school life together just as they did when they were in high school. On this day, Adel and Kamil are sitting on a bench outside their school building. They are busy chatting with each other about Adel’s business and the surprising amount of money he has generated.
After a while, Kamil says, “So forget about the business for now...how is married life? It seems that you and Yonka are getting along better.”
Adel shakes his head. “It was a mistake.”
Kamil is surprised. “It has only been one month. You have to give it a chance.”
Adel frowns. “You don’t understand. Yonka is not what you think she is. She’s not like your wife. She was only pretending in front of Grand Uncle. Living at her place is worse than the detention.”
Kamil nods his head slowly and then says softly, “So the gossip is true.”
Adel stops and looks at Kamil. “You knew? And you convinced me to do this?”
Kamil shakes his head. “I didn’t know anything. My wife did mention that when your Grand Uncle sent her here three years ago, it was to avoid having a scandal exposed. Her parents came to your Grand Uncle to send her away t
o the West to stay with her aunt.”
Adel glowers at Kamil.
“I thought it was just pure gossip,” Kamil says. “Women in the Turkish community gossip with each other all the time. I didn’t take it too seriously.”
Adel can’t believe his ears. “She is driving me crazy. She smokes in the house. She drinks. She is messy, loud and arrogant,” he says. “When she was a kid, I couldn’t stand her then. But then her parents moved to Ankara and I never saw her again until now.”
Kamil sighs. “Sorry, brother. What is going to become of this?”
Adel says, “I don’t know. Really I don’t know.”
* * *
They walk into their class and nod hello to their classmates as the class starts. The students look at the front and whisper to each other. Adel and Kamil stop chatting and look up. Adel’s eyes widen in disbelief. Standing at the front of the class is Nora, dressed in a stylish dress suit.
“Good morning, class. I will be your teacher for the rest of the term. My name is Nora Lee Morgan. I am back from sabbatical leave. Some of you I’ve already had the privilege of having in my class before.
As Nora continues speaking to the class, Kamil elbows Adel and whispers, “She’s hot.”
Adel is stunned.
Nora says to the class, “Let’s spend a few minutes introducing yourselves to me.”
The students begin to say their names and Kamil says to Adel, “Hey, what’s the matter with you?”
Adel leans towards Kamil. “That’s the girl…”
“What girl?” Kamil asks.
Adel whispers loudly, “The girl from LA.”
Kamil nods slowly understanding now. “You mean you kissed her?”
“Excuse me, gentlemen,” Nora says to them.
Adel and Kamil face the front like two children caught exchanging quiz answers in class. Nora smiles at both of them ready to say a few words when her smile leaves her face.
“Sorry, Ma’am. My name is Kamil. It is nice to meet you,” Kamil says.
Adel clears his throat. “My name is Adel Emre. I am very happy to meet you…”
After a brief moment, Nora smiles hesitantly. “Thank you. It is a pleasure to meet both of you.” She continues talking to the rest of the students.
* * *
When the class ends, Adel says to Kamil, “Go ahead. I’ll meet you later.”
Kamil nods, grabs his books and leaves.
Adel turns to Nora when the classroom is empty.
Nora puts her papers into her briefcase. Not meeting Adel’s eyes, she says, “Funny, I thought I’d never see you again.”
“I was hoping the opposite,” Adel says quietly.
Nora shakes her head and walks to her desk. “What do you mean? I gave you my phone number and waited for you to call. But you never did. So I figured, oh well… it was a nice memory but nothing more.”
Adel comes up behind her and holds her elbow. She looks down at his hand and then he brings her face into his hands. He looks deep into her eyes.
“I was wondering if the feelings I had the last time I saw you were just my imagination.”
She takes a breath.
He continues. “But now that you are here, the feelings are here and even stronger.”
She pulls away and turns around. “Well, maybe it’s too late for this now. Opportunities come and go.”
Adel pulls her back to him. “Please let me explain.”
She shakes her head. “There is no need for explanations.”
Adel interrupts. “Yes, there is and I want to give you one. A few days after I met you, I was arrested and placed in an immigration detention centre for thirty days and then later deported back to Istanbul.”
Nora’s mouth opens.
He continues. “I thought about you every day I was in the detention. I wanted to call you but your number was not with me.”
Nora nods slowly. “So that’s the reason…hmm… I really just thought it was nothing to you… I mean the moment we had.”
Adel shakes his head. “It was everything to me,” he says. “Nora… It is everything to me.”
Nora shakes her head and pulls away again. “I think we have to stop this.”
“Why?”
She pauses. “I’m engaged to be married.”
Adel repeats slowly, “Married...”
She continues. “My ex-boyfriend and I got back together a few months ago.”
Adel looks down and hides his hand into his pocket remembering his ring. “I see,” Adel says, “do you love him?”
Nora is surprised with the bluntness of his question. “Of course I do. What kind of a question is that?”
Adel sighs. “I have something to tell you too.” At that moment, students begin to enter the room for the next class.
“I will talk to you later. Okay?”
Nora nods. “Yes. We can talk. We can still be friends.”
Adel says sarcastically, “Yes... friends.”
He turns and walks out of the room. Nora watches him leave as the students for her next class enter the room.
Chapter 23
Yonka
Yonka works at the Hyatt Regency Hotel as a catering and events manager. Her colleagues in the Events department are her closest friends. Susan, the events coordinator, is an Irish Canadian in her mid-thirties. Jenny, the marketing manager, is a twenty-five year old Chinese Canadian. Finally her closest friend, Guy, the catering manager, is a colourful Austrian in his mid-fifties. Fridays are saved for their weekly get-together of drinking vodka and smoking “medicinal” weed. Guy has acute rheumatoid arthritis and his hippie doctor friend prescribed him medicinal marijuana to help ease his pain. Call it sharing some natural medicine with your friends, Guy always says.
Susan turns to Yonka. “So does Mario know that you're married now?” She passes the joint to Yonka.
“Well, no....How can I tell him that?” Yonka giggles. She passes the joint to Jenny. No one notices that she is not smoking with them.
Jenny says, “So he still thinks you and him are going out?” She takes a few quick puffs and hands the joint to Susan.
Yonka rolls her eyes. “It's a little more complicated than that.”
“How complicated is it to say, 'I am married?'” Susan asks. She puffs the joint several times until Guy glares at her. She sheepishly hands the joint back to him.
Guy says, “Don't you think he deserves to know?”
Yonka turns red. “When he moved out of here three months ago to work in Dubai, I thought it was over.”
“And so he called you to say that he missed you and can't live without your bullcrap? Heard it all before, honey.” He gives the joint the last few puffs and puts the butt into the ashtray.
Yonka smiles bitterly. “Then I find out a week after he left that I'm pregnant.” She reaches down to touch her belly.
Susan laughs. “And so is that why you agreed to the arranged marriage thing?”
Yonka nods. “Yeah, crazy huh? But a part of me thought that Mario would come back if I told him.”
“And so you told him?” Jenny asks.
“When he contacted me, ironically it was the day of the wedding. I couldn't believe he wanted to get back together.”
Guy interrupts. “So did you tell him?”
Yonka shakes her head. “I tried to... but then...It is too complicated. I don't know.”
“What about your ‘husband’?” Jenny asks. “Does he know?”
Yonka laughs. “No. I want to wait until I get things figured out.”
Susan shakes her head. “So you're going to make him think that he’s the baby’s daddy?”
“Well it's kind of difficult,” Yonka says, “since we haven't even consummated the marriage.” All three friends laugh out loud.
“What?” Guy chirps. “And how in the world do you expect hubby to believe he's the daddy
?”
Yonka says, “Hey, it's not like I didn't try. I've tried to seduce him. But he gets so traditional on me and keeps saying, ‘Become a respectable woman before you come near me again, woman.’”
“Whoa... a guy who says no to free sex and from his legitimate wife?” Susan laughs.
“Are you sure he's not gay?” Guy adds in a matter-of-fact tone. The women break out into uncontrollable giggles.
The front door opens and Adel and Kamil enter the smoke-filled apartment. Adel sees Yonka sitting on the far chair dressed in a tight black mini dress with a wine glass in her hand. Her friends are facing her, unaware of his or Kamil’s presence. Kamil looks over at Yonka and waves. He has met Yonka’s friends a few times before at other functions and get-togethers.
Kamil says, “Hello Yonka.” Her friends all turn to look.
Guy whispers to the women, “Wow, Yonka, you didn't mention that your husband was such a hottie. Hey, I'd do him!”
Susan laughs. “After me, baby.”
Jenny chimes in. “Maybe he'd like a foursome.”
Yonka glares at them. “Hey, that's my husband you're talking about here.”
Guy laughs. “Whatever, Yonka...whatever.”
Adel can’t believe that Yonka would disrespect him in front of her friends. He points his finger at Yonka. “If you want to smoke that stuff, do it somewhere else.”
Yonka raises her eyebrows and stands up. “Oh yeah? And what???”
Adel opens his mouth and then says under his breath, “Don't test me, Yonka. Like I said before, stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours. Cross me and you'll regret it.”
Yonka makes a face and then turns to her friends. “Come on, let's go. Reservations were for seven p.m.”
Guy and Jenny get up from the couch.
Jenny slithers up close to Adel. “Yonka, where's your manners? Aren't you going to introduce us?”
Yonka says, “Oh sure... This is Susan, Jenny, Guy… We work together at the hotel. This is Adel, my husband. Come on, guys, let's go.”
Guy comes up to Adel to shake his hand. “Very nice to meet you.”
Adel shakes his hand reluctantly. “Nice to meet you...”
Yonka says again, “Okay guys, let's go.”
“What's the rush?” Susan says. “Why don't we order in and you know hang out here? It would be nice to get to know Adel a little bit more.”
Adel coughs into his hand. “Actually, I'm having dinner at Kamil's. Thank you for the invitation. Come on, Kamil, let's go.”