Their apartment was big enough for the two of them: one bathroom, one study room with a kitchen,a bedroom, a small lounge, and a hallway. Aniya was getting ready, and Sarah was making breakfast for her. Since it was Saturday, the university was closed.
"Just take care of yourself. In any emergency, call Abdullah. I know it's a dumb emergency number, but still," Aniya laughed and said.
"I'll be fine. Take care," Sarah said and hugged her.
Sarah came with her to see her off.
"He's not that rich. Where did he get that car?" Aniya said as she saw the sleek black sedan waiting at the curb.
Sarah glanced at it: polished chrome, tinted glass, the kind of engine hum that belonged in a movie chase scene.
"He dropped me at the hostel in the same car. Maybe it's Tayyep's," Sarah said, though a part of her doubted it. Her eyes met Mehmet's for a millisecond.
After Aniya left, she went back to the apartment and fell into bed to sleep again.
She woke up at 2:00 PM to Abdullah's call.
"You're coming?" Abdullah asked.
"No, Mehmet gave me some files. I'll work from home today, Captain," Sarah said.
"Okay, soldier. Sleep again, but send him the files on time," Abdullah played along.
She got up from the bed and read Aniya's messages about their arrival in Izmir. Her eyes stopped at the vase where some flowers were happily dancing, but two roses were dying.
She made a light meal—toast with peanut butter and coffee and watched a movie. This was the kind of weekend she always had in Pakistan. She missed her home, her family, her brother.
________________________________________
Izmir
They stepped into the house, and for a moment even Eric stopped talking.
Polished marble floors reflected the golden glow of antique chandeliers. The walls were lined with framed calligraphy, each piece lit like it belonged in a museum.
"Whose house is this?" Aniya asked.
"My grandparents'," Mehmet replied simply, already walking deeper inside, as if there was nothing remarkable about living inside a magazine spread.
"Take some rest. At exactly 8:00, we'll have dinner, and at 9:00, you have to start your assigned tasks" , he said.
"He's so professional, huh?" Aniya said.
"Yes, he is," Eric replied, and they went to their separate rooms.
At 8:00, they were having dinner in the dining area. The house was in very good condition, and its aesthetics were stunning.
________________________________________
Back in Istanbul, Sarah was facetiming her parents. After an hour, she felt a little hungry.
"There's nothing good here. Do some groceries, guys," Sarah said to herself.
"Where's my phone?" she said as she went outside the building.
" Only 4% charging," she muttered, looking at her phone.
She turned onto the wrong street while distracted by a street vendor. The neighborhood changed slightly.
" What the hell am I doing out here?"
she asked herself. She checked her phone for maps, but it loaded slowly. She hated that one dead phone battery could make her feel like a stranded child. Istanbul was hers too, and she refused to look like prey.
She called Abdullah, but he didn't pick up. Then she called Aniya.
"Aniya, uh, send me the pin location. I can't find the way," Sarah said.
"What are you doing? Where are you? " Aniya asked.
"I don't know. I just came out of that mart by the restaurant but got distracted by something, and now it's just streets," Sarah replied tensely.
"Are you mad? I sent you the location. Follow it, and don't hang up the call," Aniya said.
"My phone is almost dead," Sarah said, and the battery dropped to 1%.
"I told you a thousand times to charge it," Aniya scolded her.
She was following the map, but it froze.
"Aniya, it's not working," she said, but the line cut mid-sentence.
Aniya was speaking, but there was no response. Her phone died. Mehmet heard Aniya's voice.
"What's wrong?" Mehmet asked.
"Sarah's just a bit lost," Aniya replied.
"At night? That's serious. She's new in Istanbul," Mehmet said.
"Call her," Eric stood up and said.
"Her phone died," Aniya told him.
Mehmet went silent, his jaw tightening. He froze. Everything around him faded.
Eric tried to lighten the mood.
"She'll ask someone nearby. She's smart."
Mehmet didn't look up from the file in front of him, but his jaw tightened.
"Smart doesn't keep you safe when you're alone in a strange city," he said, quieter than usual, but his words cut sharply.
He stood, paced once toward the window, glanced at the sky as if it had any answers, and sat again. The chair creaked under his weight. His hands remained still on the table until Eric noticed his knuckles, white from gripping the pen too tightly. Then he stood up again and called someone, instructing them in Turkish.
Send me her picture, Mehmet asked Aniya, and she quickly nodded and sent him Sarah's picture. Sarah was smiling in that photo, her eyes shining, he called someone again and said something. He hung up and glanced at the sky again.
In Istanbul, Sarah was walking when three men approached her. They were strong and probably 6 feet tall. She panicked slightly but tried to keep her composure.
"You're Sarah?" one of them asked, but Sarah tried to ignore them and kept walking aimlessly.
"Listen, Madam. Mehmet bey instructed us to find you and drop you at your apartment," one of them said again. Sarah inhaled, and this time, she felt relief in her lungs.
Why did his name feel like safety, when I'm sure he dislikes me?
She followed the men. One walked at a distance from her, while the other two walked behind. A man carried her shopping bag.
After five minutes, she finally saw her building.
"Thank you all. You can go now," Sarah said to them.
"We'll drop you at your door," he said, and Sarah stared at them and kept walking.
"Okay, so this is my apartment. You can go now," Sarah said when she reached her door. One of them called Mehmet and said something in Turkish.
"Madam, check in and tell us if anything is wrong," the man with the phone told her, and she sighed.
"Now I'm sure Mehmet sent you all," she said in a low voice.
"Everything is good," she said, and he relayed this on the phone.
"This is my contact number in case of any emergency. Call me," he said while the other two men stood still behind him. They left, and she shut the door.
She plugged in her phone. The first thing she did was text Aniya.
Aniya's breath escaped in relief. She passed the phone to Mehmet without a word. He glanced at the message, nodded, but he didn't say anything. He turned back to his file as if nothing had happened, yet the tension in his shoulders seemed to dissolve almost unnoticeably.
Much later, while Aniya and Eric were discussing something, Mehmet's hand slipped to his phone. He saw a message from Sarah:
"Thanks, Mehmet Sir. Didn't know you had so many connections."
He read it twice, thumb hovering over the keyboard, then set the phone face down. Instead of replying, he checked the Istanbul weather. The temperature was dropping fast.
For a long moment, he didn't move, just stared at the cold numbers on the screen, his reflection faint in the glass. His grip on the pen tightened until it pressed into his palm.
"Shouldn't have left her there alone," he muttered, barely audible, as if admitting it to the night rather than to himself.
Then, with a suddenness that made both Aniya and Eric glance up, he said,
"We'll leave early tomorrow. I'll finish everything tonight."
Istanbul
I. Murat. Mehmet. Those stone-faced guards. Who are you, Mehmet Ibrahim?
I'll find out, Sarah mumbled through a mouthful of crackers.
I'll find out, Mehmet Ibrahim… He's not just a writer, not just a boss. He's something else entirely and I will find out what.
________________________________________
Sarah woke up the next day. Her phone was flooded with missed calls from an unknown number—one of the men Mehmet had sent—plus a short, cold message:
"Next time, answer the call."
No "Are you okay?" Just a command. It annoyed her, though a small part of her couldn't deny feeling slightly touched.
"I was sleeping." Sarah texted back, then set her phone aside. Aniya had told her they were returning today instead of Monday.
Abdullah called, and she picked up.
"I'm sorry about yesterday. My phone died," he said.
"It's okay. I figured," she replied lightly.
"When are they coming back?" he asked.
"Around noon," she answered.
"Okay, see you tomorrow," Abdullah said before hanging up.
"Emergency contact," Sarah muttered, laughing softly to herself.