There was only one day left before my life would finally fall into place.At least, that's what I believed—right until the moment I saw Kerem.
When my phone alarm went off, I dove under my pillow without even opening my eyes fully, fumbling for the phone so I wouldn't wake my roommates, and shut the alarm off in a panic.In state dorms—clearly built after a government experiment titled "How to fit six humans into a shoebox"—even the smallest sound felt like torture.Everything was arranged with the same tragic precision as those "matchbox-sized cheese" diet rules.
Since I was the only one with a morning class and had the unfortunate habit of waking up an hour earlier than everyone else, staying quiet always fell to me.
I pushed myself upright in bed, let my legs dangle over the edge, and slipped my feet into my slippers. After spending the next five minutes staring at the floor tiles and questioning my entire existence, I finally felt ready to get up.
About half an hour later, after finishing my hair, makeup, and outfit, I stood in the hallway, inspecting myself in the full-length mirror. I had once again showcased the classic Duru Ulusoy style. Wavy, reddish ponytail pinned down with what felt like forty bobby pins: check. Eye makeup—liner, pencil, mascara—highlighting my tiny brown eyes, and my favorite burgundy lipstick: check. An oversized, soft burgundy sweatshirt, black skinny pants, and boots: check. Just like always, I was ready for class in my unglamorous, comfort-over-beauty mode.
When the sharp November wind slapped me in the face as I stepped out of the dorm, my whole body whispered, "Oh please, education only matters so much—protect your inner peace and go back to bed." But I forced myself to keep walking, picking up my pace toward campus.
"Define elasticity for me… You, go ahead," the professor said.
While Selim struggled to answer from his seat, I finally managed to finish copying the last formula on the board.
When I lifted my head and accidentally locked eyes with our unpleasant professor—clearly unimpressed with Selim's answer—I immediately looked back at the board. Showing off wasn't my style. Not because I didn't know the answer—just because I had no desire to perform.
"No, that's too complex. What was your name again?"
"Selim, sir."
"Selim, you need to keep it simple. Like: 'What color is the wall? Yellow!' Basic, straightforward, universally understandable."
And that was exactly the moment my lifelong hatred for the color yellow began.
As if his useless comments weren't annoying enough, his entire personality was a masterclass in irritation. His nose was so far up in the air, he acted like he was a gift to the scientific world and we were pathetic peasants blessed with the privilege of hearing him speak. In short, he was the type of man who inhaled not to fill his lungs, but to inflate his ego—and his appearance didn't help his case either. With a belly marching two steps ahead of him and legs like toothpicks, he looked exactly like a tomato skewered on two sticks.
As always, I turned to my fellow sufferer Aylin, sitting beside me in shared misery.
"Let this class end already. I'm dying inside."
While whispering to her, I sneaked a look at the time on my phone under the desk. Seven minutes left—thank God. I flashed seven fingers at Aylin with a grin, and she smirked before going back to her notes.
Aylin was my only close female friend in the department—and considering there were barely ten girls in our entire year, that was pretty normal. We'd met two years ago in our technical drawing class. Since I hated drawing with every fiber of my being, she always helped me out—sometimes even did my assignments herself, bless her soul.
With her soft curves, medium height, light brown hair, and warm hazel eyes, she was the kind of girl who looked genuinely sweet. Her personality, though, was even better than her looks. Despite being stylish and perfectly put-together, she didn't have an ounce of jealousy or competitiveness in her—just pure kindness and a habit of helping everyone. And when someone managed to poke her feminist nerve, oh boy—she'd go off, scolding men twice her size without even blinking.
"Sir, it's lunchtime already—maybe we can save the new topic for next week?" Barış voiced what the entire class was silently praying for, and I turned my attention back to the professor.
When the professor actually agreed, I leaned back and whispered to Barış
"You're the man, bro!"
He put a hand dramatically over his chest and said, "Anytime!" which made me laugh before I turned back around and nudged Aylin instead.
"Come on, come on! Let's go to the cafeteria. I'm starving."
Aylin put on her jacket with a dramatic sigh "At least let me gather my stuff first, Duru!" while I had already shoved everything into our bags at lightning speed.
"No need, I got everything. Come on."
As we left the classroom and headed toward the stairs, my phone started ringing.
Good luck finding your phone in a bag where you've stuffed your entire life, Duru!
Since I wasn't blessed with the masculine superpower of pulling a phone from a pocket in one smooth motion, I ended up rummaging through my bag like a bingo announcer—one hand holding the strap, the other buried inside—muttering curses until I finally found it and answered.
"Hi, Feyza… Yeah, we just left… We're coming… Okay, I'll tell her… See you."
As I sent my phone back into the abyss of my bag, Aylin hooked her arm through mine when we stepped outside.
"What did Sapphire say?" she asked, and I grinned mischievously, wiggling my eyebrows.
"She said she's waiting for us at the cafeteria. Lucky you, your man is there too, he's on register duty today."
"Perfect! I haven't seen him since last week anyway."
"Then to celebrate this you're buying coffees today."
By then, we had already reached the cafeteria. While we were searching for Sapphire in the lunch-hour chaos, she had already spotted us and was waving.
We walked over, did the usual kiss-on-the-cheek routine, and I was about to sit across from Sapphire when I suddenly grabbed Aylin;
"Sit on this side. You'll get a better angle to check your guy out from here." Sapphire snorted, and I grinned as I sat next to her.
While Aylin called the waiter, Sapphire turned to me. "So? What happened with your housing situation? When are you moving?"
"If nothing goes wrong, this Saturday."
"Need help?"
"If you want to be a model friend… how about kissing the taxi driver so I won't have to give him the last of my money, since I may or may not have spent a small fortune decorating the place without telling my parents?"
After we gave our orders to the waiter, Sapphire slung an arm over my shoulders and proudly said, "Don't worry, we'll pick you up." Aylin and I both stared at her in pure confusion.
Aylin reacted first: "Who's 'we,' exactly?" Sapphire answered with a huge grin.
"My new boyfriend and me, obviously."
I muttered, "Which coloring book character is it this time?" and Aylin immediately burst into laughter.
Sapphire had a serious obsession with tattooed men—not the cute two-tattoo types, but the full-on 'looks like he escaped a Yakuza fight scene' types. Then she'd get bored in a week and dump them, usually without giving the poor guys a proper explanation. She'd been like that since the day we met. Though to be fair, the way we met was pretty unusual too.
A year ago, Aylin and I had gone to a bar to clear our heads, and after Sapphire's boyfriend caused a scene, we went over to help her, that's how we met. She's been to the same university as us and was also a junior, just in a different department.
With her waist-length blonde hair, ice-blue eyes, and perfect figure, she had the kind of beauty you couldn't ignore. Despite being the only child of a very wealthy family, she never flaunted it. She blended into any crowd, loved having fun, and was gloriously chaotic.
After that night, she naturally joined us, and for the past year the three of us had become inseparable. When Sapphire leaned over the table and started talking with all her excitement, I focused on her.
"I don't know if you remember, but there was a new bartender at the bar we always go to…" When we nodded, she let out a deep sigh and looked down at the table before continuing.
"Last night, my dad and I got into an even worse argument than usual, so I stormed off to the bar. And he was there that night too. ven though I was furious and just wanted to be alone, he still managed to make me laugh and actually talk. He's really smart and really sweet."
Whatever memory she replayed in her head must have amused her, because she stopped, giggled, covered her cheeks with her hands, and spoke with a dreamy look.
"And he's unbelievably good at making you forget your problems. Oh God.. His lips…"
Aylin realized exactly where this was going and cut her off with a slight frown.
"Seriously, Sapphire?! You turned this into a condom commercial in two seconds. Okay. We get it. He's the bartender."
This time it was my turn to laugh, and Sapphire shot her a mischievous grin. She rolled her eyes dramatically and pointed behind her.
"What are you aiming for, the Vatican? You've supposedly liked this guy for two months but haven't looked him in the eyes for more than two seconds!"
"What am I supposed to do! I get shy. I'm not as fearless as you two."
"Anyone would think we're telling you to do a striptease! It's just the universal tactic: 'Hey handsome, I like you. We should talk. Come flirt with me.'"
Aylin shot her a look that said 'English, please,' and I shook my head.
"I thought nothing could be worse than my physics professor. What Sapphire's trying to explain, using her own relativity theory, is basically that you should look at the guy occasionally and throw cute smiles his way."
"That's literally what I said."
Sapphire rolled her eyes and checked her phone while Aylin and I laughed at her fake sulking.
When our food finally arrived, we were happily digging in when I noticed a shift in the room. I looked up to see what was happening and realized everyone was staring toward the entrance and whispering, so I turned too. The moment my eyes met a pair of icy blue ones, a sudden chill ran down my spine.
"Looking at people like that should be illegal!"
Sapphire put down her phone—probably texting her new boyfriend—and looked in the same direction I was staring.
"Who? Rüzgar?"
"I don't know his name. The half-portion guy with his hair pushed up."
Sapphire laughed and turned back to me.
"Yeah, that's Rüzgar. He and the other two are seniors in our department. Everyone at this school knows them. You just haven't run into them because you barely hang out here. Let me give you the essentials. Rüzgar is the mysterious one. He barely talks, and no one knows anything about him. I used to have a class with Kerem. Besides being stupidly attractive, he's smooth, confident, and knows exactly how to charm people—but I don't see him today. The huge one is Demir. He has a girlfriend but never stops flirting with other girls. Total player. The one glued to his girlfriend is Bora. He's the friendliest of their group. He and his girlfriend, Nil, study in another department. I think they've known each other forever, they're more like siblings. They're practically never apart. Because of their looks and whole vibe, they attract a ridiculous number of admirers."
"Oh, please! What is that? They look like a limited-edition blond boyband gone wrong!" The girls snickered at my comment, and when Aylin held up her phone and said, "We really need to go or we'll be late." we nodded and started gathering our things.
Sapphire winked at me and handed money to Aylin. "Teresa, pay for ours too? We'll wait by the door so we don't crowd the cashier."
I handed her my own money and grinned. "Same here, babe. Thanks in advance."
Aylin hurried to the counter, way too excited, and Sapphire and I watched her with stupidly huge smiles. I lifted my hands dramatically toward the sky.
"Dear God, please help this girl. Amen."
Sapphire snorted. "Your prayer isn't enough for Aylin's level of shyness. We'd need an entire theology department reciting scriptures for her."
I smacked her arm, laughing. "Don't underestimate my prayers, blondie. I practically lived in the mosque as a kid, even if it was just to play hide-and-seek."
She burst out laughing, and I added defensively, "What? The courtyard had great hiding spots!"
As we walked arm-in-arm toward the door, Aylin rushed over, still looking stunned. "You guys won't believe this… I still can't believe it myself… I think it actually happened…"
Of course, Sapphire couldn't hold herself back. "Girl, stop mumbling! What happened? Did someone say something to you?"
"He asked for my name. When I told him, he said "Nice to meet you, I'm Giray." Then he asked for my number… and I gave it to him. Then I panicked, said "see you," and ran back to you guys."
Sapphire and I screamed, completely ignoring everyone around us, and threw ourselves at Aylin in a hug.
I flipped my hair dramatically at Sapphire and said, "Told you my prayers always hit their target." Sapphire burst out laughing, while Aylin, still in shock, didn't even catch what I said.
When we stepped outside, Sapphire said, "I'm off, my boyfriend will be here any minute. See you tomorrow. And Teresa, text us immediately if you hear from him." Then she kissed us both and waved as she left.
As Aylin and I walked toward the labs for our next class, we followed the most sacred rule of being a girl, retelling the entire story over and over again while giggling like idiots.