A week had passed since that ridiculous night, and I hadn't seen Kerem at all—exactly the way I wanted.
Staying away from the shared cafeteria had definitely helped with that. The girls were a bit suspicious at first, about my behavior and the way I'd suddenly left the party, but since they knew I never really liked parties anyway, a few convincing excuses were enough for them to drop it.
After a peaceful yet exhausting week, I told the girls I wouldn't be going out this weekend and decided to spend the entire time being lazy in front of the TV.
As a classic Saturday routine, I woke up around noon and had a calm breakfast. Then I called everyone in my family and chatted with them for quite a while. After that, I stopped by the market and restocked my snacks. While waiting for my laundry to finish, I rewrote a few pages of my notes neatly.
By the time I finished the laundry and sat in front of the TV, it was already evening. I turned off all the lights and adjusted my sound system. Everything was ready. The horror movie marathon could officially begin!
Somewhere during the fourth movie—while I was swearing at the brainless female lead—my popcorn ran out. Not wanting to break the tension, I rushed to the kitchen without pausing the movie and grabbed a new bag.
By the time I came back to the living room, the girl in the movie was heading downstairs to open the ringing door.
"Go on, open that damn door. Then cry about getting murdered, idiot."
When the door in the movie was suddenly pounded on repeatedly, I jumped in my seat. Wow, the sound design was insanely realistic. It felt like the killer was banging on my door.
A few seconds later, the movie door opened—yet the knocking didn't stop. I paused the movie and listened.
Someone was actually at my door!
I checked the time—it was two in the morning. No one I knew would come to my place at this hour without warning.
"Who is it?"
A muffled voice on the other side of the door whispered my name, and I couldn't help cursing all the horror movies I'd just binge-watched. While I tried to figure out what to do, I rushed to the kitchen and grabbed the biggest knife I owned.
Hiding it behind my back, I slowly turned the key and pushed the handle down. I held my breath and cracked the door open.
Before I could see who it was under the hood hiding his face, the door was shoved hard from the other side, and I let out a small scream. My fear turned real as the stranger pushed his way inside.
I panicked and tried to swing the knife at him from behind my back, but before I could lift my arm, he grabbed my wrist and twisted it back. The move made me drop the knife, and just like that, my attempt at self-defense blew up in my face.
He spun me around and yanked me against him; pain shot through my back when it smacked into his solid chest, and a strangled sound escaped my lips.
I struggled with everything I had to get out of his grip. I opened my mouth to scream, but before I could make a sound, his other hand clamped over my mouth. My heart hammered so hard it felt like it might burst out of my chest; fear had sunk into my bones.
I kept fighting, stubbornly, but he was much stronger than me, and all my efforts were useless. When he finally kicked the door shut behind us, the sheer terror of being trapped sent tears rushing to my eyes.
"Calm down, Duru. It's me."
I froze and frowned. I knew that voice from somewhere. As recognition slowly dawned, my eyes went wide. I tried to shout "Kerem!" but with his hand still over my mouth, it came out as more of a grunt.
"I'm going to let you go now, but don't scream, okay?"
When I nodded, he slowly lifted his hand from my mouth and released the arm he'd twisted behind my back. The moment I was free, I put distance between my back and his chest and spun around on my heel—ready to tear into him for nearly scaring me to death—but then voices came from the other side of the door.
I snapped my gaze toward it.
"Where'd he go?"
"I couldn't see, but I heard a girl scream from this side, bro."
I turned to Kerem, ready to ask what the hell was going on, but he shook his head and pressed a finger to his lips. I took the warning seriously and stayed silent.
"Where did you say the sound came from?"
"Over here, bro."
I didn't know who they were or why they were after Kerem, but I didn't need to be a genius to understand this was serious. With their voices getting closer, just standing there and waiting in fear was clearly not an option; we needed to do something to make them go away.
With that thought, I rushed to the living room, hit play on the horror movie I'd paused earlier, and turned the volume up a bit more. As the screams of the cornered girl echoed through the apartment, I hurried back to the door.
Kerem watched me with a confused look. I opened my mouth to say something, but when he tried to shush me again, this time I moved faster and grabbed his hand, whispering:
"Trust me."
He narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously, but he pulled his hand back. I didn't waste another second and raised my voice just enough to be heard from the hall.
"Arzu! Turn it down, will you! Some of us are trying to sleep here!"
When I finished my performance, Kerem stared at me like he absolutely hadn't expected that. I gave an innocent little shrug.
"False alarm. The girls were watching a movie, bro."
"You idiot. We wasted all this time because of you. While we're standing here, the kid's probably already halfway home!"
As their voices grew fainter and then disappeared completely, we knew they were gone. I finally let out the breath I'd been holding. That had been close.
I closed my eyes, leaned my head against the door, and muttered under my breath:
"So much for a 'safe' building. This place is worse than a horror movie."
When I heard him chuckle, I turned to him with a sulky frown.
"You think this is funny? I almost had a heart attack because of you, and you're just standing there laughing like nothing happened?"
"You didn't look very scared two minutes ago when you told me to trust you, sunshine."
I rolled my eyes and stepped away from the door.
"Not every girl clings to the nearest guy and hides behind him when she's scared, hotshot. Some of us actually know how to take care of ourselves."
Just then, my gaze landed on the knife on the floor. I flipped on the hallway light and bent down to pick it up.
"They'll be gone in a few minutes, I'm sure. Then you can go wherever you—"
I cut myself off when I noticed the dark red drops on the floor.
What the hell?
I followed the trail to where it had formed a small puddle and then lifted my gaze. When I realized the blood was dripping from Kerem's hand, I straightened up in panic and hurried closer.
"You're bleeding!"