I opened the door and stepped aside as the face in front of me, clearly furious, pushed inside without waiting.
He walked straight into the bedroom. When he sat on the bed and put his hand on Duru's cheek, he turned to me immediately.
"She's burning up! Why didn't you take her to the hospital?"
I crossed my arms and leaned against the doorframe.
"Duru has a hospital phobia. Interesting that you don't know that as her boyfriend."
He murmured something under his breath while looking at Duru, then sighed and shook his head.
There was definitely something not normal about their relationship.
When he lifted the towel from her forehead, soaked it again, and started wiping her face and neck, I smiled and gave him a warning he needed.
"Don't get too close. Otherwise, I don't think you'll like what you hear. Even like this, she's cursing you. Whatever you did, you really got under her skin."
He seemed to like that. Laughing, he leaned down and whispered something into her ear. When Duru's brows furrowed, I laughed too.
Their communication was insane, honestly.
It would be better to leave them alone.
"I'm going to make something to eat. She'll need food to take the medicine."
He nodded, so I walked out and closed the door.
Thank God Duru's fridge was always stocked with fruits and vegetables, or I'd have to go hunting for ingredients at this hour too.
I went into the kitchen and stared at the food, unsure what to make.
I pulled out my phone and searched online for ideas.
Unlike Duru and Aylin, it wasn't exactly accurate to say I cooked, but I had watched them cook enough. It didn't look that hard.
Half an hour later, I was staring hopelessly at my soup that still refused to look the way it should.
I flinched and stepped back when another head leaned toward the pot.
"When did you get here?" I blurted out.
"What is this?" The way he pointed at the pot and asked so seriously made me a little offended, but I tried not to show it.
"Soup, obviously!"
"It looks like you threw everything in without chopping it."
"Knives steal vitamins from vegetables, you know. So I just tore up what I could with my hands and put it in."
He took the spoon from my hand, dipped it into the pot, and lifted it back out, staring at the lettuce in it.
"Did you put lettuce in soup?"
"I read that vitamin C in green vegetables is good for colds. There wasn't much celery stalk left, so I added some lettuce."
He nodded and dipped the spoon again. This time, a chicken piece came up.
"Why is the chicken just bones?"
"Same article said bone marrow broth is good for the immune system."
He set the spoon down and held out his hand.
"Can I see that page?"
I handed him my phone. He looked at the screen, then at me, then back at the screen.
"Did you add ginger too?" he asked, and I answered sadly.
"I couldn't find ginger, but I put fresh mint. Doesn't that count?"
I couldn't tell why he was looking at me like that, so I waited for him to explain what was wrong.
"Feyza."
"Yes?"
"Do you realize this isn't a soup recipe?"
"I know. It's foods that help with a cold. I specifically looked those up. If she eats them all at once, won't she recover faster? I mean, logically?"
He sighed and rolled up his sleeves.
"Leave the food to me. You…" His eyes flicked to the sink piled with vegetable scraps and dirty utensils, and he finished, "Just sit."
Then, after a brief glance from head to toe, he reached up, plucked a leaf out of my hair, and added, "Or take a shower. You look like you need it."
I couldn't look that bad, could I?
It's not like I'd committed a crime. I just tried to make soup, okay, at least I tried.
I stepped into the hallway and checked myself in the mirror on the coat rack. With my detergent-commercial-level colorful clothes and my chaotic hair, I did, in fact, look terrible.
After knocking lightly, I went into Duru's room.
Kerem looked up at me, and the expression on his face shifted the moment he saw me. I immediately raised my hand.
"Don't. I'm grabbing clothes and leaving." He laughed and turned back.
I picked something my size from the drawers and left them alone again.
When I came out of the bathroom with my hair dried, that amazing smell hit me, and I marched straight into the kitchen.
The place was sparkling compared to how I'd left it.
I lifted the lid of the pot and stared at the soup, which looked ridiculously delicious. Grinning, I scooped some up with the ladle and tasted it.
Its appearance was nothing compared to the taste. It might have been the best soup I'd ever eaten.
I grabbed a bowl, filled it, placed it on a tray, added a glass of water, napkins, and a spoon, and carried the tray into the bedroom.
When Kerem saw me, he stood up. I set the tray on the dresser and turned to him.
"Are you leaving?"
"Yes." At that moment, Rüzgar walked in too.
Kerem looked at him, then at me. "Rüzgar will stay with you."
As he moved toward the door, he stopped and looked at Duru one last time.
"She shouldn't know I came," he said, and before I could ask what was going on, he was already gone.
I looked at Rüzgar, curious.
"Do you know why he acted like that?"
"Yes."
While I waited for him to explain, he took the tray and walked to Duru. "Help her sit up. She needs to take her medicine now."
Had he just ordered me around? How could a human being be this irritating, seriously?
But if I was Feyza, there was no way I wasn't going to find out what was going on.
As a starting point, playing along was useful, of course.
I did what he said, went to the bed, and managed to get Duru sitting up, even if it took effort. Then I sat beside her and took the bowl from the tray.
After I fed her and got her to take her medicine, she looked a little better, but she couldn't be left alone until her fever dropped fully.
So I leaned my back against the headboard and stayed beside her.
Rüzgar sat on a chair on the other side of the bed.
I could have said I'd wait alone, but since there were still things I wanted him to tell me, it actually worked in my favor that he stayed.
Also, I couldn't deny that I enjoyed him being forced to sit there uncomfortably on that chair because he annoyed me.
"What's her issue with hospitals?" The fact that he asked first surprised me a little. I sighed and looked at my friend.
"I don't know. She never told me. But every time it comes up, her face changes. Like even the word 'hospital'…"
"Does it hurt her?" The accuracy of his guess pulled my attention to him before I could stop it.
He was watching Duru without looking away, his face carrying a strange expression. And since the day I met him, I had never seen him look at anyone or anything like that.
He seemed to have some kind of interest in Duru, something different that I couldn't name.
It wasn't that I thought he was the type to fall for a friend's girlfriend, but it still didn't feel normal.
As I studied his face, my eyes drifted to his lips.
Remembering how I'd latched onto those lips when he dropped me home the night Duru and I drank together and got drunk, my cheeks burned.
Why was I feeling so weird?
Considering he was nothing like the guys I usually hooked up with, I couldn't say I liked him.
Sure, his strong presence and attractive style were undeniable, but his irritating silence and cold attitude outweighed those pluses in my opinion.
Maybe I'd just liked his lips in that moment, who knew.
The moment he turned his eyes to me, I felt my face heat up even more because I'd been caught staring.
Great. Kissing him once wasn't enough, now I was getting caught checking him out too.
He was going to think I was a total creep.
When he stood up from the chair and walked toward me, my heart started beating so fast that I couldn't even understand what my problem was.
But the shock I felt when he leaned down and placed his hand on my forehead was indescribable.
"You have a fever too."
"D-Do I?" Oh my God. Had I actually just stuttered?
When my surprise made him form the faintest smile, the fluttering and tingling in my stomach told me I was definitely not okay.
But with my eyes locked on his lips, the only thing I could think about was kissing him again.
Just like that time, I had no idea why I wanted to kiss him. I just did, and when it came to impulses, I wasn't exactly someone who could hit the brakes easily.
I lifted myself slightly where I sat and pressed my lips to his.
A second time…