I raised my eyebrows and replied mockingly.
"Well, look at you. The golden boy of the police demoted from organized crime to archive room guard? What did you do, break Dad's precious sleep-hour rules or something? But wait a second! You never had that kind of guts anyway. How could I forget? My bad!"
"Don't try to change the subject, it won't work this time. Ali noticed it was you in the footage when he checked the recordings for something else. You're lucky he came to me before Dad, so I was the first to hear about it. I've kept it from Dad for now, but I can change my mind at any moment. So you'd better start explaining. Why did you disguise yourself and go into the archive? What were you looking for there?"
Realizing he wasn't going to drop it without an answer, I replied irritably.
"I wasn't looking for anything, Emir. We made a bet with friends. I did it. That's all. Now that you've got your answer, get out of my room."
He put one hand on his waist and dragged the other down his face, speaking through clenched teeth.
"Are you screwing with me, brother? Don't push my patience. Give me a straight answer!"
"Drop it, Emir! You asked, I answered. Whether you like the answer or not isn't my problem."
Even though he tried to control himself, he snapped and grabbed my collar with one hand.
"Is that place a playground, you brainless idiot? What you did is a crime! And the punishment is serious! How many times is this now? I'm sick and tired of cleaning up after you and your careless bullshit! When are you going to grow the hell up? Do you need to end up in jail for that to happen?"
I grabbed his hand, yanked it off my collar, and snapped back just as angrily.
"That's enough, Emir! Get the hell out of my face! Report me, tell Dad, do whatever you want! I'm not afraid of anyone!"
He ran a hand through his hair angrily, pointed a finger at me, and locked eyes with mine.
"That was the last straw, Demir. If I catch you making even the smallest move that counts as a crime from now on, I'll personally make sure you pay the price."
When he stormed out of the room, I tugged at my hair in frustration and dropped onto the edge of the bed. A while later, Bora quietly came in and held out a plate of cookies. Even though I glared at him, I took one and shoved it into my mouth. As I chewed, I muttered angrily,
"If it weren't for my mom's cookies, this house would be unbearable, I swear."
His cheeks were puffed up like balloons from trying to eat five cookies at once. He grinned and nodded. I rolled my eyes and grabbed another cookie. After he managed to swallow, he muttered softly,
"You really pissed him off this time. Was it necessary to go that far?"
I let out a tired breath and shook my head.
"I don't like it either, but I know Emir. If I didn't provoke him, he'd never leave me alone. There's a reason he's so good at his job."
"You think he bought the bet story?"
"Probably. Even if he wanted to find another reason, he can't cause trouble for now since I put the file back. But we need to be more careful from now on."
I took the last cookie from the plate and handed it to him so he could break it for his share. As we both ate our halves, I stood up and picked up the things I'd set aside.
"Let's go. Dad will be home soon."
As he stood up to leave the room, he grabbed my arm.
"Wanna go to Hayri Uncle's café, Teddy? Hmm? We haven't been there in ages. I miss my big guy."
"Don't play me. I know you too well. Your gossip itch is acting up again."
When he blinked innocently and smiled, I clicked my tongue with a disapproving look.
"To hell with your face, Frizzy. What kind of man are you?"
He stepped back, put his hands on his hips, and replied with confident enthusiasm.
"Wanna compare who's more of a man, Teddy? Huh? Huh?"
I raised an eyebrow, questioning his seriousness. He dropped his shoulders, smiled sweetly, and poked my chest.
"Because I don't."
As I followed him out of the room, I laughed and muttered,
"That's what I thought."
On the way back to Rüzgar's place, I let out an exasperated sigh as I watched Bora sitting next to me, inhaling the mixed half toast he'd won from Hayri Uncle at backgammon without stopping to breathe.
"Slow down, man. You're gonna choke," I said.
He answered with a sound that barely counted as words since he was talking without swallowing. I shook my head helplessly and reached to turn on the radio. At the same moment, my phone started ringing. I checked the caller, put in my earpiece, and answered.
"Hello?.. I'm good, how about you?.. Tomorrow?.. I don't have anything planned for now. What's going on?.. Who's doing what, you said?!"
"Holy crap! What happened, why are you yelling? Is the test positive? Are you pregnant? Who's the father? Are you cheating on me, Teddy? You bastard! How could you do this to me?!"
Ignoring Bora's nonsense as he jumped in his seat at my sudden shout, I focused back on the voice on the other end of the line.
"What are you talking about, Duru? Aylin and modeling? Are you messing with me?.. Huh?.. Me? No way. Why would I be the one to take her?.. That's not my problem!.. I remember… This really isn't fair, Red… Fine, fine. What choice do we have, guess I'll take her then… Alright. See you."
The moment I hung up, I started swearing under my breath. Bora poked me curiously.
"What happened? What did Duru say to piss you off this much?"
"At Feyza's New Year's party, one of the designers offered Aylin a modeling job. There's a test shoot tomorrow. She wants me to take her."
"Seriously? Ohhh, that'd totally suit my ponchik!"
At my glare, he cleared his throat and lowered his voice.
"Or maybe not that much. I'm not entirely sure now."
When I took off my earpiece and tossed it aside, he frowned at me.
"Why are you this worked up? If you don't want to, don't do it. She didn't put a gun to your head."
I ran my hands through my hair in frustration.
"I have to, man. I lost a bet to Duru back in the day. I promised I'd do anything she asked. And out of the millions of things she could've chosen, she picked this crap. The second I tried to say no, she went all 'Does a real man go back on his word?' and 'Does that suit a guy like you?' and completely cornered me."
He burst out laughing, his shoulders shaking.
"So this is why Adonis's cheerful laughter has carried all the way here. Well played, Sugarflake. She figured you out fast. My condolences, Teddy."
I brushed off the hand he patted my shoulder with and went back to cursing, while he kept laughing but wisely said nothing else.
Years of friendship had taught him that pushing me when I was angry was a bad idea.
The strange part was, I didn't even understand why I was this angry. That only made it worse.
I'd always hated being forced into doing something against my will. But in the end, they were both good girls. And they'd needed my help for once in a blue moon.
I took a deep breath, trying to let that thought calm me down, while silently hoping that this pointless anger would pass by the next day.
Because if it didn't…
nothing good was going to come of it.