>oiktozian: Doğukan Doğan
Title of The Work: LOVE Begins With Longing…
Original Title: HASRET’ler SEVGİ’yle Başlar…
Genre: Story
On Doğukan’s wrist was a clock with an hour and minute hand that helped complete another one of those ordinary days. He was constantly looking at his watch and waiting for his friends, in the mist of a blissful hot coffee. If nothing went wrong, they would meet regularly every week at the places they had chosen…
The place Doğukan had chosen was a concrete pile that had been filled on the sea to be closer to the Maiden’s Tower. If he lived long enough, he would be able to walk to the Maiden’s Tower in a few years, but today it was Umut’s turn to choose a place.
Umut had chosen a café on Imam Adnan Street on the right-hand side of Istiklal Avenue from Taksim Square as his venue. Doğukan had come to the café beforehand; he was sitting there with a coffee in his hand, his eyes on the door and his head elsewhere.
Last week it was Kader’s turn. Kader had chosen a bus stop in Mecidiyeköy with 4 seats. The place he had chosen surprised his other friends, especially Doğukan. He was focused on remembering that day when he saw Kader and Umut coming in the door and his focus shifted to them. He asked them about their fourth and last friend Sevgi. She didn’t like the answer she got. Sevgi was sick and couldn’t come. However, it was her turn at the venue next week. He wondered if she would be able to recover.
The 3 friends sat in silence for hours, sad for Sevgi. They could have sat for more hours, but the words “We are closing now” broke their deep waiting. They said they would see each other next week and left.
The place Sevgi had chosen was in Eminönü, where there were small seats selling fish on boats. Doğukan had a full weekday and was curious about Sevgi.
As usual, Doğukan was at the place hours in advance and was waiting for his other friends. He was hungry, he didn’t know whether to order fish and bread or wait for his friends, but he couldn’t eat fish thinking about Sevgi. His eyes wandered far away. He looked at the passing ships and boats and felt he was in a déjà vu. As soon as he heard the voice “Fish bread is here”, he came back to the world. A tear appeared in his eye, and when he tried to wipe it away, thousands spilled on his hand. It was meaningless, he couldn’t make sense of it. He blamed it on the wind…
At that moment he saw the two people he had hoped for but didn’t want in a sad state. Sevgi was gone, he tried to ask what had happened, but somehow he understood. Love was dead. At that moment, thousands of tears were competing with each other to become millions. He left in a huff and headed for his own place, the Maiden’s Tower, without even taking a breath. She left behind Hope and Destiny and reached her place without even saying goodbye to them.
Why, she asked the void, why. A voice came from far away through the void, “Wake up, wake up.”
He found himself in a déjà vu like the one he felt in Eminönü. But the voice was still echoing; “Wake up, he will not come.” He broke through the voice and dived into it…
He suddenly remembered how “fate” had brought them together at the bus stop on that day when the rain increased in intensity, how they had waited for each other in the rain, how they had talked, how he had waited for her with “hope” in front of the café in Taksim where they had made an appointment to meet a week later, how he had told her with excitement about his unique “love” for her in Eminönü.
The last scene was the Maiden’s Tower. She didn’t remember that scene but she visualized it. He remembered at that moment that he had lost her in the cold waters of the Maiden’s Tower, that he could not save her, that the waves had taken her away, and he returned to the real world with the sound of his voice waking up.
It was not her old friends Kader, Umut and Sevgi who had come back from behind the bench where she was sitting. She had made a new friend and they were sitting on the same bench. Her new friend’s name was Hasret…
