Kabul - Acceptance: Sequel to 'Yasak - Forbidden' (A Goktug Alp Love Story)

CHAPTER 18

A/N: I think they meant Osman but okay 🤷‍♀️ 

Whilst Aygul Hatun was attacking Hazal Hatun in the tribe, Goktug Alp and Boran Alp were deep in the forest of Inegol, waiting for a certain someone to pass.

"I still cannot believe that he is alive," said Goktug between gritted teeth. "I was so sure that I killed him! I had him!" "Yes, you did, Brother," said Boran soothingly. "But Allah decided that the cockroach was not to die that day, to our misfortune. Do not blame yourself." Goktug sighed and nodded, as he fitted an arrow in his bowstring. They waited in silence for a few minutes, before he spoke up again to start another conversation.

"Cerkutay and I grew up together," he told Boran. "Both of us were orphans adopted into Balgay's care. I was there before he was, though. His father was a friend of Balgay's, and had entrusted Cerkutay to him if he were to die in battle." "So he really is a Mongol then, huh?" asked Boran, and Goktug nodded again in response. "You do not think he is a mankurt like you were?" "No," replied Goktug through thinned lips. "Even so...I despise him and I want to kill him." Boran creased his brow, slightly curious.

"You want to kill him, I can understand that," said Boran. "But why do you hate him, Goktug? Surely even if you are enemies now, you were friends once. Brothers, once. What is it that makes you detest him so?" Goktug's jaw clenched and he swallowed hard; "I have always been the most prized in Balgay's eyes," he began. "I have always been his favorite. His 'Blond Rage' as he called me. He has always loved me most."

"And so?"

"And so Cerkutay was jealous," shrugged Goktug. "Balgay would always favour me over him." He sighed. "So he wanted to take revenge on me," he continued. "And he used your sister. He used Melike." "He did what, now?" asked Boran, his eyes wide. "He was the one who found out that Melike and I were meeting in secret, when she was, well, teaching me about Islam and the Turks," said Goktug. "As well as being there for me in my times of need, as I did for her- I hope." "Yes, well, I know that bit," said Boran, looking slightly irked. "It was odd, you know, to find out that my sister was seeing someone behind my back when we have never kept any secret from each other...but tell me about how Cerkutay found out."

"Well he would notice that whenever I was stressed or had much on my mind, I would leave the camp," said Goktug, trying not to smirk at Boran's annoyance about his and Melike's secret meetings. "And whenever I would return, I would feel a lot better and would be a lot more even-tempered. He wanted to know what it was that made me so happy, especially if I had hidden it from them- perhaps he wanted to take it away from me, as he definitely believed that I had more than enough. And then he saw me with Melike." He smiled softly.

"He said that he had seen her tending to my wounds one day after a battle that we had fought against Osman Bey and all of you," said Goktug. "He was curious as to why I went off, especially as we all were wounded. Then he saw Melike and I together, and recognized her from before. He told Balgay, and the two hatched a plan to catch her and use her against me when I thought that they had gone off to Konya." "So that is how Balgay found out about you and Melike," murmured Boran. "And that is how my sister got captured...my, my, Cerkutay is not so daft after all!"

"Unfortunately," said Goktug in a nasty voice, dripping with hatred. "Well, when Melike had gotten captured, and he saw that Balgay was still letting me live, he told me very bitterly that Balgay was always going to favour me, despite the way I betrayed him. He reproached me, telling me that I could at least treat Balgay with the respect Balgay had for me. It was obvious to me then, why he really had sold me out to Balgay- it was a form of revenge. Perhaps he even wanted me dead, I will never know. I have never held anything against him before, but since then I have held a deepest loathing for him, just as I have for anyone who hurts Melike."