Moonlit Scars

"The four-leafed clover" cafe

"So there's no backstory to it?" Safet asked for the hundredth time.

Seray leaned back and rolled her eyes. "No again no. I did it for Lalam. And it's not permanent. Just for a little while"

Kaya sipped her latté and watched them going back and forth. The secluded pavilion set outside, provided the perfect place to spend a relaxing afternoon, away from the hubbub of the cafe. Their table was shadowed by a large tree and once in a while, leaves and twigs fell down, making Lalam squeal with delight. The little girl was sitting between her and Seray putting sprinkles on her strawberry milkshake. Seray had ordered a variety of toppings and the little girl looked mesmerized by all the colors. Which made you wonder what kind of a childhood she was having.

Which brought them back to their original point.

"I'm just curious", Safet said again. "You're saying that this place is a mansion?"

"Yes, a big old mansion", Seray answered. "You cannot keep count of all the people who live there. And yesterday when I went back, a woman was folding my clothes", she shuddered. "She was folding my clothes. When I interfered she looked like I cursed her down with a plague"

Kaya grinned. "Snobbish rich people and their servants. Did someone pour your coffee this morning?"

"Yes", she said, looking uncomfortable. "These people don't do anything by themselves except sit around and talk. I can't imagine spending my life like that"

"I can", Safet said. "I'd like someone to pour my coffee for me. Or iron my clothes", he winked at Lalam. "Or sing me to sleep in a sweet voice"

Kaya snorted. "That's because you don't know how to make coffee. Do you even know how to boil water?"

Safet flipped her off. "You're the one to talk. Do you even know how to cook rice without burning down the whole house?"

Seray made a frantic gesture towards Lalam.

Safet smiled, looking sheepish. In the fading afternoon light, his green eyes looked almost colourless. He'd let his red hair grow out this time and Kaya told him that he looked like someone had overturned a bottle of ketchup on his head. Of course he ignored her.

"So...", He added another sugar cube to his coffee. "Kerem used to live there. In a mansion. And he never even told us?"

"Well, we knew that Kartals were rich", Seray said. "But I was expecting just a big house, you know- like a nice villa or something. Not a small castle"

"What about the Kartals who live there?" Kaya asked. She'd only met Ayleen from the bunch and she hadn't been impressed. The woman had been too aloof to be interesting. "What are they like?"

Seray shrugged, tucking in a few flyaways from her pinned up hair. For a moment, Kaya studied her half-sister and her supposed niece. They somehow resembled each other with their lithe physique, their colouring and their huge dark eyes. Also, who else could be compatible with the child better than Seray? They both had lost so much in such a young age- both being orphans.

When their house in Izmir had been burned down with their parents still stuck inside, Kaya's father- their uncle had taken the two siblings in his care. That was a while before he met Kaya's mother. Growing up, she had never known a life without Seray and Kerem. They'd done everything together- learning to play chess with father in the evening, going to the park at weekends, making pastry with strawberries and maple syrup on holidays...

Being ten years older than them, Kerem had a life of his own, away from home. But Seray and Kaya had been inseparable until college, where Kaya had discovered wine and guys. Seray had gone to Art school to get her degree and now she was teaching painting to private students. The girl had always been sure of what she wanted in her life, always planning ahead of trips and school semesters- the silent, organized one.