Edser OS and Short Stories

Lost in Montmartre Chapter 13

Selin stood in shock, not able to move from her spot, staring with her mouth open at the corner of the square where Serkan had disappeared, not sure of what had just happened. She was more than one hundred percent certain she'd seen Serkan, but what the hell? What was Serkan doing there? Why had he disappeared for three years, abandoning all his work and everything he had ever owned and achieved, to move to Paris? For what? To date a girl with a child?! Or had he been living a double life all those years until that girl forced him to stay? But that didn't make any sense.

Selin finally came back to her senses and crouched down to pick up her phone. She pressed her lips into a thin line when she saw the shattered glass, though it still worked. She glanced around frantically, trying to come up with a plan for what to do next.

When she had first seen Serkan, she'd been so shocked that she missed her chance to approach him, and he disappeared again. It had all happened so fast. But Selin wasn't about to let him drop off the face of the earth again. She was determined to find him and confront him. The problem was, he could be anywhere, and she had no idea where to start looking. So what she knew he was in Paris, this city wass enormous.

And what about that brunette? Selin's face twisted into a grimace. Who was she? And that child?! Selin refused to think of the child as Serkan's daughter or the brunette as his child's mother. It was too much for her to digest, even if the child looked like the brunette's copy and bore an unsettling resemblance to Serkan.

Selin took a few steps forward, carefully examining her surroundings, trying to find any clue about where the brunette could have come from. She walked toward the corner of the square, and when she raised her head to read a sign on one of the buildings, her lips curled into a triumphant smile. The children's club. That had to be it. Selin saw a few parents leaving through the door with toddlers. Yes, this was definitely the place the brunette had visited with that child.

Selin pulled out a picture of Serkan from their university days, a brief period when he had acted friendly toward her, so he was smiling in the photo, and armed with it, she waited impatiently for another group of children to leave. Then, just as the door began to close, she slipped inside.

She looked around at the space where she found herself. It was a mash-up of a café, library, and kindergarten, with a large play area filled with toys, many bookshelves, and a decent-sized bar counter surrounded by a few chairs and tables. Almost no one was there except of three women, leaning against the counter, gossiping over coffee and slices of cake.

"Excuse me." Selin said in French, approaching them and when they stopped talking and giggling to look at her, she added. "I'm looking for an old friend. I just saw him here a couple of minutes ago. He was with a brunette and a little child. His name is Serkan Bolat."

"Bolat?" A younger blonde woman frowned and shook her head. "I don't know anyone with that name."

"Wait!" Another one exclaimed, a brunette in her thirties, and turned to the rest of the group. "Isn't Eda's husband's name Serkan?"

Selin blinked at the word husband, while a third woman giggled, blushing, and said. "That Serkan who makes me question my morals every time he comes here, even though I know lusting after a married man is wrong?"

Selin pretended not to hear the last comment and pulled out a picture. All the women immediately leaned closer to examine it with curiosity and, one by one, they nodded. "Yes, that's him."

Selin cleared her throat and said. "This is Serkan Bolat. He was in a plane crash over three years ago and has been missing since."

The room filled with gasps and horrified glances, and Selin smiled uncomfortably as all the women stared at her, speechless. Finally, one of them broke the silence.