Ah, Istanbul… That ancient city, alive through centuries, with a story hidden in every stone. It had witnessed the rise and fall of empires, kindled and consumed countless loves, and silenced countless wars. Now, with all its grandeur, it flowed on, like a breath, unceasing.
Today marked one of the sharpest turning points in Defne's life. The launch of her waste-matching app was here… People whose names she had never even heard were lining up tonight to partner with her. The very names she had once waited at the doors of, clinging to the hope that they might , just might , support her project, were now sitting across from her, nodding their heads with practiced pride.
"We always knew you'd make it."
Defne knew it was all a load of nonsense. How strange… Sometimes the loudest applause came from the very people who should have been the last to give it.
The paparazzi were there too. Lenses trained on her like hungry birds of prey. Flashes burst through the air, each frame chasing her rise as though determined to document it. But all that noise barely whispered inside her , like wind passing through an open door. Not the applause, not the admiring gazes, not the hollow sentences dressed up as pride. None of it.
Because her focus held only one thing.
That dark reckoning she had been carrying for years , the one that refused to go quiet.
If she could finally bring down that cursed devil…
Then, and only then, would she repay every blow Eros had dealt her , in a single strike.
That day, the magnificent panorama of Istanbul lay spread beneath her feet from the residence's terrace, as though the city itself had bowed. As the city stirred awake in the first light of morning, the sun bled through the buildings and trembled across the sea in a shimmer of gold. Defne watched it all unhurriedly, as though she wished to etch every detail into her memory.
She had arrived at the hotel unusually early today. She couldn't afford a single misstep with the app. The meeting with her development team, set for shortly, would determine the rhythm of the entire day. Everything had to go flawlessly.
Wrapped in her white bathrobe, she felt the morning cool against her skin, yet she wanted to greet the sun all the same. She narrowed her eyes toward the light; as the warmth pressed against her face, a smile crossed her lips without her quite meaning it. Even amid all the chaos, she could still find the things that made her happy.
She raised her coffee to her lips and took a sip. Eyes closed, she greeted the sun and the city below. She was ready.
She was just stepping inside to get dressed when she heard that spirited voice carrying all the way out to the terrace.
Selin, Defne's closest friend from university and her right hand on this project , burst into the room with the full force of her morning energy. Dressed in a pink suit, her ponytail crowned with an oversized bow clip, she was the living embodiment of her own aesthetic.
"Come on, you're still in a bathrobe , show some energy!" she said, grabbing Defne by the arm and pulling.
Defne laughed and shook her head, though she knew there was no escaping her. "The launch is hours away , won't that little pink suit of yours wrinkle?" she asked with a grin.
Selin tilted her chin and scrunched her face. "You don't actually think I'm wearing this to the launch, do you? This is my daytime look," she said.
Defne could no longer hold back her laughter. "Ah, I beg your pardon, dear Aphrodite! I, a mere mortal, simply cannot fathom how you goddesses make your public appearances."
Defne had always had a passion for mythology. She had spent years memorizing its legends and could have passed for a walking encyclopedia. Selin found Defne's occasional stories about Eros and some ancient curse somewhat absurd, but she genuinely enjoyed her mythological comparisons all the same.
Selin flipped her ponytail and said, "Good girl, mortal. Now shut up and get dressed, or your goddess will be very displeased," and with that, she swept out of the room.
Defne slowly untied the sash of her bathrobe and let it fall from her shoulders. She stood facing the blouse and trousers laid out on the bed.
But only one question lingered in her mind:
Wouldthat devil, Eros, show up today to sabotage her?