Is this destiny?

Hande is in her room, lying on the bed and reading a book.

"Come in…", she called when she heard the knock on the door.

Her eyes widened when she saw Ade walk in.

"I didn't see you after breakfast. Merve said that I can find you here.", Ade answered her silent question.

Hande blinked. Other than her eyelids, the rest of her was frozen. It took her some time to find her voice.

"You were looking for me?"

Ade hummed in confirmation and pulled a chair closer to her bed. He straddled the chair and rested his chin on the backrest. "What are you reading?"

Hande realized that she is holding onto a book. "A story about a girl who is unwanted."

"Who does not want her?"

"Her family is hiding her. The story is set in a society where more than two kids per family are not allowed, and she is the third child." Hande saw that Ade is expecting more, so she added: "Her parents wanted two kids, but the second pregnancy was with twins. She is the younger twin and that makes her the third child. If she is found, her parents will be sent to prison, and her siblings and her to an orphanage. She is trying to justify the fact that she is spending her life in the basement, without access to other people, education, or anything outside her home."

"Do you like the story?"

"Not really.", Hande responded.

"So, why are you reading it then? Don't tell me that you feel unwanted?"

"Sometimes I feel like that.", Hande admitted. "I grew up in a family where my mother feared my father, we all feared him. My father was very controlling, and he would get violent when things didn't go his way. If I did or said something he didn't like, I would get a beating…" Hande stopped talking, realizing that she probably said too much.

After some silence, Ade spoke: "I grew up without a father. I remember my mother telling me how he went far away to get a good job so that he can earn more money and provide for us. But when she was drunk, she would say that he ran away with another woman and that she would be better off without me, because when men see her with a child, they don't want to stick around. I was eight years old when my mother left in the morning and didn't come back. By the time I finished the food in our house, neighbors noticed that my mom is not there, probably because I was dirty, and I lost weight… and they would give me food sometimes. One day, a man came and offered me a job to clean his house. There I met Jamari. Things happened, and we ended up in a basement with Oni, Nala, Zula, Masika, and Imani. There were other kids as well, but they were taken away before Sarah and Aiden found us."

Hande listened without breathing. She scolded herself. When she compares her life with Ade's, how can she complain? At least her family stuck together, and she had food and clean clothes, while Ade's both mother and father left him to fend for himself.

"Don't look at me like that.", Ade's voice pulled Hande out of her thoughts. "I didn't tell you that to make you feel bad."

"Why did you tell me?"

Ade shrugged. "You told me something about yourself, it's only fair that I say my part. But the more important thing is that we are here now. We should not forget from where we came, so that we can appreciate everything we have here. I am working hard as a thank you to Sarah and Aiden, and I want to protect them so that I am not left on my own again…" Ade pointed at the book which Hande kept on the side. "I am sure that the girl in the story will find her happy ending."

Hande was overwhelmed. Ade said so many things… Her sight fell on the book. "What if she doesn't have a happy ending? What if she is caught?"

"Then, the story is rubbish. Let me see…", Ade grabbed the book and flipped to the last page.

"Wait!", Ade exclaimed and bolted off the chair so that Hande can't get the book while he reads the ending. He kept the book high up and read swiftly while Hande hopped around him, trying to snatch the book away.

Ade lowered his gaze at now furious Hande and grinned while returning her the book. "It's all good. You can finish the story with ease."

Hande hugged the book and mumbled while scooting back on her bed. "You spoiled it for me."

Ade straddled the chair again. "I didn't spoil anything. You know that the book has a happy ending, but the pleasure is in the journey. The happy ending is not enjoyable if you don't work for it…"

Ade and Hande chatted in her room until lunchtime.

The door of Hande's room opened abruptly.

"It's time for…", Merve swallowed the rest of her words and looked questionably at Ade who is on the chair next to Hande's bed.

"A boy in your room?", Merve asked Hande teasingly.

"We are just talking. And you are the one who told me that I can find her here!", Ade responded and exhaled while shaking his head in disapproval. "Seriously, all you older ones are thinking about is kissing… and dating. I am too young for such things, and Hande is even younger."

Ade turned to Hande and said seriously. "Beware, on your twelfth birthday, your brain will turn into mush."

Hande blinked at Ade and she felt that her cheeks are heating up.

Merve giggled from the door and said sarcastically: "Oh, wise Ade, you forgot one important thing."

"Which one?"

"Girls mature faster than boys."

Ade frowned. "If that is maturing, I don't want to have anything to do with it. Why did you just barge in Hande's room without knocking?"

Merve looked at Ade mockingly. "She is my baby sister. I came to remind her that it's lunchtime."

"Lunch will be in seven minutes. We will join at that time.", Ade responded smugly. He can see the time with his Eve-lens. "And next time, knock."

Merve looked at Hande whose eyes didn't leave Ade. She decided not to say anything else.

"She is my sister.", Hande said in a small voice when Merve closed the door behind her.

"Everyone here is family.", Ade responded matter-of-factly. "Lunch will be soon; do you need to get ready?"

Hande confirmed that she wants to change clothes, and Ade told her to go ahead.

"Close the closet door, I promise that I will not move from here. When you are ready, we will go together…"

Hande went to change and she wondered, why is Ade in her room? And why is he waiting for her? Maybe he likes her… She shook her head while reminding herself not to get carried away. Just a few minutes ago he spoke about love and dating like it's a bad thing and he said that it turns brains into mush. 

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