First impressions

"Hurry Belle, hurry! What is taking you so long? God give me strength because I swear this girl drives me crazy." My mom yelled from downstairs.

Her echoing voice pulled me out of the depths of my sleep. I struggled to keep my eyes open, so I just kept them closed. I had fallen to sleep again when my mom came marching into my room. She said, "Belle! Wake up right now. We're running late so we have to leave. Your clothes are on the couch. Everyone is ready and you're always the one who's late. Now get up this instant."

I answered her back in a sleepy voice "Please let me sleep for five more minutes. I promise to wake up as soon as those five minutes are over."

She said in a rejecting tone "Nope that's not happening! You said that to me when I woke you up several times before. Stop acting lazy and get up right now."

I was ignoring the instructions she was giving me until I heard his footsteps. His loud footsteps moved quickly towards my door. I immediately rose out of bed and sat on the velvet couch as if I were awake for hours. He came in and said, "What is going on? The entire family is waiting in the van and you consider yourself so exceptional that you prefer to make the whole family wait for an eternity. Belle, this is the last time that this has happened, If this happens again then you will be grounded."

His stern voice was full of rage. I felt as if my soul had been pulled out of my body. Even though his voice wasn't loud, his harsh sound made me shed tears.

He then said after a pause, hardly containing himself, "From now on, you will be the first to arrive whenever we will leave for anywhere, are we clear in this?"

He repeated, "Are we clear on this?"

I replied in a crackly low sound "Yes"

He left after my answer and my mother followed him back to the van that we had rented. I took the clothes that my mom picked out for me and rushed to the restroom. I got dressed in five minutes, ran towards the van, and got seated.

For the first few minutes. Everyone was talking about where we were headed.  That was how I got enlightened about the situation. We were going to a city nearby where we would first visit an art exhibit. Then later that day we would attend a dolphin show and at the end of the day, we were supposed to meet my cousin (father's nephew) and his brother in law in a five-star restaurant. I was looking forward to it. we had heard rumors about my cousins brother in law. we had heard that he was a wealthy man who was a huge success.

My father realized the silence of a chatterbox in the van, and so he said,"I can't enjoy this trip because I have a daughter who I love, and she isn't entertaining me with all the irrelevant talks, questions, and songs."

I looked at him; raised my chin a little then lowered my eyebrows and stared at him through the rear-view mirror. He glanced back at me and smiled. I was determined not to talk to him for the entire long drive.

Milo said in her pitchy annoying sound "What about me, don't you love me?"

He replied her saying, "Yes, yes I do my darling." She looked back at me raising an eyebrow and evilly smiling. I rolled my eyes and stick my tongue out at her.

As expected, she then poked her finger in my mother and whispered to her, "Belle stick her tongue at me. She disrespected (Milo emphasized on the word disrespect) me so do scold her when we reach there."

My mother narrowed her eyes at me and nodded her head. I think she was extremely pissed off at me from the beginning of the day. Our drive was four hours long. We all were seated so close to each other that we could barely breathe. I felt stuffy and felt oddly weird. The van despite being a bigger vehicle didn't allow us to finally sit away from each other as the van was filled with luggage which is why, Milo, Deniz, and Mirac(who was on his holidays from the army)were crammed into the back seats. I got the window seat and kept staring out of it thinking of how unfortunate I was. I wondered why I was never able to sit in a car all to myself or why I was scolded on every single thing yet not appreciated for the biggest successes of mine. I wondered why my parents didn't let me go to my friends' houses for sleepovers or why I wasn't allowed to wear nail polish. I thought of fantasy life. What if I lived in a magical land with no limitations or rules? That day I realized that those who speak less really do get an opportunity to think more deeply.

We were going up a hill at high speed. The turns were so terrifying that I could barely see underneath because of the fear. I was thinking of my fantasy when I suddenly started feeling extremely nauseous. I started gagging and before I could tell my parents how I was feeling. I threw up at Milo who was sitting right beside me. Her face couldn't hide the feeling of her exasperation. She was red and started to groan. My parents stopped the van and looked at the situation behind them. The car was filled with the smell and there was puke on Milo's clothes as well as mine. We stopped our car near a petrol pump so we could use the toilet there to change our clothes. While we were changing our dress, our parents were getting the car cleaned and leaving its windows and doors open for a while so the smell could fade away. That day was ruined for them because of me so I felt guilty and remorseful. Milo was so cross, she barely talked to me and when she did she reminded me of how annoying I was and how she was hating me at the time.

That journey was tiresome and exhausting. When we reached the hotel, we dropped our luggage and directly went to the exhibition. We were running late on schedule and everyone blamed it all on me which was true yet a little too hard on me.

I adored the art exhibition. It was something of my interest and I was mesmerized by the paintings people made. It was shocking to me how every painter painted so differently which made me realize that every individual has a different perspective towards not only art but life as well. I did embarrassing mistakes while I was there. The most embarrassing mistake was that I had lost my mother's bag after taking tissues from it. That bag had her wallet, passport, and other essentials in it. Her frustration was visible in her eyes. We searched for the bag everywhere and thankfully found it on a bench where I had mistakenly left it.

The dolphin show was the best way for us to relax and after seeing it we were all cheerful. Except that, over there I had another problem. A Pepsi can imbalanced from my hands and fell over the dress I had changed into after throwing up. I was escorted to the restroom with my mother who then wiped the sticky substance off my dress.

After that, we went back to the hotel and got dressed so we could go for dinner in a high-class restaurant. I looked remarkable that day. I wore a white faux coat that my aunt had gifted me on my birthday. It had small black buttons and two pockets on its sides to keep me warm in such a freezing temperature. I wore a shimmery lip gloss and black boots to match with the coat. A long necklace hung down my neck. I straightened my hair and wore white pearl earrings.

When I entered the restaurant, I was awestruck.  Chandeliers were hanging down the decorated ceilings. Numerous paintings were hanging on the walls. The tables were of long tanned wood. The chairs were tufted and of royal gold color. I saw my uncle's nephew and another man seated at a reserved table. I was so lost in the fantasy-like view that I forgot to greet them. I went and sat on my chair when my mother said (with one side of her mouth while the other was still smiling) "Belle, greet them." She scrunched her forehead.

I said in an apologizing tone "Oh, I'm so sorry."

I got up and walked towards the men took a good look at them. My uncle's nephew's cousin had overgrown hair, acne, a weird mustache, and an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Bean. He wore a leather jacket and an expensive Rolex watch. He looked about 15 years older than me. Anyway, I gathered some courage and went up to them and said, "Hello uncle Nijaz, who's your other friend?"

He replied and said, "His name is Okan."

I said, "Hello Uncle Okan. "

As soon as the word uncle Okan reached his ears, he choked on his drink then slowly looked at me and said, "Well hello."

That minute a shrill ran down my spine as he rather than greeting me seemed to have scanned me. I felt if as if he in a minute, looked within my mind and soul. I felt so uncomfortable that I dashed towards my chair. Unfortunately, I saw Milo sitting on my chair. She stuck her finger out and said, "Finders keepers, losers weepers. now go and sit beside father."

I groaned and got so annoyed and said to myself "Can this day get absolutely any worse. I don't want to sit with the men when I have no engagement in their topics of discussion."

I didn't have many options which was why I went and sat beside my father. Uncle Okan, was the on who was talking. The men talked about jobs and the business they were running. They then talked about sport, politics, and numerous other matters. The discussion was so boring i was nearly sleeping until Uncle Okan started talking about his life.

He told the men of his business and how he went from being a normal man to a millionere. He told them of how he was self made and independent.

There was something wrong with uncle Okan. I kept feeling as if he was staring at me after every few minutes but when I would look back at him then I would realize that he wasn't looking at me. I thought of it as a doubt of mine and ignored the problem. Other than the problem of uncle Okan staring, I thought of him as a kind and generous man. His talk was humble and his speech was calm. I thought to myself, "He's a good man. Every man should be like him."

During their conversation I learned that he was twenty twenty-one years older than me who didn't live in the city in which we lived but did live in a city nearby with his wife and children 

That day was horrible. I had messed up since the beginning of the day and later while coming back from dinner, was scolded by my parents multiple times that I felt extremely insecure and sad. That was when I went to my parent's room and saw my father eating peanuts. I went to him and said, "Where's mama?"

he looked at me and said, "She's gone to for a walk. I am here so do you want to talk to me?"

I went towards him and sat beside him, he took a good look at me and said, "Oh darling, you've been crying. Why were you crying? You are my heart. Your sorrow hurts me my love so please don't cry."

Hearing him say that made me emotional and I started to drizzle tears. When he saw me so hurt he seemed worried. He lifted my face gently with his hands and kissed me on the forehead. He gently wiped the tears off my face and wrapped me in his special shawl (that shawl held great value amongst our family. Every winter, my father would take that shawl out of the cupboard and wear it to keep himself warm. He would allow his children to come and sit with him so he could cover it over them to keep them cozy.) he said worriedly, "What happened my darling?"

I sobbed then said, "Baba, it's my fault, right? I'm the reason you all were late today and there were so many mishaps because of me."

He looked at me and softly laughed then said, "Oh you little angel, you are so delicate. It's alright! I know you don't do anything on purpose. Honey, don't cry because my girls are strong, right?"

I nodded and said " Yes."

He took a peanut and said, "Now open your mouth open, and ill fill it with peanuts. let's see how many peanuts we can fit in your mouth."

That was when I said ,"Baba, I love you; you are my favorite hero, my only hero. You are the one I can blindly depend on."

He looked at me in concern and said "Belle, are you alright honey? Since when did you start thinking and acting so maturely."

I replied to him after laughing hard, "Since today."

my parents went to sleep and I recalled everything that had happened that day. It was the worst day of my life until my father had helped me through it. I lay in bed when he came to my mind. "Uncle Okan, He is a little weird."

I said it aloud with my eyes closed so Milo could hear it. Milo said, "Wow so this throwing up girl sleep talks and she has chosen me to suffer with her during her sleep."

I said in a tired voice, "I'm awake. I just don't want to look at you." She threw a fluffy pillow at me with great force. I looked at her with rage and she said, "That's for puking on me."

I said, "How dare you. Now I'm going to do the same."

I took two cushions and threw them at her and this way we had a pillow fight for half an hour. After getting exhausted, we lay in the bed and she said, " You like uncle Nijaz?" I nodded.

She said, "I don't like him. He's kind but he gives me a weird vibe. I liked his cousin."

I looked at her in disbelief and after a pause, I said, "Hmm yeah." then got up.

I did not tell her how I was feeling because I was not sure of how I felt. I had a feeling that his reasons to come to the dinner were suspicious and that he had some other intentions. That was our first-ever meeting. That was the first time he saw me and that's when it all started.