War of Hearts

2. Fatih ⚡

Fatih was already regretting coming to this party.

He'd never liked these things. Even though he'd grown up in a somewhat conservative family, his parents had given him enough freedom to get the best of his college experience. But he'd never had the urge to get wasted and spend the whole night hitting on girls and dancing. His mother might be the sweetest woman in the world but there was so much she would tolerate..

Fatih took a sip of his non-alcoholic beer. Murat already knew his ways, and he never forgot to keep something non-alcoholic for him in his freezer just in case. He was a great friend in that regard. On the other hand, he seemed to have forgotten all about his own party and was currently playing darts with a pretty redhead, in a corner, away from the prying eyes. Fatih smiled to himself, amused.

Waving at a couple of guys from his management class, he walked over to the table loaded with snacks. He didn't even know why he was avoiding all the fun- this was his senior year and a couple of weeks from now he was graduating. After that, there wouldn't be enough time for him to have fun and be carefree like this. His father immediately wanted him to join the company and start working right away, and frankly, he was also ready to have some responsibilities...

"What are you doing?"

Fatih looked up. A girl was standing a few feet away from him nearly in the shadows, leaning against the table. At first, he thought that she was speaking to him, but then he noticed the silver gleam of a phone pressed against her ear.

"Maybe," she was saying. "So is your homework done? Do you need any help?"

She was probably a freshman, because Fatih had never seen her around before. The girl was a good head shorter than him and even though her face was cast in shadows, he could see the fall of her wavy chestnut hair falling to her waist.

"Is that so?" She laughed- a sound that surprisingly made him think of sunny afternoons and cloudless skies. "Okay, okay. I'm hanging up. Finish all your homework before going to sleep"

She still didn't seem to notice him. It suddenly occured to Fatih that the girl wouldn't appreciate him listening to her private conversations like a creep. So he turned away, only to overhear another conversation that made him halt.

"20 bucks that she won't even give you her name, much less her number," the guy was slightly slurring his words. He wasn't completely wasted, but he was on the way.

"I can totally get her number," the second one didn't sound better. "And she looks like a freshman, right? They're way timid. I'll take that bet!"

Fatih repressed a sigh. It didn't take a genius to know that the drunk guys were talking about the girl next to him. And she was obviously clueless, reaching for a small plate of snacks.

"You're on" The guy placed his beer bottle on the table, splashing its contents in the process. "Get ready to pay up!"

Oh, for the love of God...

Maybe he should warn the girl? On the other hand, the guys were probably messing around and wasn't planning on doing any harm to her. Then again they were pretty drunk...

Fatih cleared his throat.

The girl jumped, nearly dropping her snacks.

"Sorry," he said immediately. "Did I scare you?"

She took a step back and looked up at him and Fatih felt his stomach drop, like he was going down a hill. Wide green eyes, framed with long lashes and slightly tipped at the corners, stared up at him. He suddenly forgot how to breath.

"Um, no," she stammered. "I mean yes, actually. I didn't see you there."

He should probably say something, because she was still looking at him expectantly. Clearing his throat again, he held out his hand.