At that moment, the doorbell rang. The guests had arrived. The woman was muttering as she came.

"They arrived faster than I expected."

She gave me a stern look before opening the door.

"I better not see any wrong move from you."

I nodded my head up and down. The man had also stood up. Both of them moved in front of me. The woman opened the door. There were three people. A man, a woman, and a child. The man entered first. Then he turned around and said sharply, "Why don't you come in?"

The woman and child immediately came in and started taking off their coats.

"I believe your name is Hasan, right?" the man said. It was the first time I learned anything about them. That disgusting man's name was Hasan. At that moment, Hasan briefly turned around and looked at me before turning back.

"Yes, my name is Hasan. What was yours again? I'm sorry, my memory isn't very good."

The man's face changed very briefly, he seemed a bit upset, but he didn't let it show.

"My name is Mehmet, pleased to meet you, Hasan."

"Nice to meet you too, Mehmet."

It was as if a completely different person was in front of me. His mannerisms, his behavior, changed all of a sudden. Then they started talking about the house. Since I was focused on their conversation, I momentarily forgot about the woman and child who had entered.

When I looked at them, I saw a pair of eyes looking at me. That little girl was Elif. I quickly turned my head away. I wanted to look at her for a long time, but if it was noticed that we were looking at each other, it would cause trouble for both of us. The woman next to her was probably her mother. She had a split lip and some bruises on her face. Elif's words came to mind when I saw the woman's face. Mehmet and Hasan had finished their conversation and were heading towards the room with the TV. Elif's mother looked at the woman next to me.

"Hello, I'm Damla."

I was caught between them. The woman was slightly behind me, and Elif's mother was in front of me. The woman came over, took my hand, and started squeezing it before I could understand what was happening. It hurt a lot, but I couldn't say anything.

"My name is Melis, nice to meet you."

Damla said nice to meet you too and looked at me.

"Who is this handsome boy?"

I was staring at the ground steadily. Melis had stopped squeezing my hand.

"Taşkın," I said in a low voice.

Damla must not have heard because she didn't say anything. Then, in a slightly louder voice, I said, "Taşkın."

"You have a very nice name."

Turning to Melis, she said,

"One usually doesn't ask such things, but does he have an illness or something? He looks very thin."

"He doesn't like any food. I make all the dishes he wants, but then he says he doesn't like them, that they're too cold or too hot. In short, he makes excuses not to eat. I mean, it's not like I'd let my precious son starve, right?"

She laughed after saying this. Damla seemed a bit regretful for her comment. "Please don't get me wrong, I didn't mean to imply such a thing."

"Of course, I understand, I was just joking. If you want, we can go inside now and then have something to eat."

"Sure, that sounds good," Damla said. We all went inside together.