A shallow and extremely wide artificial fish pond in front of an uninhabited mansion, planted with lotus by God-knows-who. The lotus grew uncontrollably, almost as tall as an adult and made the pond looked like a swamp. The lotus leaves swayed lightly in the windy hot weather. The sound of seagulls faintly heard.
The rows of lotus swayed faster, then split by the appearance of an auburn-haired teenage boy who came from the inner side of bushy lotus, carrying a wok pan-sized lotus flower. He walked as elegantly as possible in the pond even though the lotus roots spread wildly, here and there.
The teenage boy stopped in front of the pond. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He rubbed the lotus petals, then inhaled the scent.
"Cut, cut, cut!" someone's voice interrupted his beautiful moment.
"What the heck, Ri? That was great! What’s your problem?” Baris grumbled, annoyed. He had been trying to hold back laughter with his acting, but wasted, again.
"Do you really think that was a great acting?! That’s so cringy!" Ruri, a brunette-haired boy who was operating the camera, shouted at Baris.
"Isn't that what we're looking for?"
A drizzle dripped in Ruri's hand.
"Shit! Drizzle!" said Ruri, while covering his camera with his palm.
Baris upturned his hand to ensure the validity of Ruri's words.
"Nah, it's still light drizzles. Let’s just continue for a while and stop complaining about my acting!"
But the raindrops fell faster and larger in an instant.
"Blyaaaat!" they shouted in unison.
A middle-aged woman who had just finished picking some lotus roots passed in front of them. She shook her head hearing their curse, and just casually walked in the pouring rain.
Ruri rescued his camera in a quick move into the shirt he was wearing. Baris grabbed the tripod and picked two large lotus leaves haphazardly. They ran helter-skelter while took cover under their useless organic umbrellas–they were still soaking wet. And ran on the Dolaybagi Road, which was being repaired at that time, made them look even more pathetic.
Fortunately, Ruri's house was just at the corner of Dolaybagi T-junction, right by the Korfez main road. It was probably the most eye-catching house in the neighborhood. It had four floors, with a double-height wall of used glass bottles that covered half of the front facade as the main attraction. On a sunny day, the sun’s light could penetrate through the glass bottles and made cool patchy shadows all over the room. Next to the bottles wall, there were a Javanese style gate and a garage door.
Ruby, Ruri's younger sister was about to close the garage door when she saw two pathetic boys running around in the rain. Ruby immediately closed the garage door without further ado.
"Waaaiiittt!"
But Ruby already closed the door, giggled.
The gate was, fortunately, covered with terrace on the third floor. Ruri reached into his pocket to get the key. At that time Deniz-abi, Ruri's house security, had no working shift so he should unlock it by himself. The gate of the house was locked automatically, and could only be opened without a key from inside.
They rushed in, entering the void area behind the gate and bottles wall that used as a circulation room. The patchy shadows from the bottles wall were faintly seen on that rainy day. The garage, security post, and a half bathroom were built in the right of the gate. There was a short staircase attached to a ramp led to a tall audio-visual studio that elevated from the ground. In addition to staircases to go to the upper floors, a long ramp was also built surrounding the inner void, it directly connected the first and third floors. They immediately ran towards the audio-visual.
"Shit! Locked too!"
They had to pass the stairs in the void and the third-floor terrace to enter the main house, more contact with rain was coming. The second floor was only built above the garage area, it was used as a guest house, walled with full-height glass sliding door in the front side that made it possible to get the view of Bosphorus strait.
They get rained on right after they reached the third-floor terrace. The top two floors were the main house where they actually lived.
Overall, the whole building was large. Probably large enough to be called as mansion. But their main house was only in modest size. The main house was surrounded by a grassy lawn, a small swimming pool, a large garden, and a small Joglo style house complete with its pavilion. The Joglo house was used as study, and the pavilion was multipurpose building of the house, mainly for hangout.
Supposedly the construction of the house cost was the same as the price of a two-story house in Ankara. Ruri’s mother, Mrs. Kana Benli, was an architect. She succeeded in designing a house that used a lot of environmentally friendly materials, so she managed to reduce many costs. It's just that the house tax was still extremely expensive because it was located in the vicinity of the Bosphorus strait.
Mrs. Kana, who was working in the Joglo pavilion at that time, saw the two pathetic boys running in the yard.
"Where's the lotus, my gem?" asked his mother.
Ruri who had arrived at the door of the main house suddenly remembered something. He forgot to pick lotus’ seeds and roots his mother had asked before they went to the hill.
"Oh gosh, I forget to pick it… Sorry, ma…" he answered casually, grimacing. His mother could only shake her head.
The architecture of the main house was inspired by modern Japanese homes. All doors and windows facing the outside were large and made of glassy material. All the main rooms were arranged cleverly so that they could get the view of the Bosphorus strait in front of the house, and the hill behind the house.
Entering the house, the third floor was used as common rooms. It was divided into two halls, all of them stylized in open plan concept. In the first hall, located in front of the main door, there were a short stair and medium size modular wardrobes that could be flexibly placed on the stair steps. Japanese style ceiling-height Shoji doors were placed right behind the wardrobes, created a clear separation between the mudroom and the family room where the steps led to. The family room was dominated with Japanese nuance with tatami, two long couches, a big TV packed with entertainment system, and a Japanese style heating table in the center.
Behind the family room was a medium-sized modern kitchen with an island in the center with some stools, where they could interact while cooking. All together in one room without divider. The walls, windows, and doors facing the side and the back of the house were also made of glass. So that they could see the swimming pool next to the house, and the garden and the view of the hill behind the house.
Ruby who was folding a pile of towels while watching TV, giggled seeing the two boys soaking wet. Ruri and Baris ignored her and immediately entered the living room located in the hall next to the family room and kitchen. These two halls were separated by a wall.
The living room was more spacious than the family room. The loft style used in the hall brought the grander feel, but still warm. This hall also used an open plan concept, it merged with the piano area in the front corner, and the dining table in the middle of the room. The bathroom and laundry room were lined on the side. The stairs were stacked in the back side, attached to a double-height Japanese style glass window that displayed the hill very clearly. The stairs go up to the bedroom area, and down directly to the studio area.
Ruri's room was only a medium size for such a large house, which was located above the piano corner and next to Ruby's room. The balcony doors and windows of his room, once again, were made of glass, almost the size of a full wall and became a frame of a real-life painting in front of his house. The Sakura tree was the foremost object, behind it was the Bosphorus and Rumeli Fort, on the right side was the towering Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridge.
Ruri's room was neat enough for teenage boys. The bed was only a mattress that was placed on a platform from recycled container boxes, a black and white double-door wardrobe, a desk facing the window, and a shelf that contained books, figures, and other items. One side of the wall was dedicated for his posters collection, mostly Red Hot Chili Peppers, with the biggest poster showing Flea playing bass complete with his signature. An acoustic guitar laid on the bed.
"What a pathetic weather, what a pathetic day!" Baris muttered, he was looking at the heavy rain.
Ruri didn't hear it, he was busy making sure the camera and the data were okay. Unknowingly, he checked the data from the last order. He saw a picture of him with a girl he had just broken up with, Alex. Fed-up feeling immediately appeared in Ruri's heart. He put down the camera and walked to the balcony door. He sat on the door threshold, and realized that Baris was playing his acoustic guitar.
Baris was playing Diamond song by Rihanna. Ruri remembered the words of many people who named his house as the 'House of Gems'. In addition to the fact that Ruri’s and Ruby’s name were taken from the name of the gemstones, also because the house was filled with facilities and atmosphere that supported them to develop their potentials to the fullest. Ruri’s childhood trauma had successfully healed in that house. And the house was almost never emptied from visitors, whether to work in the studios, to hangout or other businesses, or just to refresh their mind.
The breakup of Ruri and Alex some time ago wasn't too painful, at least for Ruri. Not only because of the pleasant atmosphere of the house, also because deep inside his heart, there was someone else whom he actually loved since his childhood, but was never revealed. Unfortunately, that person was unreachable, that's what Ruri had in mind.
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Tamarind Promenade
© Yayashi Pratama, 2019. All rights reserved.
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