Sad Love Story

One day as Yasin left his apartment block to go to work he noticed a beautiful Turkish girl collecting her mail from the mail boxes in the lobby. He was hoping she wouldn’t notice him because he was very scruffy. He was on his way back to the fishing boat he worked on. He had only one hour free that day and he had run home up the mountain to his mother’s house to see her and eat his dinner with her. The journey up the mountain took 20 mins, if he walked fast but only 15 minutes back down again if he ran. This left him just 25 minutes to spend with his mother and eat his dinner. He did not have time to shower and change his clothes.

Yasin tried to walk past the girl before she noticed him. Too late! ‘Selam Yasin’ she said and looked away from him shyly. He was amazed, how did she know his name? His face went very red and he stopped to look at her. ‘Selam’ he replied. ‘She laughed. ‘You don’t recognise me?’ she said. She busied herself with her letters and only stole quick shy glances at him. ‘Nnno’ stammered Yasin. ‘I’m sorry.’

I’m Hazret.’ she said. ‘Did you forget me already?’ The penny dropped! She was the daughter of a neighbour. She had been away to university and Yasin did not remember seeing her for a long time. She had changed from a skinny girl with crooked teeth into a real beauty.

Yasin felt his face grow even more hot. She was very beautiful and there he was standing before her in his holey jumper, which to be honest smelt strongly of fish. He was also painfully aware of the big cut on his face, where a rope on the fishing boat had slashed across his face a couple of days before. He smiled at her and she smiled back…(although she was very shy and did not look at him for too long).

The next weekend Yasin had several hours rest from work. The engine had broken down (again) and he could not work. This meant no money until it was mended, but at least it also meant his could spend some time at home with his mother. He went down to the mail boxes hoping to catch sight of Hazret again. He was disappointed that she was not there, but when he went to collect the letters from the box, there was a tiny piece of paper in there. There was a mobile phone number on it and the name ‘Hazret’. Yasin felt very happy. With his heart pounding he went up to his apartment and used the very last of his credit on his mobile phone to text her. He just said only ‘Hello Hazret. How are you? This was the start of their romance.

Every day Yasin sent her texts. When he was home from work they met by the mail boxes. He took to cleaning the balcony for his mother hoping to catch a glimpse of her on her own mother’s balcony (which were happily in sight of each other). When three months had passed, and they had secretly kissed in the communal garden one day, Yasin decided that he was in love. He told his mother and text Hazret that he loved her very much. She text him back and told him that she loved him too. Yasin could not remember a time in his whole life when he had been so happy. He told his mother that he wanted to marry Hazret. She was not surprised, she knew in that way that mother’s do, that her son was in love and she was very happy also. She wished once again that her husband was alive and that she had more money and more standing in the community, but she did what she had to do and she invited Hazret’s mother over for tea. She spent all week cleaning her already spotless home and got the best china out for the occasion. She spent more than usual in the supermarket that day and all morning making cakes and pastries. She was determined that Hazret’s mother would be impressed with her home and her hospitality.

Hazret’s mother arrived on time. She did not bring Hazret with her. She ate the cakes and pastries and they passed one hour together making small talk and polite chat. Then she cut to the chase.

‘She was sorry. She knew why she had been invited and she knew also that Hazret and Yasin were in love. But it was out of the question that this situation continued. There was another boy, in the army at the moment, but coming home soon, who was a much better prospect.’

‘Of but…’ said Yasin’s mother ‘they are so in love.’

‘It doesn’t matter said Hazret’s mother. Yasin and your family are no good for Hazret. You have no husband, you have no money in your family. Yasin is a fisheman and your eldest son a waiter. What have you to provide for my Hazret? Nothing. I am sorry, but that is the way it is. My husband, (she took great delight in saying - my husband - at every opportunity) has told Hazret that she is not to speak to Yasin again. My husband, has taken away her mobile phone so that she cannot text him again and we are sending her away to stay with her aunt in Ankara on Friday.’

She left. When she had gone, Yasin’s mother was furious, but sad. She knew that the woman had spoken the truth and this would always be the way for her sons.

When Yasin came home from work she explained gently to him and they both were angry and sad together.

When Yasin went to sleep that night, all he could think of was Hazret’s lovely face and how he would never see her again. How she would marry someone else who had more money, a better job and a family with a father. His heart was broken and he felt he had no future. Girls richer than him would not be allowed to marry him, and girls who were not as rich as him would have poor families to support. He would spend the rest of his life working eighteen or twenty hours each day, seven days per week to feed his own family and his wife’s family. He would hardly ever see his children. His only chance for happiness was to find a foreign girl whose family would not mind him being poor, who could help him get a visa to live in another country where he could earn good money, send some home for his mother and be able to live a good life. He would have to marry someone who did not understand his life, his beliefs, his religion. She would not understand his possessiveness or his jealousy which he had grown up to believe was normal. She would not understand his standards of cleanliness which he had instilled in him since he was a tiny child and she would not understand his relationship with his mother. She would not understand him too well and he would not understand her. He hoped that he could be happy in his life, his needs were modest.

Life was very hard...