Piano Tunes

Sibel sat behind the car with the nurse he hired for her. She never looked at him as all her focus was on the view that the window presented. The nurse was engulfed in their silence too, she could also feel their pain. She was thinking, rather doubting if he was the one who hurt her like that. Being at a young age, she had seen men's violence towards women, sisters, children, and even mothers. She would not be surprised if one of those scenarios was happening right now in that car. Yet, not wanting to disturb the silence, she kept her lips sealed.

Sinbad dropped them at the door and went away. Sibel let out a sigh watching him go.

"Did you marry him against your will?!" the nurse asked after helping her onto the bed.

"So obvious is my hatred toward him?!" Sibel replied, letting out a small chuckle.

"Did he do this to you?" the nurse asked, sitting in front of her.

"No, it was an accidental thing that happened this morning, my fault."

"He looked worried in the hallway waiting for Dr. Adil."

"It's all a facade! Believe me, under that facade of a good, caring husband lies a devil," anger and disgust filled her voice as she replied.

"Ma'am, you take a rest as I prepare the lunch as per the doctor's instructions." The nurse took her leave, but her voice stopped.

"Don't let me be alone with him! Don't let him help me!" Sibel pleaded.

"I will never let him do that, ma'am!" she said and covered her up.

When Sibel woke up, she ate her meal that tasted like hospital food, but didn't complain. The nurse ate it too to not let her suffer alone. Sibel tried to work around, but the nurse didn't let her.

"Sibel Hanım, you can't work with that hand, at least not for 7 days."

"He will not let me rest for 7 days," she thought.

"I will not use this hand at all!" Sibel insisted.

"Ma'am, sit down, watch a movie, or read a book, but you can't work!" The nurse was more stubborn than her, letting Sibel surrender.

The nurse looked a bit younger than Sibel because it was her first year at the hospital. Nonetheless, she looked cute with her deep dimpled cheeks.

Whenever Sibel looks at her, she can't stop her heart from envying her. Having the same age, yet she already looks like she has reached her thirties, all contrary to the young woman in front of her.

At midnight, he came to see her, who is more beautiful than the moon in the sky. She was lying in bed. Her head wasn't well-placed and a light snore came from her. He smiled, fixing her pillow, but she woke up all panicked, watching him there so close.

"I am sorry! I didn't want to wake you up! I was just checking on you!" He stepped back immediately, apologizing.

"Relax, rapist, you're going to have your chance to end my life." Her words hurt him; he wasn't doing anything bad and still got scolded.

"Well, I thought to let you sleep alone, but your tongue convinced me otherwise." He teased and lay next to her, removing his flip-flop slippers.

She turned her back to him but was forced to face him.

"If you want my caring Sinbad, leave at this moment or I prefer to hurt myself rather than being in your arms. You choose!" She asserted after fighting a bit with him for her sleeping way.

Sinbad obeyed her and reluctantly chose to leave her alone.

"Go inside! Stay awake!" He ordered the nurse that was standing at the door hiding his pain of being rejected with his cold demeanor.

Before

When he came from his office, the nurse had just left her room to bring some water. Unlike Sibel, she really feared Sinbad. The poor thing was shaking like a leaf as he approached her. Surely you can't blame her after all the tormented things she had heard about him in the streets, but the most disturbing was the cases of death of burglars and thieves that were increasing in the morgues of the city, with his signature on them.

"Sir, I was going for water."

"Relax! I'm not going to hurt you! How is she?"

"Better, sir! Sibel Hanım ate her meal and took her pills. I bandaged her wound again."

"Is she sleeping now?"

"Yes, sir!"

"You, stay here!" He ordered.

"I can't, sir. She ordered me to never leave her alone with you," the nurse said boldly. Sinbad laughed inwardly but showed a light smirk.

"Don't worry! I will not hurt her anymore. Stay here!" The last sentence was a bit abrupt, causing the poor nurse to flinch in her spot.

Sinbad was dying to see her but was too dirty for her. The nurse couldn't see, as his hands were behind him the whole time they talked, but they were leaking blood. He found out that one of his men betrayed him by letting Esra escape easily. So he beat him until death, itself took him from his hands. Not because he was so angry, but because he hated himself for trusting her and hurting Sibel.

The body of Mazhar Öztürk was left unburied in the dark forest, being eaten by wild animals without a burial ceremony. 

This is what he deserved after playing dirty and creating this mess when Sinbad had no idea how to get out.

As soon as he came out of his bathroom, he fixed his pants and t-shirt before going to her. The nurse hadn't moved an inch, staying glued to her spot.

He didn't stay long, not by choice. The nurse couldn't hide her amusement, keeping her head down she flinched when he stood in front of her.

"What is your name?"

"Halide, Sir!" She quickly responded with a gleam on her face.

"Halide, take as many lessons from your hanım, they're going to serve you well in the future." He told her after leaving Sibel's room defeated.

The morning came and he was busy in the kitchen. Halide helped Sibel come down. The air was filled with a good smell that opened her appetite. He had cooked for her.

"Good morning Sibel!" he said, displaying plates over tables.

"So you know how to cook?" She stared into his dark eyes, recalling their first morning. He understood, as if he had read her mind just by locking eyes. He gulped down the bitterness that passed inside him, rolled his eyes, and left her alone.

She ate it, and for her, the omelette tasted better than hers. Now she hated him even more. She threw the plate with food. He was just coming down the stairs when he heard the noise and ran to her.

"Sibel, are you okay?" he asked, perturbed, but met with her hateful glare.

"I hate you with all I have left, Sinbad Melekoglu!" she yelled at him. Halide was in the kitchen when she heard them.

"You are not saying anything you haven't said before," he said, heartbroken, as he bent down to collect the broken pieces. She held his arm with her hurt hand.

"It's my mess, I'll clean it! Go to your realm, devil!" she shouted at him.

"Sibel, your hand is bleeding," he said, worried, trying to get a good look at it.

"Halide!" Sibel yelled.

"Yes, hanım," the nurse appeared immediately by her side.

"See my hand!" She ordered the poor soul.

"I need to open the bandage to see if the stitches are open."

"We'll check out later, now help me clean this mess!"

"Of course, ma'am!"

Sinbad went away with a heavy heart. Her hate was hurting him more than ever.

"I will not surrender, she will love me back before I reveal the truth to her one day. I know exactly what I will do for her!" He thought as he watched her from the windows.

Avoiding the ugly encounter with her, he only visited her at midnight for just a few minutes, to see, absorb her scent, and place an invisible kiss on her silky dark hair.

A week passed quickly. Sibel went with Halide for her last routine checkup. Halide finally overcame her fear towards Sinbad, becoming more like Sibel. 

She prayed in silence for Sibel's well-being as they both separated at the doorway of the hospital.

As she was turning home alone, she opened the window and felt the wind caress her face, her mind traveling through the happy passages of her life.

"Andrea, this is so incredible! I can't believe I am watching Lake Como so close!"

"Aspetta, amore, quando vai a nuotare dentro!"

A tear rolled down as those memories flew over her head. A memory that brought the sadness of losing something so important to a woman like her: her freedom.

The taxi took her to her tormenting home. Reluctantly, she entered through those gates and walked, feeling an emptiness take over her heart. This home was the very reason for her sadness, for losing herself.

The knob turned to the left and the creak of the wooden door faded in her ear as soon as her eyes found it standing proud in the middle of the living room.

Her heart skips a beat. She runs towards the dark metal and finds herself sitting on the stool, rising up the headboard to reveal the numerous white and black keys of the keyboard. Hypnotized, her hand touches the keys from left to right, causing notes to come out. She presses one or two keys and then starts playing her favorite part, "For Elise" by Beethoven.

Sinbad hears the velvet tunes and a smile spreads across his face. At least she wasn't alone anymore. She was with her music.

Ages have passed since Sibel played the piano; it felt like reconnecting with her inner self, with that part she had before entering into this unwanted marriage.

Her eyes are shut and her fingers delicately maneuver over the white and black keys, producing the music that comes from her mind and merges within her soul. She is the music. She is the piano.

He comes home and is shocked to see her still playing at the piano. He looks at his watch and realizes it has been over five hours since he left her alone.

"Did she take a break?" he asked himself as soft tunes were coming to an end now that Sibel was giving the final touch to Four Seasons by Vivaldi. At the very end, she let out a heavy exhale that looked like she had held it back for too long.

A single applause brought her back to the tormenting house.

A "Bravo!" from her culprit made her realize that everything she lived inside the house was a vivid nightmare and she couldn't wake up in her small flat back in Rome.

Immediately, she stood up as he approached with steady steps.

"I am sorry, I got distracted and I haven't cleaned or cooked. Sorry again! Upon not doing what you have requested, you have the right to do anything now." She spoke to him, looking dead in the eyes.

He approached closer than would be possible without touching her.

"When did I care if you did any chores around to have you under me as I please?" He retorted, playing the flirtatious man, but of course with her it was a total bluff as she crossed her arms and created a distance between them without stepping back.

"You are the owner of this house, so you don't need to work, just order and you have it. I have told you I gave up my revenge," he moved from her personal space giving her a brief relief.

"Then you should kill me because only like that ends everything."

She closed the piano keyboard and put the stool down on the piano board.

"Sibel, I will not kill you, besides the truth is still unknown."

"Esra is nowhere to be seen. Where is she?"

"She understood that there was too much between us." He approached, flashing a flirty smile.

"Why? She had the perfect place, the one that is too much is me, dear rapist." He closed the distance, letting inches between them.

"Call me as you want. I am not bothered by your words, dear wife." Almost he kissed her lips as he spoke those words.

She stepped back.

"You better do what you promise! If I find out that you know it, believe me when I say what you suffered in that prison cell will look like paradise," she menaced and returned to go away.

She doesn't know how true her words hold. His real inferno started the moment her words got proved.

"Get prepared, we're going out!" He raised his voice as she was climbing the stairs.

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" She exclaimed, not glaring at him as she continued climbing the stairs.

"We're going to see your family. I told them we'll be there in an hour. I should have sent you a week ago but…" he paused as she turned, shooting that hateful glare.

"Why are you silent? 'But I was too busy to rape you, beat you, slap you, cheat you, and leave you in the arms of the enemy, dear wife.' Did I say it all, dear Rapist?" She ended, staring into his eyes. He saw pure hate pouring from her eyes.

"Get ready! I'll be waiting, dear wife!" He said, holding back tears until she went to her room.

She took a moment to look at herself in the mirror. There were no more marks on her fairy skin. She turned to see her back and the belt mark had vanished too. His teeth were still on the soft flesh of her blossom, and her ribs were adorned by Hakan's cut, not forgetting the glass cut on her left hand.

Dressing casually, no makeup on, letting her silky dark hair free, she descended from the stairs. He stared at her dressed only in jeans, a shirt, and a jacket. More simply she couldn't be, yet she was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes upon and he was feeling a bit uncomfortable down his belt.

"I am coming because I miss my family more than I am disgusted to breathe the same air as you," she spoke as she approached him, holding her head high.

"Let's get going! You don't want to be late." He moved forward and opened the door, as his heart knew how to keep all that pain inside.

She had found his weak point and was throwing daggers there like Odysseus that harmed the Cyclops' eye to escape his deadly capture.

****

Her parents welcomed them as they would do for anyone who stands beside Sibel as her husband, not being at all colder towards him than two weeks ago when hell was brought to her by the breaking of her dreams, or the smashing of two hearts in love.

Although they don't know all of the "good things" Sinbad did for Sibel, they can well imagine how the story goes because they live in the Orient.

Either way, she didn't confess to anyone about the inferno she lived through, she kept mum even towards her sister Peri. She acts dull every time her sister asks.

Her brothers weren't present when they arrived, so the conversation was dry between her parents and him, who was feeling out of place. They came later, and unlike their parents, they couldn't hide their animosity towards Sinbad.

"How is your life, troublemaker?" Adem teased her, shuffling her hair like he did when she was little. They put her between them, excluding Sinbad's presence.

"I thought it would be harder, but Sinbad has shown patience towards me and my tantrums. Since the first moment, he respected my boundaries and is giving me space to adjust things. Honestly, I was waiting for the worst, but the result is impressive."

"You mean that Sibel?" questioned İsmail. He has always been reading between the lines for years, as he was the mayor of the city.

"Tabiki abicim! (Of course, bro)," she lied to them just to prove her words. She moved away from them and sat next to him, intertwining her dainty fingers with his thick ones.

"Tell them that we are becoming friends, that all you did was just to have me secured in your arms. Say that you have been extremely patient with a thick head like me."

Sinbad was speechless. Her proximity, her fragrance was melting his senses, her hand over his was shaking his soul. He knew nothing was true, that he did the worst, but this glimpse of a dream was making him touch heaven.

His eyes screamed forgiveness.

Her eyes screamed punishment.

Just a week ago, he thought the worst for her and did all kinds of sins to their daughter, to their sister. He wanted them to know the truth, more importantly to beat him badly. He wants her mother to curse altogether with her sister and sister-in-law. He wants someone to teach him how he should behave with his wife. Till now only Hakan had done that, not forgetting her painful words. He stared at her as she was the only reason that keeps him breathing.

Is the truth though.

"Was that all acting or hope for the future?" he thought as he stood next to her all dinner time.

They returned home not like they came. She came to sit at the front as before was in the back seat. He wanted to say something but her rolling tears forbade his lips.

As soon as the car stopped she was out of there and ran to the bathroom. He went right after her, halted on his feet when heard her vomiting.

"Only being with me in the same space, I made you vomit," he started as he was closing his door. "All you said there was just to play with me, I know now," defeated, sat behind crying until sleep took over his senses.

A heavy noise woke him from his not at all comfortable sleep. Opening his eyes in pure shock as he heard her yelling and crying, he ran out of the room in one breath and found himself in the living room. That was the source of that voice. Scanning the surroundings, he found her near the piano that had missed a foot, causing all her weight to fall over Sibel's hands. When he saw blood, he reacted fast, lifting the piano that needed four men to do so. She was whimpering, shivering as he took her in his arms and landed her gently on the sofa.

"What happened?" He asked, but she wasn't in a condition to answer. He was still in his clothes from last night, fortunately the keys were in his pocket.

Didn't waste any more time and settled her in the front seat of his car, climbing in on his side all he could do was pray. Her words the last time he was sent to the hospital haunted his mind as he gave a glance to the unconscious Sibel.

"Hang in there Sibel! I will not let anything bad happen to you, love!"

_______&_______

What happened now?