His Substitute Wife

Meeting Melek

The ride to the Arslan residence was filled with boisterous conversations and laughs. Zayd was very curious about her life the past year in Istanbul, one of the biggest and most modern cities in Turkey. 

Although Melek had spent the past year in Istanbul undergoing treatment for her "obsession" towards Zayd and "aggressive thoughts" towards Nihal, everyone besides her brother believed that she was at Istanbul to study. In Mardin, even the possibility of someone having some sort of mental health problem was extremely looked down upon. If anyone found out that she was undergoing therapy because of an obsession she felt towards Zayd, she would never be able to live in Mardin again with her head held high. There would always be someone look down upon her. 

So she made up answers to all of the questions Zayd asked her. She faked happy memories at a school she had never seen before and made up stories about the friends that had never existed. Despite it all being a lie though, seeing Zayd smile and laugh so warmly with her filled Melek's heart with more love. She knew for a fact that he was not like that with anyone else around him. He had even been cold to Nihal which lead Melek to believe that 

Unfortunately the happy moments together came to an end as Zayd pulled up his car outside of his family home and stopped it. Melek felt her heart accelerate in hateful anticipation to finally get to meet Zayd's new bride. The two of them exited the car and were immediately greeted by the guards outside. 

Melek smiled at the two men who greeted her warmly before she entered the Arslan home – the very same home she believed would be hers in the near future. 

As expected, the courtyard of the house was empty but there were loud noises coming in from the kitchen. Considering it was past midday, it wad expected that the kitchen would be busy with maids preparing dinner, however, maids usually weren't this loud. 

And it seemed Zayd thought the same because he wordlessly followed the noise until he was standing in the doorway of the kitchen. 

"What is going on here?" his hardened voice asked as he observed the scene before him. 

His grandmother was sitting on one of the seats while he watched a struggling Aleena roll some dough with hawklike eyes. 

Aleena's entire composure calmed down upon seeing her new husband. She wasn't entirely sure what it was that he could do to save her, but somehow she trusted that he would save her from the situation that she was forced in. 

"I am teaching your bride to cook," Rezan sultan said, causing Khione to breathe out in frustration.

Earlier that day after Rezan sultan had locked Miray into her room, she had turned her anger to Aleena. 

'Quickly change and come down stairs,' she had ordered Aleena. Aleena really wanted to reject her order but the deadly look the madam gave her made chills run up and down her spine so without a single word, she did as she asked. 

Once she was dressed in the most modest shirt she owned and a pair of jeans, she walked down the stairs to meet her new devil-in-law. 

'From now on, you will be in charge of the kitchen,' Rezan sultan had told Aleena, making her mouth drop in surprise.

'Excuse me?' was all she could utter. 

'In our culture, the bride is in charge of cooking for her husband and his family,' Rezan sultan explained. 'If you want to live here for the next six months, you have to follow our rules!'

Aleena had internally sighed in frustration. When she was under her father's roof, she had never even touched a single dish. Her father treated her like a real life princess and made sure that she lived the most comfortable life possible. As a result, cooking was not anything Aleena was particularly talented in. In fact, she barely even knew how to boil an egg let alone cook a full blown meal. 

And thus, she had made her second mistake. 

'I do not know how to cook,' she told Rezan sultan who simply gave her a look of disappointment before she ordered her to the kitchen. 

Since the morning, she had been monitoring Aleena and forcing her to learn to cook the most intricate meals. She had literally moved from zero to one hundred in seconds and her lack of knowledge in anything only gave Rezan sultan more reason to look down on her and abuse her confidence. 

"Why?" Zayd asked, as he looked at his flushed and messy bride. Her face was red in what he assumed was frustration and exhaustion and she had flour all over her clothes, hands and face. 

"It is a bride's duty to cook for her husband," Rezan sultan insisted in a strong voice. The way she ended her sentence made no room to argue. She was forcibly pushing her opinions on those around her and she was not going to listen to anything anyone said. 

"If I wanted my wife to cook for me, I would have moved out," Zayd told his grandmother. "We have help hired around the house specifically for our meals. What will they do if you take their job away from them?" 

Rezan sultan did not like the way her grandson was talking to her but she dismissed it. She opened her mouth to argue with him but Zayd did not let her. Instead, he held his hand out for Aleena. 

Aleena was surprised but she took his hand nonetheless and let him help her up. She slightly winced from the numb feelings in her legs from sitting on top of them the whole morning while she opened and cut dough after dough. 

"It is her duty to cook for you," Rezan sultan repeated for the nth time that day. It was almost as if she was a broken record, repeating the same sentence over and over again. 

"It is also her duty to listen to me and my rules," Zayd said, almost mockingly. "And I do not want her to cook for me." 

Although Aleena didn't like the rules they abided by, she couldn't help but like them when they were in her favour. She tried not to let the smirk that was itching to grow show itself but in the end, it she couldn't help herself and a small smile grew on her lips. Of course, it did not go by unnoticed by Rezan sultan. 

Her eyes flashed in pure anger and she looked as if she was going to start lecturing Aleena, but she suddenly stopped when another figure showed herself. 

"Melek?" Rezan sultan called out the name of the guest, all signs of anger diminishing and a look of pure love and happiness growing on her face instead. 

Aleena turned to the direction that the madam was facing and saw a pretty girl around her age standing in the door way with a large, dazzling smile on her face. 

However, despite her pretty looks, Aleena couldn't help but notice the striking similarities between the girl, who she now knew to be Melek, and Nihal her best friend. Their hair was cut in the same style and was also almost the same colour too and her make up style was also the same. Even the natural red colour of the lipstick she wore was identical, as was the way she curled her lashes. It was strange that their features looked nothing alike but somehow they looked almost identical too.  

"Baba-Anne," Melek smiled with tear filled eyes before embraced the madam. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, my lovely," Rezan sultan said as she placed a kiss on her forehead. 

Aleena had no idea who the girl was but it was clear by Rezan sultan's expression that she deeply loved her. Her reaction to her was even stronger than her reaction to Miray. And judging by the small and warm smile on Zayd's previously frustrated face, it was obvious that she was someone who was either family, or someone closer than family. 

Aleena awkwardly watched as the two greeted each other and spoke loving words to one another until finally Melek turned to face Aleena. 

"You must be Zayd's new bride," she greeted with a large smile, "it's so nice to meet you!" 

"Thank you," Aleena responded, unsure of what else to say in this situation. She then realised that it would probably be appropriate to introduce herself, "My name is Aleena." 

Melek smiled at the girl warmly although deep down she had an instant hatred for her. Just looking at her, she did not match Zayd at all. At least Nihal looked mature and confident. Melek found her to be a worthy opponent. Aleena on the other hand simply looked childish. She was dressed messily in a shirt and jeans pair that did not match and she didn't have any make-up on her face at all. It was like she didn't put in any effort at all. And her outer appearance aside, her eyes held a pure innocence to them and she looked so easy to walk all over. Not to mention, unlike Nihal who had love in her eyes whenever she was near Zayd, Aleena just looked like an acquaintance that he had no relationship with. 

Aleena was the complete opposite of Nihal which meant that there was no way that she would even be a contender for Zayd's heart. Melek was sure that getting rid of Aleena would be an easy task. 

Melek smiled at Aleena once again before she looked around the messy kitchen. It looked as if a bomb had exploded in there. 

"My brother is coming over for dinner tonight," she told Rezan sultan, causing the madam to gasp. 

"Oh no, why didn't you say so earlier? We have so much to prepare!" 

Melek quickly calmed her down with another one of her sweet and innocent smiles. 

"Please don't," she told her, "how about I cook for dinner tonight?"

Aleena's brows rose in surprise. Although the girl looked genuine, Aleena couldn't help but wonder if she had an ulterior motive. Or was it normal for girls to want to cook for other families in Mardin? She wasn't sure but she knew that it definitely wasn't something normal from her side of the country unless the girl was related or unless she was in love with the son of the household. 

"Don't be silly," Rezan sultan told her. "How can I let our guest cook?"

After hearing that, Melek let out a fake pout. 

"Do you still see me nothing more than a guest?" 

Rezan sultan was at a loss for words but she quickly recovered and smiled, "Of course not."

She looked as if she was going to add something else but Melek quickly cut her off.

"It's settled then, dinner is on me."

Rezan sultan sighed but didn't say anything else. Instead, she gave Aleena a judgmental look causing her to internally sigh. Melek's sweet intentions only turned Rezan sultan more against Aleena. 

And Melek was very well aware of that. She felt her heart race in excitement. Getting rid of Aleena was going to be exhilarating for her.