Aşk Kolonyaları

One day, my friend and I were playing chess, taking turns with the pieces. Suddenly, someone walked by us. A strange, beautiful scent filled the air and surrounded the table. It was familiar, but we couldn’t quite place it. What perfume could it be? The scent lingered, and we both looked around, trying to figure out where it was coming from.

Then, we saw a man in the distance. “Aha, it’s definitely coming from him!” we said. He was walking, and the scent was growing stronger. We started to approach him, and his fragrance began to overwhelm us. It was so captivating, it felt like we were about to fall in love. We followed him, unsure whether we were acting a little obsessive, but we couldn’t help it — we wanted to know what perfume he was wearing. However, he kept walking further towards the pier. Was he a fisherman? A chimney sweeper? We didn’t know.

Eventually, he stopped, and we quietly walked up to him and said, “Hello.” He turned around slowly, and when he did, we were stunned. His presence was mesmerizing — it was like nothing we had ever seen before. His smile was so warm, so genuine, that we couldn’t help but be entranced. We just stood there, lost for words.

After a moment of silence, my friend managed to ask, “Do you know a good fish restaurant nearby?”

The man smiled even more and replied, “Yes, I’m heading there, too. Let me take you there.”

He led us, walking in front with one of us on each side. We were walking behind him, enveloped in his scent, on our way to a fish restaurant.

Suddenly, a storm broke out. The rain came down hard, as if the sky had opened up. The wind howled, and it was like the apocalypse had arrived. It wasn’t just rain; it was like stepping into a shower. The downpour was relentless. We quickly darted into the restaurant, drenched from head to toe.

Once inside, the man casually took a seat in the corner, his belongings scattered around him. His scent still lingered, a mix of wet earth and moss, filling the space. It was like walking into a magical, rain-soaked forest.

The waiter arrived and asked, “What will you drink? And I see you’ve brought your ladies with you again?” We were caught off guard, and feeling a little embarrassed, we explained, “We were just looking for a fish restaurant… and we found it!”

The waiter chuckled and said, “Don’t be fooled by this fish place. The bills here are double, just so you know.”

We looked at each other, confused, and replied, “There’s no fish smell here, and no bill to worry about.”

“Wait until you try the food,” the waiter said with a grin.

As we settled in, the waiter handed us something — a bottle of cologne.

We stared at the bottle in surprise. It was the same scent that had been following us all along. The scent we had been chasing was not perfume after all — it was cologne. The same fragrance we had been drawn to so strongly was from a simple bottle of cologne.