When the sun rose, the world was encased in a thin, glass-like layer of rime. Adem stepped onto his porch, his breath a white cloud. He walked to the garden, his heart heavy with the certainty of loss.

He left the shears on the porch. The garden of Yanaginda would be quiet for the winter, but in the center, wrapped in his old coat, the bud remained—unopened, unfaded, and waiting for a sun that was yet to come. 🥀 If you’d like to , tell me: Should we find out who the flower was meant for ?

He remembered the day he planted it, thinking it would be a gift for a woman who was no longer in the village. Now, it was just a ghost of a hope. He took off his heavy wool coat and draped it over the bush, a desperate shield against the inevitable ice. The Morning Frost

He pulled back the coat. The leaves were limp, and the stem was bowed. The Gonca Gül looked defeated, its color muted by the gray light of a winter dawn. A Different Kind of Life

In the center of his plot grew the Gonca Gül —the bud that had remained tightly closed for three summers. The villagers whispered that it was cursed, or perhaps just stubborn, mirroring the man who tended it. Adem, with his calloused hands and quiet eyes, didn't care for the gossip. He only cared for the promise of the red that peeked through the green casing.