Chapter 17
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Sadik had woken up earlier, and now he was making breakfast. Pides, this time. He found mincemeat in his fridge and had made them. Now, he was out of vegetables, but he supposed that he could buy more later.

Normally, he didn’t stock his pantries. But, now that Nikola was in his life, he’ll do it more often. He drank a bottle of blood, and he called the hospital director for more. He arranged for his housekeeper to take it, this time.

Nikola came down at eight in the morning, looking refreshed.

“Slept well?” Nikola nodded.

“What time is it?” Sadik pointed at the clock next to the fridge.

“Oh, I will be late for the sermon,” Nikola paled at that and then looked down at himself. “I need to go and take a shower. Bye, Sadik.”

“Wait,” said Sadik, reaching out and grabbing his arm. “I made breakfast. At least eat before you run off.”

“Ah, princesses. But, why are they boat shaped?” Sadik sat down as Nikola was staring at the sandwich from all angles.

“Not princesses, pide,” Nikola took a bite.

“Ah, you made the foundation from scratch? For how long have you been up?” Sadik just shrugged.

“I think about two hours. But, I didn’t check the time when I got up. It is not like I need to sleep, or anything,” Nikola blinked and then realization hit him.

“Ah, yes. Vampire. I forgot,” Sadik busied himself with eating and Nikola finished his sandwich.

“So, I was thinking. I can go to the sermon by myself and then, after, we can go to the mosque,” Sadik raised an eyebrow.

“I rather liked the song that the priest was singing. Although, you didn’t seem to understand it. Was it not in Russian?” Nikola shook his head.

“The Catholic Church has Latin and the Orthodox one has its language. No one but the priests use it,” Sadik supposed that was ok.

“In which language does the imam sing?”

“Turkish. Most of the people from town that are Muslim know it. Imam Hasan is Turkish too. Although, he knows Arabian languages too,” they took away the dishes and Sadik turned on the dishwasher. Then, it was a quick trip to Nikola’s house, so he could shower and change his clothes and Sadik drove him to the church.

“I think I’ll swing by the Mosque. It is almost prayer time,” said Sadik, and Nikola’s eyes shone.

“It is good that you want to spend more time there, considering…” Then, Nikola looked apologetic.

“Yes, I need plenty of redemption. Don’t sweat it, you said nothing wrong. See you after the sermon,” and Sadik drove off after a wave from Nikola.

 Sadik entered the mosque to the surprise of the imam. People were already sitting on the prayer mats, so the prayer must not have started yet. Sadik took one of the few free mats and sat down on his knees.

“Yes, now that almost everyone is here, I think we can begin,” so, it was lecture time? Sadik tended to skip those and just come for the prayers. But, this time, he had come too early.

“I see that all of you wear masks. This is good to know. We must do everything we can to stop the spread of the virus. Vaccines…” Sadik tuned off the imam. TV told him much the same things. About halfway, the imam told them to hold a minute of silence for the war in Ukraine and to say a prayer for the successful talks in Turkey.

Sadik parroted after everyone else. Then, the clock ticked, and he got in the position for a prayer. The imam began to sing, and Sadik found the ancient text of the song more to his liking than the lecture.

When the prayer was over, people began standing up. Some got in line to speak to the imam. Sadik, on a whim, decided to be one of those. When it was his turn, the imam raised an eyebrow.

“Sadik, come. Let us speak somewhere more private,” the imam led him to a far corner of the mosque as the rest of the people patiently waited.

“Please tell me you haven’t sinned,” Sadik grinned.

“I sinned, but the good kind. I have a lover now. A lovely man who makes security programs for a living,” imam Hasan nodded, smiling gently.

“Does he know?” The imam pointed at Sadik’s mouth.

“He does. We have no secrets between each other,” the imam’s smile widened.

“You are serious, then? But, have you sinned some other way? And know that I don’t think that what you did was sinning. Albeit the Koran might disagree,” Sadik really liked this new age priests. They were more talk than stoning. For which he was grateful.

“I am squeaky clean, imam,” said Sadik with a wide grin. “Although, I might need to do some hair pulling in the future. But, it will all end up well.”

“If you say so,” the imam made to move back to the others, when Sadik took a hold of his arm. Sadik looked unsure. This was a place of worship, after all, and not a museum.

“My lover, Nikola, would like to visit the mosque. Since I visited the church,” the imam nodded.

“I have nothing against meeting him, even. I will be here for three more hours,” Sadik looked at the imam with gratitude. The man was as close as a parent to him, despite Sadik not staying to listen to his lectures. And, even though the man was not even a tenth of Sadik’s age.

“Thank you, imam Hasan,” Sadik bowed and made his way out of the mosque. He checked his watched and then texted Nikola, knowing full well that Nikola’s phone was on silent mode and that, if the sermon was still going on, he won’t disturb it.

He got a text back.

I finished here, but I have an hour of washing duty. Father Sergei disapproves of our cuddling.

After a second, Sadik texted back.

Which is precisely why you shouldn’t have told him. Like I didn’t tell the imam.

Sadik saw an angry emoji as the next response and chuckled. Then, he was back inside. Ready to do the right thing and tell the imam that he had slept, and just that, with Nikola.    

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