I never saw her grieve for anything that slipped away; in fact she seemed to collect people and things so that she could throw them away.
-- Narrator (chapter 2)

Importance: From the present day location of the bench, the narrator recalls the first time he encountered Zuhal and his impression of her. The quote suggests that she is flighty and careless with her possessions, post things and people, and acts as a kind of foreshadowing to the end of the novel. Zuhal has run away with Mustafa and left the narrator, and the narrator is reanalyzing his initial meeting with her through this mindset. As the novel progresses the memories grow fonder and his recollection of Zuhal becomes warmer, but as he first introduces her the memory is still raw and therefore he recalls her with a higher degree of bitterness.

One of the strangest friendships is the one between two men pursuing the...
-- Narrator (chapter 7)