A LEAP OF THE EARLY BIRD

With a friend like Ceycey...

Sanem never expected to become so involved in work that it would take over most of her life. She never expected to get so close to the actual production of campaigns in such a short time. She never expected she would come face-to-face with conceided and self-absorbed clients that she would be forced to pamper. And worst of them was Arzu, she was sure of that. And it had nothing to do with the fact that Arzu set her sights on Can. Or, did it?

To say she despised Arzu was an understatement. She saw right through her shallowness the moment she met her. How on earth did a woman like Arzu function in life? No brain, no skill, and definitely no class. And to Sanem, she wasn't all that pretty either - because a person's beauty shined from within. If there was no inner light, how could one shine? Arzu actually dimmed others light, rather than anything else. And the fact that she seemed to make an example out of Sanem of how a low-grade employee should be treated made Sanem detest her even more.  Thank goodness there was Ceycey...

Cengiz Özdemir, lovably called Ceycey by all, was Sanem's last resort for sanity. From the moment they met they took a liking to each other. Their friendship, formed out of basic understanding of the necessity of surviving work hours, transformed into a bond a few ever found in life. They not only understood each other, they really understood each other. Daily routines of tug-and-pull helped them keep each other in check. She defended him, and he made sure no harm came her way. And they had a language of words, both spoken and not, that others may not ever comprehend to understand...

The day of the photoshoot at Can's estate was no diferent. Whenever Sanem was close to her boiling point because of Arzu, Ceycey made sure that her temper dissolved. He could not understand how Sanem had no reservations of talking back to Arzu. Until he saw how vile Arzu's actions were. She was demanding, that was no secret, but she took some strange sort of pride in putting Sanem down, and belittling Sanem's position at the agency each chance she had. And that was not right. Because no one should be treated that way. Especially not his new-found friend Sanem.

Sanem may have thought that Can fell so deep under Arzu's spell that he failed to see her actions toward Sanem. She was wrong, completely wrong. The fact that he had to put up with Arzu didn't mean he had to put up with the way Arzu treated Sanem. Though he had to tend to Arzu's  childlike demands, he could not help to feel the urge to come to Sanem's defence. But found that he didn't need to. He had to admit that he admired the stubborn ways with which Sanem carried herself. He also noticed that Ceycey had a way of calming Sanem down. He was grateful to him for that, and made sure Ceycey was never too far from Sanem that day...

This proved true especially when Arzu refused to work with strawberry lillipops due to her allergy. Can asked Sanem and Ceycey to go inside and cover the lemon lollipops with food coloring to resemble the colour of strawberries. As much as it refueled Sanem's temper, their one-on-one conversation actually calmed her down. She wondered if Can did that on purpose. She felt so comfortable with Ceycey that reality escaped her and though she thought she was thinking to herself, she actually carried out a conversation with Ceycey that confused them both...

The fact that he matched her inner thoughts with complete understanding and no judgement at all brought them closer. Only Ayhan had done that before. And this little impression made her realize that her work companion, underestimated by many, had a true heart of gold, the purest of gold. And with a friend like Ceycey, she would be able to face whatever problems would come her way, work-related, or otherwise...