A LEAP OF THE EARLY BIRD

A determined heart...

As with any hope, wish, or dream there is a silent factor that oftentimes becomes not only a key component in making that dream come true, but may truly be the main difference that makes that dream come true. It is determination. It is not giving up on that dream. Determination thrusts power and energy into that dream. It gives it life. And there is no truer example of that than a determined heart filled with love. A true love, a pure and sincere kind of love...

When Sanem fell in love with Can, she never imagined that someone like him could ever fall for someone like her. She loved him silently. She loved him from afar. But it all changed the moment he trusted his own heart and gathered courage to hold her in his arms. She did not fall in to his arms due to her own clumsiness or influenced by wine. No. He reached out for her and pulled her into his arms and into the most indescribable kind of embrace. She felt safe. She felt cared for. She felt cherished. And for the first time she felt that the heartbeat in his chest beat for her. Only her.

She hoped for another moment to feel that way again. But with everyone still around, she knew getting close to Can at the camp filled with employees and especially Muzo, that would not be possible. And yet... When the evening came to an end she received a phone call. From none other than Can himself. He wanted to hear her voice. Hear her words. Hear her thoughts. She made no sense, but could not have known that it was her nonsense that made him relax. Her nonsense calmed his yearning for her.  It filled him with happiness - which wasn't something he admitted that it was lacking in his life. He told her where he had settled for the night, away from others, by the beach they held each other close. Saying those words made his heart swim. But to her, it meant that she mattered to him so much that he could have chosen any place to camp out, but he chose that spot. Because he could look at the place where he held her close.

So she gathered her own courage. She listened to her heart. She found him, and her heart skipped a beat. He was still looking at the spot where he held her in his arms. He turned, and she could not believe how wide his smile turned when he realized she had come to him. But she grew shy, doubting herself and what ever she could mean to him. She turned to leave, but he reached for her, again. He begged her to stay, if only a while longer. She hesitated, but one look into his eyes made her realize that his smile did reach his eyes, and was magnified by the light and happiness she felt from him. She stayed, and quickly realized she needn't to have worried. He cared for her. She would not dare to think how much, but he cared enough to have wanted to spend time with her. She apologized for turning him away the night at the embankment. She would not be able to tell him, then or now, how much she loved him. But it was important to her that she apologized for the way she hurt his feelings.

They layed down on the hammock, and she realized how wonderful the night sky always looked when he was next to her. She realized she said those words out loud, and stopped herself half-sentence. She could not believe she said that out loud, but he was not offended, he seemed glad somehow. Glad to hear her thoughts, and glad to feel her close to him. She told him the story of Orion's Belt. She had not realized how similar the story of Artemiz's love was to her own love for Can. How one envious brother stopped at nothing in order to defeat his own brother. While she told the story, Can gathered her closer. And she had not objected. She felt safe with him, and that meant so much to her. She was shy, she was young, and he never pushed her beyond her own limits. Because it spoke of who he was as a man. Than evening he only asked her to stay for five minutes longer. And they drifted to sleep in each other's arms.

The last thing she heard the night before and the first thing that fell upon her ears the next morning was Can's heartbeat. Steady, strong, and it beat for her. She stirred, and looked up, only to find his amazingly deep bronze eyes looking at her. She felt so at peace. So happy. And then, reality struck with a force so strong that it threw Can off the hammock. She bid him farewell, and could not comprehend how time sped up when she was with him. A night of so many hours passed in a blink of an eye. She returned to the campsite only to find out that her parents would soon join them. She confided in Ayhan that the happiness she held inside at that moment made her feel that her vision of Galapagos and all that it could entail had the possibility of someday coming true. When her parents came, although she tried, she could not have hidden her happiness and affection toward Can. To her benefit, Mevkibe and Nihat only shook their heads in disbelief that their daughter, inexperienced above all, dared to look so high up to his status and class...

But Sanem had not looked at Can the way they did. She looked at him with eyes that loved, and with a heart that cared. But she received a painful blow. One that caused her more pain than her parents' words that day, or any day. Polen had returned to the photoshoot, less dressed and even less pleasant. She marked her status and made Sanem aware of just how low her place belonged. She belittled her as much as she could, and pretended she meant nothing to her. She asked Sanem for coffee only to pull Can aside to talk. The words that came from Polen's mouth spit distaste and disgust right in Can's face. She stooped so low as to even attack the place where Sanem came from. Her neighborhood, and status, and upbringing. She did not expect Can to fire back at her. But he only did so after Sanem walked away, with a heart full of pain and eyes that were fighting back tears.

Can did not notice that Sanem stood not far, behind a tree. She heard everything. Felt every cell in her body with a new set of pain, because Polen threw in Can's face the fact that he had fallen for a nobody, a little young her. She was a nobody compared to Polen. She did not attack Sanem, but who she was as a person. That was a low blow on Polen's part. But what really hurt Sanem was that Can had agreed to spend the day with Polen to see how it would end. Sanem walked away, appaled and hurt beyond hurt. But she walked away a word too soon, because just as she walked away Can rejected Polen, in every kind of way. He could not stand her. Could not even stand to look at her. She turned into Huma, and that was too much for him. He replied that if understanding that they were no longer together was too much for her to handle, then she could leave. He was done. They were done. And he needed Sanem.

Luckily for him, Sanem did not give up. She trusted her love, and the strength of her courage. It was her time to shine now. Her time to act. She sat next to Can, and could not have been happier when he seemed enchanted with her. The tape kept on rolling, and he kept his eyes on her. And all Polen could do was watch in disbelief how little she now mattered to Can. To make her place be even more evident to Polen, she went to get water for Can, and everso triumphantly opened his water right by Polen's neck. But that did not anger Polen as much as the fact that they drove Sanem home. Not only did Can seemed to know his way to her home by heart, they shared some unknown secret about his phobia regarding speed, which never existed before. When they arrived by Sanem's home, Polen's temper hit a new high. Can kept on smiling at Sanem, and was just stuck on her. Not just stuck. He was struck with her smile and happiness beaming out of her.

Sanem could not have been happier to see Can smile back at her. Because she now was determined. Not determined to win Can, because he was not a possession or a throphy or some high valued prize. Her determined heart finally felt brave enough to let go of her fear. She was determined to give him her love. Because she finally felt his love for her that day...