A LEAP OF THE EARLY BIRD

The power of a man in love...

There are forces and virtues that have the power to conquer all vices of the world. But they are no match to the power of a man in love. When a man fell in love, that one and only kind of true love, all things became possible. Even finding the way back to the beloved when all seemed lost, and even when hope seemed hopeless...

Can Divit realized in a heartbeat that life without Sanem would deprive him of love for the only person he had found the courage to open his heart to. The moment Güliz revealed she told Sanem that Polen was moving into his home his soul grasped his heart. That could not be. That simply could not be. He would not call Güliz's words impossible. He would call them futile. He knew what Polen's presence in his life meant to Sanem. How threatened she felt by Polen. How inadequate she felt compared to her. So to hear that Polen would move in with him surely broke Sanem's heart. It did not matter to Can that he was furious at Güliz for his own sake. It mattered to him what it meant to Sanem. He stormed off to his room. His thoughts ran a million miles a minute. Should he call Sanem? Shouldn't he? Would he dare? Could he afford not to? And the fear of all those thoughts began to take over his fragile and guarded heart.

And then, one ray of hope came to him as if by some kind of miracle he was begging for. Sanem sent him one note. One message. One word. That word held within it the power to change the world. It did. It changed his world. A new thrust of determination rushed through his veins. He did not know why, but something told him to change into the tuxedo he wore the night they had kissed. That night when she fell into his emrbace, and into his heart. And she stayed there in his heart from that moment on. He never would have believed he would fall for a shy, sincere, and kind early bird from the heart of Istanbul. But that was the beauty of it. He opened his guarded heart to her because she showed him kindness and love. She showed him he was capable of feeling love, trust, and genuine happiness.

With nothing but Sanem on his mind, he left the house. He knew where to go thanks to Güliz. If there was anything she was good at, it was gossip and blabbing out information without being asked for it directly. So he guided his car to the opera. He knew where she would be, but did not know how long she would stay there. The albatross tattoo demanded of him to get there faster. To get there as soon as possible. He thought of the albatross tattoo. Why he chose that tattoo years ago? Why did his soul call out for exactly that bird? The moment he saw it, his decision was made. How coincidental would it become that Sanem called her mystery man by that name? He smiled. He knew quite well that there was no such thing in life as coincidence. There were so many things that linked him and Sanem throughout life even before they met. Their love of books, their uniqueness, their strong sense of search for good in people. Their sense of awareness that their way of thinking was so unlike the rest of the society's...

He made it to the opera. And a pang of fear struck at his gut. The door was closed. He knocked at it as hard as he could. As urgently as he could. What if he came too late? What if she left? Would he have the courage to face her at her home? Would he dare to stand before her parents and reveal his feelings then? But his luck played out in his favor. Ceycey was still there. He let him in, and confirmed Sanem was still inside. Without a minute to spare, he dismissed Ceycey. He needed to face Sanem alone. Face to face. Heart to heart. His heart told him where to go. It lead him to the only place where he knew he would find her. To the very spot they met. Where his world changed. Where his reality stood still. Where a fog of love and yearning took hold of his heart. Where for the first time in his life, life caught him off guard.

He rushed up the stairs. He saw her. She too had been caught off guard the moment she saw him. She was so surprised she could hardly breathe. Her sighs only reaffirmed his belief that realizing he had come to her mattered to her. But she had not yet realized who he really was. The man she saw standing before her was Can Divit. The man she was falling in love with. The man who chose to come to her because he chose her. Her. Because no one else mattered. But he could see the indecision in her eyes. He revealed to her that he received her message, and was intrugued about what could come next. What would. If only... She could only offer that word back in response. Keşke... If only he was her albatross...

She cut her response at half-breath. Because in that moment she looked down and saw his shoes. Some may say that a simple detail such as shoes would proove insignificant. But to her, it meant the world. She looked up, and he could see that her heart and soul finally made the connection. He not only stood before her as her Can Divit. He stood before her as her Albatross. The one and the only. She trembled. He could feel it even before he gathered her close. Her heart trembled right through her skin. She sighed. She sighed again. And her next sigh fell upon his lips. That kiss, that second kiss they shared meant so much more to him than she would ever know. Their first kiss came as a surprise to both of them. Their almost-kiss on the beach came to them as a guiding light, a way of revealing to them of what life could feel like if they let go of their fears. But this second kiss... This kiss opened his heart to her in way he never knew possible. Because she accepted him. Not the Albatross. She accepted him - Can Divit, with his past sorrows and walls around his heart that proved no match for Sanem's love...

He eased his lips off hers. He kept his eyes closed for one moment longer. He had not seen her radiating smile, but he felt the light beaming out of her. She trembled still, but it felt so much different now. It was as if she floated on the excitement. He asked her to call him by his name. Can. Just Can. For to her he would no longer be Bey. To her, he would be just Can. From now on, and forevermore. She begged him to let her get home. He told her not to leave. He would take care of her and her heart too. But she knew her heart could barely keep up with its beat. So she bid him farewell and danced her way out of the opera. He felt the urge to call his father. Only his father would understand the scale of what he just experienced. Of what he felt. His father's reply was exactly what he hoped for. He had to laugh. His words of finding what he was looking for in the heart of Istanbul made Aziz Bey repeat his words. No, he was not sick, he was not running a high fever, nor was he in need of a doctor. He was fine. More than fine. Because he found the most beautiful thing he would ever come across in his life. He found his Sanem...