A LEAP OF THE EARLY BIRD

Her beloved Can...

What do words of love mean to a heart that loves? A word that is spoken may never be undone. May never be taken back. Maybe that is why those wise enough to understand true value of a word choose to speak less and listen more? Because words have power. Especially if the person speaking of love chooses his words carefully. Especially if that person yearns to hear those same words back...

Sitting across from Can, Sanem felt every cell in her body. She was anxious. She was excited. And she was ready. Finally ready to let her lips say what her heart and soul have been begging her to scream out. She only wanted one thing from her heart. She only asked for one thing of her soul. And that was to give her enough courage to tell the man she was in love with just how much she loved him. Because the fact of the matter was that she realized she was too harsh on Can, and that she was selfish. She was so afraid to reveal her feelings to him that she failed to recognize the enormous amount of courage he gathered himself when he told her he fell in love with her. He was a man of a guarded heart. And she finally realized what it took for him to let his heart speak when he admitted his feelings to her.

So she leaned in and embraced him with all that she was. He asked her questions to which all of her answers were one and the same. She loved him. She loved him more than she loved herself. And she kissed him. She felt so free and in love that she took the courage to lean in for that kiss first. Because he made her feel safe. And he made her feel like the woman she knew she could become. The surge of love for him overpowered her senses. Her head was spinning and she could have sworn that her heart beat was do loud that he heard it too. They stood up, and in that moment she realized that if he never let go, she would stay in his arms forever. They kissed again. But the mist from the sprinklers and the cool air of the night finally let themselves be known. They ran inside and Can asked her one of her favorite questions. Was she hungry? Oh, was she ever. She alwasy felt hungry when she was around him. She offered to cook, but he would not chance it. They both laughed at that, and they went to change into dry clothes.

She felt so at ease, and so indescribably happy and free because she was finally honest with Can, and herself too, about her feelings for him. Yet, when she returned to the kitchen, and paused to look at him, the fear she kept inside surged back with full force. Was she worthy of his love? Were they really two people that belonged together? She fought those thoughts, but she felt like she was fighting a loosing battle. He turned and saw her concern. He spoke softly to her. And told her they could talk about what was bothering her, but that could wait. This night belonged to them. He told her not to cut any more vegetables because she was in no shape to concentrate on that task. He asked why she called him a Bad King that night at the cottage. And she froze. She was torn between what she had done in the past and the love she felt for him for so long.

Can only had to take one look at her to see she was pulling away. She was holding onto something inside, something she wanted to say. He told her that would wait. He would listen to her and hear her out, but not today, not that evening. He did not want the magic of their first evening together as together to be spoiled. He told her to listen to her heart. To feel what it whispered to her rather what her mind was telling her to thinkh. He embraced her, and his love calmed her down. She held on for as long as she needed. Because she needed it. What he took as a sign of her releasing the tension in that embrace, she took that as a surge of the strength of his feelings for her. She went to change back to her clothes, but not before she embraced him once more. And she felt like she could have kept coming back to that embrace all of her life long.

They ate in the garden. They enjoyed a meal so fulfilling that their hearts felt it too. The happiness that beamed from Can matched the light that beamed out of her eyes. They were finally together, and free to enjoy their own company without pretenses or limits. Can was impressed by the fact she drank a bottle of wine in less than no time. She smiled, and to prove she was still as sober as a morning bird, she stood up, only to be caught in his arms for better balance. She smiled again and revealed to him that deep in her heart she knew all the geastures that Can Divit was known for. The bashful sided smile when she told him something good about him that complimented his handsomeness. The ever so famous wave of his hand when someone kept complimenting him - just to make those compliments coming. The baffled look on his face when she said something he could not even begin to comprehend. The way he took his glasses off in the most confident gesture. The way he brought those glasses up on his forehead if he wanted to take a closer look at something. And the sweetest of ways he pointed at something he was looking at...

All of that made Can smile. He was beginning to see how much she loved him, and that she really took time to get to know him, the real him. He did not possess Sanem's photographic memory, but her remembered how she made him feel, and how she made his heart see her. He remembered her beautiful smile. To him, it was a smile that illuminated the whole world. He remembered that when she worried, she chattered and spoke faster than he could follow her train of thought. He remembered that when she was thoughtful and immersed deep in her thoughts she touched her hair. But oh, he remembered her scent. That scent. Their scent. It drove him mad. Because that scent filled everything around them. Because that scent haunted him everywhere.

He asked if she wanted to run away. Just the two of them. Anywhere she wanted to go. Even to Galapagos. Hearing him say that word filled her with even more love for him than she already felt. Because it revealed to her that he really listened to her. And he kept her words dear to him. Even going back to Agva, when they traveled to find Arzu. Even back then she meant something to him. Even back then she mattered to him. But, she did not need to travel anywhere. She did not need to search for a place she would feel happy or safe with him. Because she already found that place. And she told him that. That place was right in his arms, with her head on his chest. She not only felt safe in his embrace. Now she also heard his heart. And it beat for her. Only her. Because she was his Sanem. And he was her beloved Can...