A LEAP OF THE EARLY BIRD

Rebuilding love from the ground up...

There are bridges that get broked and shattered. Some remain that way for all eternity. And then there are bridges that are meant to be rebuilt. Stronger than ever. Because those bridges lead a path from one heart to another...

Can stood next to Sanem. The distance he felt not long ago seemed to slowly ease away. The elevator walls around them seemed to embrace them instead of entrapping them. He reached out and caressed Sanem's cheek. The feel of her moonface skin beneath his fingertips burned with an all familiar tingle of desire. A desire he still felt for her deep down to his gut. He fought the urge to bring her closer the moment his hand glided down her arm. He hadn't realized how hard it would ever be to prevent himself from holding her close to his heart...

She asked if they could start over. Begin with a fresh start. To love again, but with a new beginning. No secrets, no lies, no more mistakes. Just two open hearts beating for one another. If there were ever words that could reach his heart the way Sanem's words of admission of her love for him could, those would be it. If there were ever words that could make him reach out to her again, those would be it. If there were ever words that would make him close his eyes and imagine his heart never broke in two the way only she was able to break it, those would be it...

Only... His lips stopped just short of her lips. His hand froze just short of bringing her back into his arms. And his soul cried out in a thousand sorrows, because it knew his heart wasn't able to open up to her again. Not in the way she hoped, not in the way they both did. Not yet. He held on to her for as long as he could. But he knew he had to pull back. She looked up with tears in her eyes because she realized what that meant. She lost his heart and his love. She lost him as her beloved...

He searched for the right words to express how he felt. He was well aware how she felt about him. But he knew that if he welcomed her back into his arms now, he would not be honest with himself, or with her, and he would end up hurting them both in the end. She understood his pain, and finished his sentence that for him to trust her it would be very, very hard. Much harder than this moment, where he had to reject her love. He asked if they could remain friends. They both knew how precious they were to each other. And neither one was strong enough to go on living without the other in their life.

Sanem felt she had to speak up for her heart, realizing Can's unspoken words spoke for themselves. She told him that the past few days when she was unable to reach him, to speak with him, to feel him close, felt like eternity. The worst and most painful kind of eternity. She would agree to being his friend in a heartbeat, if it meant that she could have him back in her life. What she did not notice, was the sudden change in Can's eyes. Maybe he wasn't ready to let her back into his heart, but his heart knew better than that. There was love in it still for Sanem. Beating silently, but never fading away. He would just have to figure it out for himself...

Suddenly the elevator moved. They would be freed. Only, they both felt that they had been freed already. Something changed in the span of those few hours. The air between them cleared up, and the friendship they vowed for one another created something new in them - an unspoken bridge that began to mend the path between their hearts. It released the tension that had built up between them. They left the elevator with a new outlook on what they meant to each other. The security guard could not believe that he practically had to force them out of the elevator. At 2:00 o'clock in the morning, no less...

When Sanem realized what time it was, she did not know what to do. She could not go home and she could not go to Ayhan. Nothing and no one could ever wake up Ayhan once she fell into deep sleep. She had only one option left. She asked Can to take her to a hotel, to which he could only reply in a manly Divit sarcastic sort of way. So she corrected his assumption immediately. To her surprise, and to her heart's flutter, Can advised her that truly the only way out of this situation would be for him to take her to his home for the remainder of the night. No if's, and/or but's about it. Though she pretended she was most reluctant to that idea, she could not have been happier.

After they arrived at Can's home, they opted for something that they loved most of all. They opted for ordering food. Sanem hadn't realized that the hunger she always felt whenever Can was around had returned again. As usual, they bickered about what to eat. Can, in his most logical state, even at 2:00 o'clock, realized that their arguing was a moot point. They would just order something from a restaurant that was still open at that time. As he sat closer to Sanem as they browsed the phone for available order options, Sanem watched him. Simply watched him, but not only with her eyes. She watched him with her heart as well. She realized back in the elevator that wishing for them to become beloveds again was like wishing for Orion to return to his Artemiz. But as Artemiz never lost that hope, neither would she. Sitting next to him, being close to him, would be enough for her. For now...

Looking at Can, she could not help to reminisce about what they shared, and what they lost. Her heart wept ever since he told her it was over. She had shed so many tears because her heart felt like it was thorn apart between honesty and her love for Can. Now she would take in every moment he offered her. Because she realized how much it meant for him to turn to her again, even if it meant only as a friend. Because in the wisdom of her heart she knew that together they could rebuilt their love from the ground up if they based their love on friendship. They would rebuild their friendship. They would rebuild their trust. They would rebuild their love...