A LEAP OF THE EARLY BIRD

The scent of the Underground Violet...

Is it easy to understand true love? Is it easy to describe it? The answer lies in the heart of a person. Those who never felt it find it hard to comprehend how it may feel. But those who came across it in their lifetime need not bother to find the right words to reveal its true meaning and its true power. Because they know it exists. And they feel it too...

The smile that plastered itself on Sanem's face seemed as if it were considering to remain there forever. All because of Can. All because of his words. Sitting in her room, working until late hours on something she had considered for a long time, gave her an opportunity to relive what had happened at the agency earlier that day. So much had happened in just a matter of hours. But all of it paled in comparison to Can's words pertaining to her scent. Correction, HIS scent. She still tried to wrap her head around his words. And what they may have meant. They were no longer beloveds - Can had made that perfectly clear to her. They were only friends - she was clear on that as well. He could not trust her again with his heart - she understood all too painfully. And yet...

Can felt fantastic. The thought that he got rid of Fabri for Sanem elevated his mood. He would make sure to get rid of that man from the agency as well. But, as it stood for now, he could not feel any better than he felt now. The air cleared up since he threw Fabri out. He calmed Deren down and assured her all would be okay. After all, he was a man that always had a plan. And a backup plan to that. He would sell his mountain home if he had to. He was that determined not only to move on, but to make the agency thrive as well. And he realized he wanted to do so with Sanem by his side...

Seeing Can at the agency, even after she worked all night long on her present for him, made Sanem feel as if she had slept for hours. She felt rejuvenated. She felt rested. She felt as if she could move mountains. And seeing that he was just as glad to see her awoke yet another inkling of hope in her. Not only was he happy to see çay in her hands, he was happy to see her too. Even if Deren was right there, standing between them. Tried as Deren might, even she could not deny that there was something going on between Can and Sanem. And she was beginning to understand that Can would never look at her the way he looked at Sanem. So she did the only thing she could have done. She left them alone...

The sight of Sanem bringing him çay was enought to elevate his already great mood. She was a vision in pink. And, she wore his necklace. But she surprised him. She revealed that she created a perfume inspired by him. Meant only for him. Only him. She wanted to thank him for facing Fabri in her name, and defending her scent. He smiled, and replied that he needed to do that. He had no other choice. After all, her scent was his scent... The look in Sanem's eyes just then made him yearn for her more. Yearn for her love and for her innocence. Because she still did not quite understand what meeting her that night at the opera did to him. What her lips touching his did to him. What her scent did to his heart. He smiled again, inching closer and closer, and revealed to her what he wanted to tell her for so long. That night turned his world upside down. More than that. It actually turned it the right side up. It grounded him. It made him realize that he finally found the path he was searching for without knowing he was lost. Her scent captured him completely. It wrapped around him in the most profound way. It embraced him in a fog that finally allowed him to see clearly and vividly what laid ahead of him. And it was her.

How could he find the right words to reveal to her how he felt that night? How he still felt that way? If he knew all the languages of the world he would have used them now. Because he surrendered his heart to her that night without even seeing her. She captured his soul the same way as she captured his lips. And she did not even know it. How would he describe the indescribable way her scent pulled him toward her, the indescribable way her lips welcomed and matched his, the indescribable way her skin responded to him caressing her back? Her scent became the fog that captured him. All of him... He revealed to Sanem that he felt as though he was lost at sea. He had nowhere to turn, no way of knowing which way to go nor which path to take. He was adrift at sea with no means to find a way out. And he found it in her. He told her that some things never change, and they never will. Because without her by his side, he would feel lost again...

Suddenly the room felt as though it was closing in on them. He space around them and the space between them shrank into nonexistence. Sanem felt that if she did not give him the perfume now, it would dissipate or crush in her hands. She took out the box, and took out the bottle. She opened it, and allowed a drop of it to drip onto her skin. The moment the scent hit his system, he knew he was lost. She revealed that the perfume was made from one flower. The Underground Violet. It was a rare flower. A very rare flower. And he allowed her words to carry that scent all the way to his heart. Because the words she spoke carried with them the power only she had over him. She spoke of the flower, but he knew what she meant. She revealed that she knew how rare the Underground Violet truly was. How precious. How miraculous it was for her to even find it in the vast world. Because although the flower was strong, it was delicate underneath it all. It was fragile. And it only showed its beauty to those it chose to reveal it...

As if her words weren't enough to cause him to explode from within, she caressed his neck with the hand that bore the scent. His skin sizzled where she touched it. If it weren't for the necessity of checking if anyone was looking at them, he would have sworn the reality could have been lost to them just then. Words whispered reached their ears with barely a sound. Breaths released hit their cheeks with so much tenderness that he was slowly loosing his mind. He asked her if she ever saw the color of the flower she spoke so fondly of? She said she had. He asked her if she ever smelled the flower's scent? She whispered she had, with eyes half closed in an attempt to subdue the hold his words had on her. He asked her then if she understood that the flower came out of its hiding only to her...? She whispered in a voice as gentle as it was alluring that she understood it, barely able to speak. She understood. She understood that the world around them suddently lost its meaning...

And, then, just as the world stood still for them, Ceycey's presence shocked them back to reality. And it shook him just as much. Perhaps even more. He wittnessed their love in many a times. But he never realized just how much energy it exuded into the world. Until now. He screamed, and demanded, that Can's office would be the only place in the agency where no surveillance would, could, or should ever be placed. Can agreed, without even being able to look Ceycey in the eye. He was grateful to fate that it was Ceycey who walked in on them, and not anyone else. As Sanem left his office, he sat down by his desk and thanked his lucky stars for Ceycey and his friendship. He picked up and smelled his perfume again. And then, he realized that the gift box Sanem left for him on his desk included a poem, meant only for him. And as he read it, he understood the reason why the scent of the Underground Violet reached his heart just as deep as their scent. Because it reached the heart he always guarded..