A LEAP OF THE EARLY BIRD

Top notch professionalism...

It's all fun and games until someone starts feeling insecure about what they mean to the one they care about the most. Because the heart feels what the heart feels. And deep insecurities oftentimes resurface at the most unexpected and most untimely manner. Even with the beloved right by one's side...

Fikri Harika was a wonderous place to work. It cared about its employees. It cared about the workplace. And it cared about the level of professionalism and work they presented as the final product to their clients. And the day of the Compass outdoor sportsgear photoshoot was no different. Also no different was the way Can and Sanem guarded each other...

Sanem knew how important friendship with Can was to her. She guarded it with all that she had. Especially when it came to the sleazy and obviously oblivious Ceyda. And it wasn't for the fact that Sanem considered herself less than a woman Ceyda was. No. She considered herself more than a woman that Ceyda would ever be. But that only made her more keen to the way Ceyda looked at Cay. He was nothing more to Ceyda than the proverbial piece of meat, a check mark off her list, a prize to be won and then discarted once she grew bored of it. But Can was never that. He was a man, flesh and bone. And a heart that Ceyda not only failed to see, she never bothered to look for it. That's why it mattered so much to Sanem to guard that heart of his. At any and all means necessary.

As such, Sanem did her best to make sure Can concentrated on the photoshoot, and on Sanem. She did not spare any effort on complimenting him or making sure the equipment worked to his liking. And she in turn got rewarded with his compliments on her workmanship and devotion to her work. Seeing Sanem's and Can's close relationship, Ceyda's eye twitched and her curls curled even more. She was not a woman who was accustomed to competition, and clearly not one below her class. To see that Can showed more attention to Sanem and not her boiled her blood on a level she cared not to admit. But she admitted her disapproval of Sanem to Gamze, completely unaware that Gamze cared more for Sanem and Can than Ceyda would understand.

To see to it that Can would turn his attention to her, Ceyda waited for the not-so-right but opportune moment to remind Can that he promissed to take photographs of her. She knew she won. She was sure of it. And the moment she claimed victory Sanem blew out the candles off her victory cake by announcing that taking photographs in the outdoors would do her no good because the indoors light would be much more beneficial for someone of Ceyda's older age. To further her glorious blow, Sanem continued and advised Ceyda that she would be amazed at what technology was able to fix and correct in today's age. And all Can could do was watch with total amazement at the ease of words and the power of the comments that Sanem bestowed upon dumbfounded Ceyda. And what made it more interesting to him was the fact that he knew how much looks mattered to Ceyda, whereas Sanem would not have been as superficial about what mattered in life if their roles were reversed...

To make matters even more entertaining, Can had to admit that he never considered female rivalry to be of any interest to him. Whatsoever. And yet, he watched with pure hopeless and silent enjoyment at the show that Sanem was displaying when he was attempting to take photographs of Ceyda. Tried as she might, Ceyda really was no match for Sanem. All across the board. Trying to remain calm whilst being pushed around, told how to stand, told to hold up a coffee thermos, or having a helmet shoved on top of her head was beginning to be more than Ceyda was willing to tolerate. Even if the end result was being able to claim that the famous Can Divit shot her photographs.

But Ceyda miscalculated her chances yet again, because Sanem was not a force to be messed with. And she did not need an inner voice to give her pointers of what to do. It did not take brain science to completely sabotage Ceyda's vile plans. All it took was one touch of the camera. Because Sanem was a fast pace learner, especially when Can was her teacher, she knew what to do to erase Ceyda's photographs from existence. She simply cleared the memory card. All of it. But that was not a problem. Not for her, not for Can, and clearly not for Deren, who happily sided with Sanem in a subtle but so powerful of a moment between the two of them. Though Can missed that moment between the two of them, he did not miss the reason why the memory card no longer contained any photographs. And all he could do was keep it to himself.

As for Can, taking photographs was like second nature to him. He knew the angle of the photograph he wanted to show, he knew the lighting he needed to display the exact message, he knew the position of the lense needed to capture the essence of the theme he was going for. That was the easy part. Concentrating on the task of shooting photographs while pretending Sanem and Sinan's friendship did not bother him was a completely different matter. Trying not to show it, even more difficult.

After the short break, the team was about to resume the photoshoot. Though Can seemed preoccupied with reviewing previousy taken photographs, he could hardly concentrate. Paying attention to what Ceycey was telling him seemed even harder. To tell the truth, he may not have heard where Ceycey was from even if Ceycey would have revealed it to him. He was just too irritated by the fact that Sanem and Sinan were having the time of their life while catching up on the years they missed each other. And they did miss each other quite a lot. So much so that Sinan could not believe that a woman such as Sanem did not have a beloved, a man who would capture her heart and her spirit...

Sinan would have never guessed that the man who captured all of Sanem's heart, mind, and soul sat mere feet away from them. And that man's ego was simmering and thundering from inside out. And it finally had enough. Can called out to Sanem and Sinan in a not-so-subtle way to get their attention. He demanded for the photoshoot to resume and conclude, seeing that the sooner he got through it, the sooner Sinan would leave. And, oh, he made sure to let the bitterness that floated through him show in his words. But in a completely opposite way than Sanem belittled Ceyda. Where Sanem commented on Ceyda's older looks, Can commented on Sinan's young-like and inexperienced expressions. Though he began to feel better, Sanem shot a few words at him that cut right through that male ego. She pointed out that Can was jealous of Sinan. That shot his temper through the roof. Worse yet, she indicated that Can was jealous because Sinan was handsome. Handsome. And it took all of the control in Can's body and especially in his hands for him not to crush the camera in his hands. Grinding his teeth did him no good either.

If Sanem's intention was to throw Can into a loop of hopeless ego fury, she succeded. Her words, though just a few of them, filled his mind with images of planned sweet punishment he could have planted upon Sinan. Sanem's words hurt him and bruised him. But then she amended her words and indicated that it was Can who considered Sinan handsome, not she. That baffled Can. If she did not consider Sinan handsome, then who? Who did she consider handsome? He could not stand the suspense. So he asked her, without pretenses, without unnecessary misconceptions. And her reply went right to his heart. For she considered him to be handsome. HIM. Can, and Can only.

What he saw in her eyes then was more than her words revealed. He saw love. He saw yearning. He saw shy hope of what the future could hold. And he realzed that perhaps the photoshoot proced to be not such a gruesome process in the end. Their top notch professionalism resulted in not only a series of photographs that guaranteed the campaign's success, it also appeared that there was more to Sanem's admission than she was letting him on to believe...