A LEAP OF THE EARLY BIRD

The fortune in misfortune...

A mistake hurts. It come with consequences, and lessons. It can also be said that an error in judgement that affects one person is taken differently than a miscalculation that affects others. Just as so, sometimes a mistake is a gift that ends up yielding good results, very good results, very very good results...

Sanem stood among her colleagues, and felt like she had nowhere to hide. And, she did not try to. The old Sanem may have, but not now. She was learning more and more each day about how the business world worked. She was learning about the importance of not only accepting risks of a task entrusted to her by Can, but she was also learning about taking responsibility for her ideas as well as her decisions. And that also meant taking ownership of her mistakes.

Standing there, she listened to Deren's lecture about how inexperienced she was. How itresponsible she was. How foolish she was. And she took it all in. Not because Deren was right, but because she realized she should have known better. Not because she was inexperienced, but because she hadn't paid attention to the details of the campaign. Not because she did not put her mind to it, but because she allowed her mind to sway away from the campaing and drift toward Can. And, what was worse, she left a bulk of the final details for Ceycey to work out. Darned if she would let him take the blame. It was her fault, and she knew it.

There was someone else who knew it as well. Can. He walked in, still quite affected by his little encounter at the gym with Sanem. And he walked in just in time to witness Deren's monologue criticizing Sanem. He wasn't sure who surpised him more - Deren for her resentfuf and unlimited use of her knowledge over Sanem, or Sanem for not fighting back. He was reminded yet again how different Sanem was because he never met a woman who would not have fought back. She did not. She accepted her fault, admitting that she had failed. And that impressed him. So he stepped in. He did not defend her in a usual sense, but he did so much more. He told Deren what had been done, was done. Sanem may not have understood the gravity of her role, but she would have another task. Even if Deren protested, Sanem would make things work, and she would correct her wrongdoing. She would take on the responsibility of fixing what needed to be fixed for the campaign to run on schedule.

That also meant that employees had to stay as well. But Can had another idea. They moved to Can's house. He found long ago that the Divit house inspired his employees to work harder and more efficiently. He also anticipated that the change of surroundings would help Sanem and let her imagination run. But what he did not anticipate was for him to call Sanem his darling in response to her letting him know she would get the door when the bell had rang. Nor did he anticipate for Mevkibe to show up. And he certainly did not anticipate for his stomach to turn sideways the moment he realized she brought her famously delicious dolma. It was just too bad that others felt the same way, and he was able to only have a few pieces, and could not believe that Deren did not truly appreciate the dolma's taste.

When Mevkibe showed up, the energy that was diminishing with every passing hour seemed as if it received a much needed jump start. She may have come because she was worried about Sanem and Leyla, but she realized that she may have worried in vain. And all because of Melihat's meddling words. She now saw that Sanem was not the only person in Can's home. Quite the contrary, there were many other employees there, including Leyla, Ceycey, and Deren herself. She decided to stay for a while, and got a firsthand look at what Fikri Harika was all about. She admired the workflow, and the commitment the employees had to their job. She had to admit that even though Can told her that they would have to work for many more hours, the employees did not mind it - they worked together to meet their deadline.

The time came when Leyla finished her work. Mevkibe's daughters knew perfectly well why she had come. So, Leyla knew why she wanted to stay. And Leyla knew that the sooner their mother left, the better for them. She advised Mevkibe that they were going home since she finished her part of the job. Leyla's words raised an alarm in Mevkibe's mind. Not because she was having too much fun helping Ceycey coordinating colors for the campaign's ads, but because that meant that Sanem would stay behind. She voiced her concern to Sanem that she did not want her to stay alone. Hearing this, Can replied that she would not stay alone, he would be there with her. Though Can meant for his words to comforn Mevkibe, his words only raized a thousand little alarms more and red flags in her mind. But she obliged Leyla after making sure Sanem would remember to stay pure and know that she was her mother's daughter.

While they worked together, Can realized how well he got along with Sanem. It wasn't just based on their friendship, which brought them closer than he ever expected. It wasn't just a colleague team support either. They just fit. And there was no other way to describe it. Though they had not always agreed, on most issues quite frankly, they complimented each other. They completed each other. And they also balanced each other. He found that he could tell her things other women would never have accepted, and they never would have understood. But she did. And he was finding it harder and harder not to show it.

While everyone worked together to fix the campaign materials, Can worked with Sanem away from the rest of the employees who started to weave out and leave for the night. And working away from others' watchfull eyes gave Can an opportunity to speak with Sanem freely, comfortably, and without an unnecessary facade that would hide his feelings for her. He guided her through the technicalities of markups of the final coloring for the campaign ads. And her heart stopped, because he mentioned the word beloved instead of the word friend. She blinked at half paced speed and corrected him. But he shook his head, and stood firmly by his description. Love was love, surpassing friendship. What he told her next made her heart stop again, because he told her that she, SHE, would lead the presentation for the campaign. Not Deren, not he himself, but she...

Sitting next to Can, hearing him speak to her, hearing him say that he believed in her, that he still believed in her despite of the day's fiasco, made her feel incredible. Indescribable. She felt like an early bird ready to spring up fron a tree branch to greet the morning sun's rays. And she thought that maybe, just maybe, there was fortune in her misfortune she caused that day...