BAY YANLIŞ

Episode 8 - In all honesty...

A wise person once said that the right person is worth all the effort in the world. That they are worth getting to know them. That they are worth being loved with all of their vices and virtues. And, above all, that they are worth getting to know each layer of who they are. Every single layer.

Özgür sat across from Ezgi on his terrace and in his usual logical way, contemplated his luck. He considered it as such. It was his logic that got him up to that point in life, so there was no reason to doubt it now. It was logic that made him ask Ezgi to play the part of his beloved before his family. It was logic that made him convince Ezgi that they should bicker in front of their families and act as though they are the worst possible match under the sun. And it was logic that made him realize that it would be best for both him and Ezgi to part ways right after their trip to Göcek. Only... it was no longer that simple.

As she sat across from him, Ezgi mattered more to Özgür than anyone he had ever met. She was completely different from the women who pursued him. She was completely different from the women he had pursued. And he was beginning to see that this was the key that she held in her hands. She was different because she was meant to stand out. And, vay vay vay, did she stand out.

With both logic and luck on his side, Özgür leaned in for the kiss he anticipated and longed for since the day Ezgi kissed him in his dream. That dream proved to be fiction, a figment of his imagination. Subconscious and involuntary. But this time, what was happening was the most honest reality. Ezgi was there. Mere inches from him. About to confess her feelings for him, about to kiss him for real this time. He all but tasted the raw intensity of her lips. Then, maalesef, the ring of the doorbell pierced the delicate and gentle silence between them.

Özgür swore under his breath, got up, walked toward the door, and swore for the second time in less than a minute. When he opened the door, Yeşim was not only mad that she had to drive halfway across the city to track Özgür down, she was visibly displeased to find Ezgi anywhere near him. But she did not come alone. Much to Ezgi and Özgür's surprise, Serdar appeared right behind his sister. He too was displeased to find Ezgi with Özgür, to say the least.

For a man who kept his cool to the very end, Özgür tried his best to remain calm. But showing annoyance was another matter. He could not believe Yeşim came after him. He could not believe Serdar acted like an overprotective territorial primate whose only objective was to belittle Ezgi, and play on her fragility and inability to stand up to Soner for herself. What got to Özgür the most though was the fact that Serdar made it seem that he would make sure to stand directly between him and Ezgi, as if to block the connection that was growing between them.

The way he saw it, Özgür was suddenly ousted from standing beside Ezgi. To top it off, he was in his own home, on his turf, but being shoved and pushed around between Yeşim and Serdar as if he was a mere pawn in their game. Not on his watch, he thought. Just as he was able to reveal what he thought about the siblings' surprise visit, the doorbell rang again. This time, behind the door was someone, two someone's, who came to ease his mind. Deniz and Ozan showed up as quickly as they could. While Ozan stayed behind with Özgür, Serdar announced he would leave with Ezgi. Serdar thought he was victorious, believing he had just put an end to whatever Özgür planned with Ezgi that evening. But his bubble burst with a loud echoing boom the moment Özgür told Ezgi to call him so he could be sure she was alright.

Serdar stopped in his tracks. No one played better than him, in ANY game. He NEVER lost... and he would make sure he would not lose this time. He asked Özgür in a direct and not so polite way about his closeness to Ezgi. After all, she was just his employee. But he overcalculated his ground and totally underestimated Özgür and his stoic confidence. Özgür fired back his reply with a single direct hit right in Serdar's overinflated ego. He bluntly told Serdar that Ezgi wasn't just his employee, she was his very dear friend. He said it slowly, in a low tone of voice that ruffled Serdar's feathers... and not only his.

Ezgi watched as Yeşim closed the door of Özgür's apartment right in her face. That image was twice as painful because when Yeşim closed the door, she stood directly between Ezgi and Özgür. Unable to deal with everything that had happened that evening much longer, Ezgi bid good night to Serdar and walked down the hall to her apartment. She did not think about Serdar or his feelings. She thought about Özgür, and their interrupted evening which almost ended with the kiss she hoped for for a long time.

Just as Ezgi worried about what Yeşim was planning to achieve with Özgür, he just wanted Yeşim to leave and the sooner the better. To say that her presence annoyed him was a mild understatement. Knowing she was becoming almost obsessively needy of his attention was even worse. When Ozan left them alone, Özgür asked Yeşim what she was doing. Not just in his apartment, but next to him. She was shocked, appalled to say the least. She was not the kind of woman who ever received rejection; she was the one who rejected men. So, when Özgür not only questioned her presence but also bluntly told her that she was nothing more than a one-night adventure, this angered her. To save her ego, she downplayed her intentions, twisted his words around, then left his apartment in a fit of fury slamming the door behind her. In the hallway, she almost plowed through Cansu on her way out.

Özgür breathed a sigh of relief but not for long. Ozan approached and asked how he was doing, and he did not mean physically. He knew Özgür would not have hit Soner without a reason. From the way Deniz described Soner to him, Ozan knew that Özgür towered over him physically. He also knew Özgür would have done everything in his power to defend and protect Ezgi. The only question that remained was WHY?

Though Özgür had a hard time admitting it, Ozan needed no admission. He had known Özgür for many years. Too many not to have noticed the change in his best friend since he met Ezgi. The unapproachable bachelor was gone. So was the smooth operator whose attention women vied for. The man that stood before Ozan was taken off guard by a woman who Özgür had said would be nothing more than a weekend excuse to get his mother off his back. Now Ozan could see Ezgi was much more than that to Özgür.

Ozan looked for honesty in Özgür's eyes because his eyes never lied. He found that honesty very much closer to the surface than Özgür would have admitted. Instead of poking fun out of Özgür, or overstating the obvious "I told You so", Ozan offered a good piece of advice to Özgür. If he felt the way he did about Ezgi, then he needed to tell her. Let his feelings be known before it would be too late. Because soon, lest Özgür was forgetting, Serdar would swoop in on Ezgi if Özgür waited around for too long. Oh, was Özgür aware of this, painfully aware, but also knew he could not act on his feelings unless all of it made perfect logical sense in his mind. For now, what made sense to Özgür as he sat alone in his apartment was knowing he was no longer interested in any other woman aside from Ezgi. Not one.