Sanem wakes up with a smile on her face. Despite the unfamiliar bed, she slept soundly and she rolls over, looking around the bedroom before she gets up and stretches. Grabbing Can's sweater for the sudden morning chill, she walks out of the room, looking for Can. She pauses in the hallway hearing Emre's voice outside.
"You don't even want to listen to your own brother but you let the girl you met yesterday sleep in your house?!"
Sanem walks out and sees Can sitting on the side of one of the poolside lounge chairs, staring at the grass at Emre's feet.
"You'll forgive HER even though she lied to you too!"
"Emre, be careful of your next words." Can looks up at Emre.
"It's you who needs to be careful around her! This girl has been doing what I wanted her to since she started." Sanem pauses at the edge of the pool. "She was around you all the time and then came and told me everything that happens in the office."
No! No! Sanem rushes forward seeing the truth dawn on Can's face. "Can," she says quickly and Emre scoffs, looking at her irritably with his hands on his hips. "Can, no that's not true." She kneels in front of Can, her hands on his knees and looks up at him. His eyes are cold and she swallows. "I can explain. I was forced into doing this."
"What were you forced to do Sanem?"
"Wrong question, brother. Rather ask her why you lost your photographer's license." Can looks at Emre and frowns.
Sanem looks back up at him from Emre, tears in her eyes. "Can, please," she shakes her head.
"Sanem is the reason. She's why you lost your license," Emre sneers. "She's also the one who gave the pictures to frame you."
Sanem blinks at the tears and looks away. Can looks at her intently and points at Emre, his eyes not leaving her face. She looks at him finally, sniffing. "Is that true Sanem?" Sanem doesn't answer. "Is it true Sanem?!" Sanem jumps a bit at the volume of his anger and her tears drop. He leans forward, his jaw clenched tight. "Look at me." She keeps her gaze on his necklace, her lip trembling. Can grabs her roughly by the arms and pulls her to her feet. "Look into my eyes Sanem!" She doesn't. She can't, because she knows what she'll see. Hate. Anger. "Tell me you didn't do that."
Sanem closes her eyes. "I'm so sorry," she whispers. "I did," she opens her eyes and looks up at him, swallowing the large lump in her throat.
Can purses his lips and looks away. His features are taught. He breathes through his nose only, and she waits for his scolding. "You disappointed me once more." She looks down at his shirt and he gives her a disgusted once over. "I never, and I mean NEVER want to see you again." Can lets her go and she tries to grab for him.
"Can - " He keeps walking back to the house and Sanem stares at Emre, who smirks and shrugs. Sanem turns away and runs after Can instead of confrontimg Emre. "Can, please!" He yanks his arm away and keeps walking, ignoring her.
"Can...please...!"
-
"No...don't go...Can...listen to me...please..."
Can looks at the guestroom door, frowning when he hears crying and his name coming from inside. He was on his way down to the kitchen because he couldn't sleep but he retreats and stands in front of the closed door.
"Can...I'm begging you..." Sanem sobs and he opens the door to check on her.
Shit, what's wrong? He closes the door and moves to the bed quickly. "Sanem?" He sits on the available space next to her. "Sanem, wake up," he says quietly, pushing her hair out of her face and gently rubbing her wet cheek with his thumb to wake her. "Sanem?"
Sanem startles and her eyes snap open, the hand fisting the blanket letting go. Her heart hammered and she looked at him with wide, fearful eyes.
"Shh, it's okay. You had a nightmare." He pats down her hair some more in comfort. "It's over. Everything's okay, I'm here."
"Can?" Sanem blinks and then immediately starts crying, turning her face down. "It was awful," she sobs and shakes her head.
"It's okay, it's over," Can takes her hand and rubs her fingers, "it was just a bad dream. It happens."
She sniffs and lifts her face, licking her lips and squeezing her eyes shut before opening them again. He wipes under them and she slowly stops sobbing. He sits up and gets the glass from the the nightstand, pouring some water from the jug.
"Come on, sit up," he turns back and pushes the pillow up behind her back as she shifts into a sitting position. She takes the glass he hold out and sips, sniffing. Can rubs her back and when she gives the glass back and nods, he replaces it on the nightstand, his hand staying on her.
Sanem takes a breath and pushes her hair away from her wet eyes, wiping them. She looks at him for a second and then turns, putting her arms around his neck.
Can holds her and pats her hair down slowly, giving her the comfort she seemed to need.
Sanem presses her nose into his shoulder and hugs him tighter. He was so far away from the Can in her nightmare that she didn't want to let him go. Eventually she does and sits back, looking down in embarrassment, blushing as she wipes her cheeks again.
"Are you okay?" he asks quietly.
"I'm okay," she says, her voice raspy.
Can gives her a onceover then pokes her nose with his finger and smiles. "Wait here." He stands up and Sanem immediately panics.
"Where are you going?"
"I'll be right back."
"It wasn't real," Sanem breathes quietly when he leaves and frowns, her tears threatening to start up again. "Not real, just a bad dream." She closes her eyes, her face pinching from the memory of the dream and she scoots over to the nightstand for some more water.
As she's drinking, Can comes back in and closes the door behind him again. He had a small box in his hand and she puts down the glass, swallowing the water.
He walks round to the other side of the bed and sits down, settling with his back against the headboard, and lifting his legs up, crossing his ankles over each other.
"What is it?" Sanem asks, eyeing the box that he held in his lap while he looks at it, seeming lost in thought.
Can inhales and then sighs, saying, "It was supposed to be your birthday present."
Sanem looks up at his face as he opens the box and removes whatever was inside in his hand, his turned body hiding it from view. "You changed your mind about giving it to me because of what happened," she guesses.
"What happened doesn't matter anymore," Can says shortly and puts the now empty box on the other nightstand, before turning back. "Anyway, it's yours." He then holds up a delicate silver chain with an amber teardrop stone hanging off it, with a loose lightning shaped embellishment where it connects to the chain fused into the stone.
Sanem opens her palm and he places it there. She blinks at it and looks at him again. "Can, it's very beautiful."
"Yeah? You like it?" he smiles.
"Yes."
"It has a story to it. It's a bit long but I can tell you if you want to hear it?"
"Please tell me." Sanem nods eagerly and waits.
He looks at the stone while he speaks. "I was at a campsite near the Baltic Sea a few years ago. And this storm came out of nowhere, I had to find somewhere to hide and I came upon this little house. Right in the middle of the forest. It was owned by this elderly couple, long since retired and their children married so they moved out there to live out their days."
Sanem smiles when he does, her head leaning against the headboard, listening to him, her eyes on his face.
"They seemed to take a liking to me for some reason, and accepted me into their home without question right away. I stayed much longer than I should have, I'll admit, but I got to take some very nice photos while I stayed there." He inhales and shrugs. "Anyway, I'm going to speed up because it the middle part gets boring."
Sanem chuckles a bit at his nose wrinkling.
"The woman's husband had a heart attack one day."
Sanem blinks at the sudden change of direction. "Oh my God, Can, did he die?"
"No." Sanem breathes in relief and he smiles. "Luckily I was there to get him help while his wife was outside. I had to massage his heart."
Sanem pulls her lips in at his twinkling eyes, wondering how someone massaged someone else's heart.
"I did chest compressions on him until his wife came back. Luckily she was already calling an ambulance so it worked out well enough in the end, even if they came a bit late. The old man survived thanks to what I did."
Sanem nods, smiling again. He wasn't even boastful about any of the things he's done. Anyone else would be embellishing the story but not him. And she could see it as the truth because that's who Can was. He wasn't someone who made himself look good for attention.
"A week later, I was getting ready to leave and as I said goodbye, that nice old woman gave me this," Can points at the stone, "it's red amber."
Sanem looks at it in amazement and Can pulls the bottom one between his teeth, looking at it too.
Since the day Sanem first made him a cup of tea, the colour of it had reminded him of this red amber stone and the story behind it. Maybe that was the reason why he loved her tea so much - that and the fact that she made it in such a way that no one else could replicate it - he couldn't say for sure, but he knew that it was different and special.
"According to the legend," Can continues, "there was a sea goddess who lived on the shores of the Baltic Sea, she was in charge of creating the waves and tides at dusk. And her castle was made of amber."
Sanem's eyes lift and she tilts her head to him, fingering the amber while she listened, her mind creating the picture he painted.
"She fell in love with a mortal man,
a local fisherman, and he fell in love with her in return. Obviously, the love between them was impossible... It was like nothing anyone had ever seen before and they didn't like it... So, in order to be together, they decided to run away, to just disappear and hide. Eventually, they were found out by the god of the sea, the goddess's father, when he realized that the waters were still when the sun set. Angered by her not doing her duty, he put a curse on the fisherman, whose boat ended up lost on an expedition all the way on the other side of the world in uncharted waters and then locked the goddess up in her castle for the rest of her days, only allowed out to do her duty."
"He seperated them?" Sanem's eyes blink the tears forming at the story away. How sad...
Can sighs, lifting his shoulders sadly still immersed in telling it. "Hm hm," he nods. "From then on, the goddess shed tears of amber staring at the waters at morning, each one getting carried away by the evening tide like a little trail to wherever her lover was, hoping and praying that they would reach him and he would follow them back to her."
Sanem looks at the stone again and smiles at it sadly, tracing the outline with her fingers. "Did he come back to her?"
"No one ever tells the end of the story, but I like to think so." Can eyes her for a second and then he picks up the stone in her palm. "The old woman, when she gave it to me, told me, 'You saved my beloved husband, and kept us together. May it bring you good luck and help you to find your true love'." He pulls his lips in and frowns at the stone.
Sanem's own brows were furrowed at the sad tone in his voice now. Did he think otherwise now about the story? "But if you're not sure how it ends, how can you take anything hopeful away from the gift?"
"That'a not the point. The point is that it has meaning. Her wish obviously didn't help me much," he shrugs, "but I'm making a new one now."
He looks at her but her eyes are staring forward, tears pooled at the rims. Sanem blinks and turns to him, trying her best to smile - but knowing she was the reason he lost his love and belief in this stone, had the tears spilling over.
Can reaches over and wipes it away. "I hope that love will always be near you, Sanem. Happy birthday."
Sanem sniffs when he lowers his hand and she manages a smile. "Thank you."
It was a very sweet gift and obviously one he put a lot of thought into - and she thought he forgot or didn't know it was her birthday... This meant a lot to him, she could tell and he gave it to her even though she hurt him. She would cherish it with everything in her.
She wipes her face and smiles more brightly. "Will you put it on me?"
"Of course, turn around."
Sanem turns and lifts her hair, wiping her eyes while he unclips the necklace and drapes it around her neck, fastening it again and she touches it, turning back and looking at him. "Thank you."
"My pleasure." Can smiles and looks at it around her neck, touching it lightly. Sanem's eyes stay on his face. After a few seconds, he lets go, sitting back and clearing his throat. "Okay, well," he breathes, "I guess I'll go then. You get some sleep." He shifts to the side to stand but Sanem stops him.
"Can? Please don't go yet."
He looks over his shoulder, paused midturn. "Sanem - "
"Please? Stay just a little bit longer? At least until I fall asleep?"
Can seems to think it over and then he puts his right leg back onto the bed. "Alright, I guess I can do that."
Sanem nods in thanks and gives him a small grateful smile. She didn't want to keep him there but she didn't want to be alone either - she was too scared of having another nightmare where he wasn't the kind man next to her.
Sanem slides down under the blankets, pulling one pillow to her side and Can fixes the other behind him, but doesn't lie down. He stays as he is, looking down at her settling on her back before turning onto her side to face him. He smiles at her closing her eyes and then leans his head against the headboard, watching her watching him.
***
Sometime during the rest of the night, Can had fallen asleep and by the time the sun rose, he was under the blanket with Sanem. Turned to face her on his left side, his one arm was under her pillow and his right wrapped around her, his legs and feet intertwined with hers.
Sanem wakes up first, frowning at the incredible warmth she had no idea about and slowly opened her eyes. Her nose was right against Can's and she stares at his eyelashes.
Blinking twice she recoils and squeezes her eyes shut, shaking her head and waving her hand, one eye peeking at him again. Both open and she smiles, and realizing he was real, carefully returned her hand and gently brushed her fingers over his hair. He stayed sleeping, and she takes her hand back again, tucking it under her cheek with the other to just look at him before she decides minutes later to stop ogling him and get up.
She moves the hand around her as softly and quietly as she can, her teeth digging into her lip in concentration. She winces putting his hand in the space she used to be and he grunts, shifting a bit but staying asleep.
Getting her clothes and phone from the charger, Sanem sneaks out of the room and silently closes the door, glancing at him gripping the pillow closer as she does.
**
"Ayhan! Breakfast is ready, come down! I'm pouring tea already!"
Ayhan is halfway down to the kitchen when Osman yells up for her. "I'm coming."
"Then come!"
She moves faster and turns into the kitchen. "Good mor...ning..." she trails and looks at the table where he slides eggs and sausage onto a plate. "Oh God, is that eggs and sausage?"
Osman grins and nods, turning to her, then he stops grinning. "And this?"
"What?"
He takes her hand and spins her, looking at her outfit - tight spandex yoga pants, an exercise Tshirt and a sweatshirt. "Turn."
"What?" she frowns and stops turning.
"Are you joining the Olympics?"
Ayhan tsks. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm just going for a walk."
"For a walk?" Osman asks blankly. "You?" She nods and crosses her arms, avoiding his eyes. "Okay, what's up?" he narrows his eyes.
"It might come as a surprise to you but I can walk further than Sanem's house you know?" He blinks. "And I've decided on a more healthy lifestyle." She shakes her head at the oily food. "I'm sorry, but you're eating that alone." She pats his arm. "Anyway, I have to go or I'll be late." She eyes the eggs again and groans. "Why did you have to do this to me? You know I love eggs and sausage. Heartless!" She stomps to the door and huffs, closing it behind her after a glare his way.
His mouth hangs open, his hand still outstretched to the food in question. "Ayhan, I didn't know you - but it's eggs! And Sausage!" he tries calling her back one more time but is left alone. He snorts after a second of the news of her 'healthy lifestyle' settling and laughs. "Yeah okay, we'll see how long that lasts."
He pours his tea and is about to sit down to eat it all himself when the doorbell rings and he sighs, standing back up. "See, I knew you'd come back, you're way too hooked on oily foods," he mutters and walks to the door. "I knew it! I knew, I could have told you - " He swings the door open with a grin and stops.
Leyla gives him a smile and he blinks, his grin frozen in surprise. "Good morning Osman."
"Leyla, good morning," he nods and stops smiling like an idiot.
"Is Sanem awake?"
Huh? "Sanem?"
Leyla frowns and nods. "Didn't she stay over here last night?"
Osman shrugs, shaking his head. "No, she didn't."
"Are you sure?" He nods. "Maybe she got up early and left?"
"Uh, I'm sure. And I woke up before dawn, she wasn't here."
Leyla groans. "Oh God, I wonder if Ayhan knows something. Can you ask?"
"Ayhan just left. Didn't you see her on the way?"
"No, I came in through the side gate." He nods. "Can you call her?"
"Alright, come on in. I'll get my phone." He lets her in and shuts the door, sighing. "Where is this girl again now?" he mumbles as Leyla sits at the kitchen table.
**
Mevkhibe moves around the kitchen, cleaning and checking her crockpot oven every now and then. She smiles at it excitedly, starting to smell the burek cake inside. Grabbing a dishtowel she lifts opens the small doors and takes out the pan, placing it on top. "Look at you, you beauty," she chuckles. "And you Melihat, thank you for giving me tips. I've never made a better pan of eggplant burek." She stares at it a moment. "What do I cover it with?" She turns and goes to the other side of the kitchen.
Nihat, led by his nose and a grumbling stomach, enters with his eyes closed, inhaling the aroma with a smile. He stops, opening his eyes and hearts spring up in them looking at the pan on the oven. My God, it's beautiful... He stares and moves forward. She made me burek... He stands next to the pan and bends over, his nose close as he breathes it in.
"Nihat!" Mevkhibe gasps when she turns and see him breathing on Can's burek. "Stop it Nihat!" She hurries over and covers the pan with a flowered cloth. "No."
"You're right Mevkhibe, you made such a piece of art, I don't think we should eat it at all, we should frame it and hang it on the wall, huh, what do you say?" he laughs.
"Thank you dear."
He lifts the cloth. "Is it eggplant, Mevkhibe?"
"It is," she nods and puts the cloth back.
"How you think of your husband my love," he gushes and takes the cloth, sticking into his shirt like a bib.
Her eyes widen and she grabs it back. "It's not for you, it's for Mr Can." He keeps the cloth fisted and she pulls. "Please dear, you said it yourself, I have to thank him in for helping me win the election. He went to a lot of trouble, so don't look at me like that please," she begs, pulling at the cloth, his distraught eyes begging her not to keep the food from him. "Please, it's to thank him. I don't want to owe him anything like Sanem, please, Nihat for god's sake."
Nihat lets go of the cloth, pouting and she closes the pan again and clenching his fists on the table, looking at the pan for a moment more before he chokes out a "Fine Mevkhibe", and nods. Mevkhibe breathes a sigh of relief. "Give my greetings to Mr Can, then," he adds, discreetly removing the cloth again.
"Okay," she says and puts it back.
"And tell him to start in the middle, Mevkhibe," he says and opens it again.
"Okay." She covers it again.
"And he has to eat it with yogurt, he has to dip it and then eat." Nihat peeks again under the cloth.
"Okay."
"Dip and eat Mevkhibe..."
"O - "
"He won't even eat it the right way! Or at all! I just know Mevkhibe!" Nihat cracks and snaps, standing and stomping his foot.
Mevkhibe shrinks back and stares at her husband.
"He'll just look at it and say it makes you fat!" Mevkhibe pulls her lips in not to start laughing. "He'll eat a piece here maybe and a piece there and then throw it away."
Nihat was red in the face by now, making his wife pat him on the back while he pouts. "Alright my darling, settle down now. Don't overreact." She picks up the still hot pan with the cloth, the heat burning through to her fingers a bit.
"Mevkhibe, can't you just take the middle and leave the rest here?"
"Really Nihat? How do you take just the middle of a burek to someone?" She clicks her tongue. "Now go on to the store, dear." She turns him with one hand.
"Leave me a small piece then at least, Mevkhibe."
"Calm down Nihat, please. Go to the store."
"Just a small piece?" Nihat asks again, looking over his shoulder.
"For goodness - Nihat, go to the store, please."
"But - "
"Nihat," she groans and pushes him to the door. "I'll make you one later. You're acting like you've never had eggplant burek before in your life." She sighs as he leaves the kitchen complaining. "Thank God I saved this thing..." She puts it on the stove to cool some and looks at the doorway. "I'll have to make you an even bigger pan. Poor man..." She looks around the kitchen and frowns. "Now, what was I busy with?" She turns on the spot. "Completely confused me, he has," she puffs and goes to the refrigerator, opening it and closing it again. "Hmm..."