Your Grace - Burak Çelik

CHAPTER 16

A/N: Long chapter oop

Before long, Ayedah and Burak had reached the seaside; it was neither a short nor very long walk, and by that time the sea was in view, Ayedah had already gotten off Amor and was walking him alongside Burak.

"So, Ayedah, how did it go, riding a horse for the first time?" asked Burak, as Ayedah carefully took hold of the other side of Amor's reins. "Well, for a first time, it was surprisingly smooth," said Ayedah. "Though my butt hurts a little." She smiled as Burak laughed his deep laugh, his eyes crinkling at the sides and his smiling lips shining through his beard and facial hair. "It was like that for me too," he said. "My ass hurt like hell- but you did better than me, Ayedah." Ayedah scoffed. "Like hell I did, you ride amazingly," she said. "Well, though you fell when you tried to get on, you didn't fall off the horse when it started moving," chuckled Burak.

"You fell?" gasped Ayedah. "But- you're so- you're so good!" Burak laughed again at her surprise, and Amor too, seemed amused. "Three times, actually," he admitted. "Once whilst I was trying to get onto the horse, like you- I too, thought it was easy and overestimated myself." He cocked an eyebrow at her, making her roll her eyes, though she continued to listen. "And then I fell twice when I actually got on the horse and started riding." "How?" questioned Ayedah. "I suppose I got too nervous," said Burak. "I fidgeted too much, and kept looking over to see if I was properly balanced- by doing so, I lost my balance and fell over. It happened two times, and good lord, was I embarrassed." "But you learnt your lesson, I suppose?" asked Ayedah, chuckling in amusement at the story. "I did," said Burak with a grin. "Thanks to Amor here, though- he's an encouraging horse. He refused to move until I got back up again, and onto the saddle to continue."

"You and Amor have quite the connection," Ayedah said with a smile, giving the horse a stroke on the nose. "Is he yours?" "Oh, no," said Burak. "I wish, but no. He belongs to the set, and Mehmet of course. But I get along with him the best, which is why he's usually put under my responsibility." He smiled up at Amor lovingly, pressing his face to the horse's long one for a moment. "But I do love him as if he were my own horse, though," said Burak. "I wish I filmed with him- but I use Akhal, that's the white horse you met the last time we were in the stables together." "Akhal is gorgeous, but I can tell that your chemistry with Amor is definitely better, as well as your relationship," said Ayedah observantly. "You were riding him the day I first started work here."

"Yeah, you remember," remarked Burak with a grin. "You seemed a little off that day, though- kept looking at the ground for some reason. Didn't ask at first in case I was being nosy, but I suppose I can ask now. First day jitters, am I right?" "Oh- pfft- obviously," chuckled Ayedah, looking away immediately so she would not blush at the memory of seeing him with an undressed top half. She was more than relieved that he had not repeated the act of training with his shirt off as she came each day to set for the past month and a bit. "I had them too, the first day I came to filming," recalled Burak. "Especially with the ridiculous hairstyle I had. I felt like everyone was looking at me weirdly."

"What, Kongar's hairdo?" asked Ayedah. "Yeah," snorted Burak. "I looked like a Viking, and that look on me was compared to that of one of the characters from the History TV show Vikings," He sighed, looking away for a while. "Now that I'm talking about it, I honestly felt quite outcast at first," he admitted. "I mean- most of the cast are experienced actors, and all of us have done strange things that many actors and actresses will have to do for the sake of acting. Yet I still felt isolated from them, like I was the only one doing something odd, and looked bad for it. I have to say, I was pretty insecure about it."

"Well, for what it's worth, I didn't think you looked too bad," said Ayedah in what she hoped was a comforting voice. "On the contrary, you looked quite handsome." She forced back the blush in her cheeks when Burak's icy-colored eyes snapped to look directly at her, his eyebrows raised. "You really think so?" he asked, bewildered. "Be honest, Ayedah." "Well, I really do think you look handsome either way," Ayedah blurted out her honest opinion. "With, er- the 'viking hairstyle' or your hair as it is right now. It doesn't really matter what your hair looks like, I still think you look pretty good." Unable to contain her blush any longer, she looked away, once again, surprised at herself.