Your Grace - Burak Çelik

CHAPTER 46

A/N: Another long chapter uwu- and the final one 😭😭😭 + recommended song <3

"I love you."

Burak stared; "What?" he asked, his eyes going wide. "W-what did you say?"

Ayedah smiled at him. "I love you," she repeated. "I said I love you." She took his hand timidly, causing electrical sparks to shoot through his skin. "And I'm sure of it now," she added in a whisper. "I love you, Burak Celik. I'm in love with you." Burak continued to stare at her, and she kept on smiling at him; he swallowed deeply.

"No," he said softly, making her brow crease. "Ayedah, please don't feel compelled to say that just for me, it's okay..." He pulled his hand away. "Please, Ayedah," he begged. "Don't...please only say that if you mean it. You don't have to say it if you don't, you-"

"But I am saying it because I mean it," said Ayedah, blinking at him. "Burak, I really do mean it. I promise you, I mean it. I love-"

"Ayedah, stop."

Burak's face was full of anguish as he faced her, and tears were spiking his eyes again. "Please, Ayedah, what if you don't, what if you're just saying that to make me feel better," he asked her in a hoarse voice. "Don't...please don't try and do that and mess with my heart, please." He shook his head, but Ayedah wasn't going to let his defiance stop her from telling him the truth.

"No, Burak, I'm not just saying that," she said firmly. "And you're going to listen to me now whether you like it or not, whether you believe it or not, because I'm not going anywhere no matter how hard you try to push me away." Burak opened his mouth to speak back, but thought against it when he recognized words he had once spoken to her come out of her mouth, and shut it again.

Ayedah took another deep breath;

"I love you, Burak Celik," she said. "That is real, we are real, my love for you has never been mania, has never been orchestrated by my messed up, dysfunctional brain. It comes directly from here-" she pointed a finger at her chest, where her heart was.

"I fell in love with you that day a few months ago, that moment on the beach nearing sunset when you looked into my eyes and told me that I could trust you. I fell in love with you the moment you looked into my eyes and told me that I could trust you, and everything was going to be okay. I fell in love with you the moment you looked into my eyes and told me that I could trust you, that everything was going to be okay, and that we were in this together. Never has anyone said that to me before you did and actually gotten to me- neither have I ever trusted someone's words that way before. For the first time in my life, I actually believed that everything would be okay." Burak stared at her, his hard, icy eyes softening as he gazed right into her soul, and as much as she longed to run into his arms she kept herself at bay, because she still had a lot to say.

"I was wrong about love," Ayedah whispered. "Love isn't something that requires a fully-functional and perfect brain or mind. Love isn't something that someone who grew up only knowing hatred cannot experience. True love comes from the heart, and from the soul- the brain is only there to make sense of it, and help us act upon it. You were the one who showed me that, Burak." Burak remained silent, and Ayedah continued.

"I love you, for who you are, Burak Celik," said Ayedah. "I found a true and bosom friend in you when you taught me to accept myself, to fall in love with myself first. And when that happened, when I began to accept myself, I learnt to love others, learnt that I was able to love others, even if I didn't know it- and then, I fell in love with you. You taught me what love is."