Sabır (Patience) - Kurulus Osman

Chapter 54

i want that ^

Konur's heart skipped a beat. He stared at Ceyda, her smile and next words warming his racing heart, "From the first time we met, I knew. I know from the way my heart pounds like a drum when you look at me, from the way adrenaline rushes through my veins when we touch, from the way my tongue tangles when we speak. I knew that we were meant to be together...I knew that I loved you. And I do." Ceyda took a deep breath before asking, "Will you marry me?"

Konur blinked, his confused expression slowly turning into a grin as he finished processing her every word. A sudden wave of energy took over and he laughed as he lifted Ceyda off her feet, spinning her in his excitement. Ceyda yelped in surprise before joining his laughter. He set her down and caressed her hands in his, and Ceyda swore that she never saw his sky-blue eyes shine with such happiness, light up with such excitement, up till now.

Boran, whose curiosity held him back, hid behind Ceyda's pavilion to hear what she wanted to tell Konur. His smile widened with her every word to him, and his heart warmed at the sight of Konur's reaction. "Finally..." he whispered, closing his eyes in relief of Ceyda's drastic change of mind.

"Yes," Konur laughed, and Ceyda gasped, "Yes?

"Yes," he confirmed. "I -I love you too. I have died every day waiting for the right moment, waiting for you. And now..." Konur told Ceyda the truth about how he felt about her for the first time, knowing that they would finally be together.

But Ceyda's mind was elsewhere.

She stopped listening after his confession of loving her, and broke free of his grip, laughing softly in surprise and excitement as she sightlessly looked ahead. "It worked, then!" she exclaimed, and Konur stopped talking. "Do you think he will say the same?"

Boran frowned as he started to understand Ceyda's plan; he squeezed his eyes shut as Konur's smile faded, the fire in his heart extinguished, and the joy he held just a few seconds ago disappeared. "W-what?" Konur managed after a while. "He?"

"I hope he says he loves me..." Ceyda said, still in her own world.

"What are you talking about?"

Ceyda turned to him and smiled shyly. "It's a surprise."

Boran rubbed his temple, anger, sadness, and disappointment surging through him. "Did you have to break the heart of the one who loves you to test out your speech...Ah Ceyda...what have you done?"

"Surp-surprise...?" Konur's heart dropped. "So, those words, what you said, they weren't for...they were for him?"

Ceyda watched his shattered expression. Shoving her regret and pain in the very back of her head, she answered, "Who else would they be for?"

Konur felt as though he was slapped by her a second time. Masking his dejection with understanding, he said, "O-of course. Right...I'm glad you're in... that you've...found..." Not being able to fake his happiness anymore, he excused himself, leaving a confused yet sorrowful Ceyda watching him leave.

"Stop it," she hissed at her regretful feelings. "It was too late anyway." Taking a deep breath, she looked around to spot Siddik, but instead, she caught Boran standing by her tent just before he threw himself behind it. She sighed in exasperation as she made her way into her tent, then pulled up the thick carpet that hung behind her couch, stepping through the opening she cut through a while ago, to come face to face with Boran just as he was about to leave.

He stumbled back in surprise, then looked between her and her tent. "How did you...?"

"Foolish is the man who builds a house with one door," she quoted blandly.