A Necessary Journey

Beginnings and Endings

Defne pushed her sandwich around her plate, sitting in the courtyard. The sound of her Grandma in the kitchen a comfort to her. Her mind was completely confused following her meeting with Sinan that morning. Did she really want to go back into design, at Passionis no less? Omer wasn't there right now, but what would happen if he came back, what if he heard about her working there? Would he be angry? Would he insist on her leaving?

On the other hand, Sinan was desperate. Without Omer the company was suffering, and Passionis had been like a second family to Defne. The best and worst times of Defne's life had centred around Passionis, and ultimately it was where she had met and fallen in love with Omer. Would she be able to stand passing by his office every day, could her heart stand it?

She sighed to herself. "Ufff!"

"Defne?" Grandma Turkan popped her head out of the door, but Defne was already halfway out the gate.

Iso was siting on the small stool outside of the workshop when Defne turned the corner and he looked up with a broad smile. "Defo!"

As she approached his smile turned into a frown. "Hey Iso."

"What's wrong?"

"Ay Iso, my head is so confused."

"Come, Sit."

Iso pulled another stool and slid it next to her. He waited patiently until she sat and drew a steadying breath. "Sinan met with me today."

Iso's eyes widened. "Sinan? What did he want?"

"He wants me to go back to work with him."

"No! No way Defo. You cannot work with Omer again.

"Wait, wait Iso... It's not like that. Omer isn't there, he won't be there. He's in Italy... Sinan said the company is struggling, they need someone to help them get back on their feet again. Yasemin is in Spain, Omer is in Italy... I'm just so confused."

Iso flinched at the sound of Yasemin's name, but nodded thoughtfully and slung an arm around Defne's shoulders. Determined to not dwell on his own fractured love life. "What does your heart tell you Defo?"

"I don't know. I feel like I owe it to Sinan, he lost his best friend, through no fault of his own because of me. He helped me, so much, but at the same time, Passionis is where I fell in love with Omer... I mean I need a job, I can do this job. Sinan has offered me a good salary, I need to start helping Serdar with the house repayments. I liked my job, I liked designing.. I think I could do well."

"Are you ready to face everyone there? They know that you got married, what do they know of the situation that followed?"

She sighed. "I don't know. Maybe they know, maybe they don't. I don't think that Sinan will have told anyone. It can't be much worse than the neighbourhood gossip."

Iso pulled back to look at her, squeezing her shoulders. "It sounds to me like you've made up your mind already. What are you waiting for?"

"For you to tell me that I'm making a mistake?"

"Defo, you came into your own at Passionis, I won't deny it. You flourished there, when you found what you were good at... and you're right, it would be easy to go back to Passionis. I'm just worried, that the memories would overwhelm you. If you go back, you need to be determined to not start mulling things over and over. Whatever you decide, I'll support you Defo. You know that. What's the other option? Manu's?"

She raised her eyebrow and nodded. "You're right, I need to keep moving forward, I can't go backwards."

"So?"