A Necessary Journey

It just needed a bit of love

Defne had been back at Passionis for a couple of weeks, she'd arrived just as the team were planning the launch of the autumn range and so most of her time had been spent helping Koray and Derya with the preparations. Normally this would have been Yasemin's role, but with her being out of the country, a lot of the responsibility had been split amongst the existing staff. Sinan had told her that he had hired a contractor to help with scouting locations and the concepts, but she had no contact with them, simply acting on the instructions that filtered down. 

It had been a relief to return to the office, and she found that she had missed the responsibility and variety of her role. The collection wasn't as strong as it would have been if Omer had been around, but she tried not to dwell on that, the winter collection would be her chance to shine as a designer, but she still feared that the pressure of living in Omer's shadow might become overwhelming if she couldn't build up her confidence, and fast. 

Sinan had been a great help and a good friend, he'd taken her to lunch every day for the first week, making sure that she ate and would bring her a tea each morning while they caught up. Little did she know that Omer was orchestrating the lunches, receiving reports back on her progress and trying to estimate when the best time would be to return to the life he left behind. Sinan warned him that Defne was still too raw, that it might be too soon, but he was desperate to pick things back up and finally make her his wife and it had led to a couple of heated discussions lately between the partners. 

When Defne had arrived for work that morning, Sinan was already in her office and waiting. She had given him a bright smile which quickly turned into a look of worry when she saw his expression. Dropping her folder she knelt at his feet and touched his leg gently. "Sinan? What's wrong?"

He gave her a tired, tight smile and bit his lip. "It's Yasemin, she's not ready to come home. She wants more time... I thought a month would be enough, I thought that she'd realise that we were being stupid and that we could work through this... but I guess I was being naive."

Defne pulled him into a hug and sighed. "It'll all work out Sinan. You have to believe that she'll come back to you."

Pulling back Sinan searched her face. "Is that what you hope for, I mean for you and Omer?"

Suddenly uncomfortable, Defne pushed herself to her feet and walked around her desk to take a seat. "No. Omer and I are over."

"Over? That's a strong word Defne. Are you ready for everything between you to be final?"

"Omer made that decision for us. When he found someone new. I can't go back now, knowing that he could move on so easily."

Sinan nodded and played with a pen on her desk, rolling it back and forth. "The girl in Italy... she wasn't his girlfriend." Defne eyes shot to his and he watched her closely with interest. She seemed to be fighting with herself not to ask him what he knew or how. He nodded, deciding to put her out of her misery. "Iz called me. The girl was a friend, he was driving her to the hospital after she hurt herself.. they got into an accident."

"His friend?"

"Someone from his university days. That's all it was... maybe if you'd waited until he woke up he could have told you that himself."

Sighing, trying to work through the new information she flicked open a folder and picked up her pen. "He wouldn't have wanted me to be there Sinan. He made that very clear when he told me to stay out of his life... Anyway, I shouldn't have gone. It's none of my business."

"Do you really believe that Defne?"

She met his eyes with a defiant stare and he nodded holding his hands up. "Tamam, okay Defne. Subject closed for now."