A Necessary Journey

Tomorrow Is A New Day

Omer met Serdar's fiery gaze, he'd never been able to determine any physical similarities between Serdar and Defne until this moment. Their passionate, angry stare however was definitely a genetic trait. Serdar was pissed, rightfully so, he'd abandoned Serdar's sister hours after marrying her and now here he was, back in her life with the potential to hurt her all over again. 

"Why are you here?"

Rubbing a hand over his face, Omer gestured to the bench outside of the hospital doors. "Let's sit."

Looking like he might refuse for a moment, Serdar gave a curt nod and followed Omer to sit, stretching his legs out in front of him and thrusting his hands into his pockets. The night was bitterly cold, but neither man appeared to notice it. 

"I came back for Defne."

"She was doing fine without you... after what you did... she was getting back on her feet."

"Was she? Truly Serdar? Do you honestly think that either of us could get our lives back to where they were before we met?"

"You're a cocky bastard. You know that? You think you know her? You don't know anything about her.... That story I told you, about our mother leaving, about how Defne didn't feel that she deserved to be loved.... you did the same thing to her, it was history repeating itself. The one person who was meant to love her unconditionally, walking out of her life, all over again."

"Please remember that I was also wronged in this story Serdar, that I also felt pain."

"Did you almost starve yourself to death? Were you so weak that you couldn't get out of bed, couldn't lift your arms to hug your family? Would you have run to Istanbul if you heard she was lying in a hospital bed?"

"I would have..." He rubbed a hand over his face, stretched his cast leg out in front of him. "Serdar, I don't expect you to forgive me, I really don't. But I hope that you can at least understand a little of what I went through. What you knew for a year, I heard on my wedding day... to the woman that I love more than anything in the world. To hear that it was not only Defne's betrayal, but that of my entire family... how would you have felt?"

"I wouldn't have disappeared for three months Omer. I'd have stayed, listened, tried to understand and find a place that we could meet."

"I guess I'm not as good as you. My anger, it overwhelmed me... but after replaying everything in my head for a couple of months, I realised that I was wrong. That despite all of the lies, despite all of the obstacles... the one thing that I could be sure of, was that Defne loved me, she had really loved me. What we had, regardless of how it started... it was real. More real than anything I've ever felt in my life."

Serdar's anger was running low and he leaned his head back to look at the night sky. "You didn't see the pain that she went through, every time she looked for a way out your Aunt would throw some new obstacle in her path... if it wasn't your Aunt it was someone else, Tranba, Fikret. You didn't see how many tears my sister cried, just so that she could keep you. How one moment she'd be happy and the next completely hopeless.... if you should have been angry at anyone, it should have been me."

Frowning in confusion, Omer turned to Serdar, watching as the man sighed. 

"It was my debt she took on, my life she saved by agreeing to your Aunt's scheme. Defne would never have done such a thing if she wasn't so desperate. We always find a way, money means nothing to us."

"I know."

"Your Aunt offered her double you know?"

"What do you mean?"