A Necessary Journey

An Indifferent Friend

After twenty minutes of silence, of Omer touching and breathing her in, of Defne feeling herself drawing energy from the sanctuary of his arms, she pulled back.

"Omer... I want you to know that I'm here...as a friend..."

His eyes dropped and the small smile on his face went along with it. Nodding he forced a tight smile and looked at her again. "Of course."

"I heard about what happened... I'm so sorry Omer, I truly am."

"I don't really want to talk about it."

She took a fortifying breath and set her jaw. "Well I do. It wasn't just your life that was ruined Omer, this affects me too. What happened in Rome, Sonia... Tranba. You weren't the only one who was lied to, Omer."

Placing his hand on hers, he squeezed gently and nodded. "You're right. You're right... How about some tea first?" Defne looked at his now cold cup of coffee, and nodded. 

Pushing himself up, Omer tugged her along with him and headed to the kitchen, unwilling to let her go. As he set about making her tea, Defne started on the coffee, both in sync, as though time and lies hadn't come between them. 

Unwilling to wait any longer, Defne leaned against the counter, arms crossed. "How did Deniz arrange this? This is what I don't understand, how did he know you were in Rome? How did he know where you were? Or did he pay Sonia after the fact?"

Omer winced. After the fact. "I don't know, I don't know any of that. I only know that Tranba paid Sonia, at which point he contracted her... before we... or... anyway."

She ignored the unfinished sentence for her own sanity. "Okay... but why? Why did he do this?"

"Payback, he wanted to get me back for designing a collection that he couldn't produce, and for taking you away from Cherie. That's what this is, that and, he wanted to put me out of business."

She shook her head in confusion. "I don't understand, how was this supposed to put you out of business?"

Omer poured her tea into a cup and walked over to her, resting it on the counter and lifting his hand to cup her cheek. "Because he knew that losing you would destroy me. He knew that without you, I'd give up."

Her eyes searched his. "You wouldn't. You were fine before you met me, you'd be fine after."

Omer sighed. "Defne, do I look fine? Do I look like everything's okay?"

Defne took the time to really look at him, the dark rings under his eyes, the sharp contours of his ribs as she had held him and rested against him. The bare fridge. "No, but that's to be expected. You were going to be a father, and now you aren't..."

"It has nothing to do with that. Defne, I'll never have a child, that's not in my future any longer. And I know, I know... you've moved on... I just, I don't want you to think that my current state is for any reason other than because I fucked up and ruined everything that was good between us." Dropping his hand to his side, he heaved out a sigh. "Are you at least happy?"

She dropped her eyes to her hands and shrugged. "I'm trying to be. I'm trying to forget and get on with my life."

"To forget, right."

Turning, he picked up his coffee from the machine and walked past her, and up the stairs. Frowning, she lifted her tea and walked to the lounge, watching the stairs anxiously. After ten minutes, she realised that he wasn't returning, so leaving her half empty cup on the table, she climbed the stairs, worried. She found him in his bedroom, lying on the bed, arms beneath his head as he stared up at the ceiling.