love you (more and more each day)

Two

Feraye is on the balcony, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, breathing in the fresh air and enjoying the quiet. Truth be told, she's feeling content in a way she never has before in her life. Life with Ateş Gulsoy, to her surprise, is peaceful. He's direct, always says exactly what's on his mind, and doesn't let her get away with agreeing to things just to appease him. He asks for her opinion, almost too much. He's a gentleman, always opening doors and pulling out chairs for her. She can see Aleyna's envy as she watches this, and some part of her feels vindictive. Another part, one she's tried very hard to bury, compares everything he does to Yaman, and to her surprise, Yaman more often than not is lacking.

She still loves Yaman, she probably always will, but little by little, she's slowly starting to let him go. Her heart no longer skips a beat when she sees him, she no longer feels the urge to watch him when he's not looking, and feeling his eyes on her makes her uncomfortable now instead of making her feel wanted. She's slowly but surely moving on. Her hand drifts slowly down to her belly, where there is now a small but noticeable bump and smiles. They'd announced her pregnancy about three weeks ago, and though Ateş' mother hadn't been happy about it, she'd stopped antagonising her. Omer had been over the moon happy, smiling at both of them proudly, and for a second, she'd gotten a glimpse of what could've been- not her with Yaman, but with Ateş, if this had been their child. Not that it seemed to matter to Ates; he dotted on her, kept nagging at her to eat, snuck her sweets and midnight snacks. He even indulged her weird cravings. She grinned at the memory of his messy hair and sleepy eyes, looking at her with barely concealed disgust as she munched on a pickled radish and followed it up with a spoonful of melted chocolate.

The sound of the front door opening pulls her out of her thoughts, and her smile widens when she sees Ateş pushing her father's wheelchair inside. She stifles a laugh as Omer dede stumbles in after him. Ateş barely manages to steady him, wrapping one arm around his grandfather's waist and the other on the handle of her father's chair. Omer leans down and says something to her father, and then they both burst into laughter. Ateş just rolls his eyes, but he's smiling.

"Need help?" she calls out.

His head snaps up, seeking her out, and she smiles when their eyes meet and he grins at her brightly. "Please," he answers with a little laugh.

She hurries to leave their room, and a couple of minutes later, she's beside him. He leans down to press a kiss to her cheek. She blushes and smiles at him, "they look happy," she told him with a laugh."

He nods. "A little too happy," he quips, shaking his head. "Remind me to never offer to take them to dinner again."

She lets out a little laugh. "Come on, let's get them inside."

He nods, and with a last squeeze of her shoulder, and a quick goodbye to her father, he heads inside. She watches him go, then turns back to her father and noticese he's looking at her fondly. "Baba?"

"You look happy, sweetheart."

She blushes, ducking her head. She doesn't say anything, but starts pushing the wheelchair in the direction of the house.

It takes her almost half an hour to get her father home and situated. In all honesty, she misses him a lot, but she's grateful he's at least close by, so she can visit him almost every day.

"Feraye," her father asks her just before she leaves.

"Yes?"

"You're okay, right? They're treating you right?"

She smiles, grabs his hand and squeezes it. "Yes. Everything is okay, dad."

"And Ateş? He's treating you well?"