Love and Pride

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Can

It was a truth universally acknowledged that a single man with a steady job and reasonably good looks must be in want of a wife. At least according to my father who was now wedding the eldest Miss Aydin to Emre after one meeting.

"Beautiful and an heiress! Well done, son!"

He slapped Emre heartily on the back.

I stood leaning against the wall in the small living room of my childhood home. We lived in a solid middle-class area not far from where the object of Emre's affection lived but the distance in class and social consequence might as well be measured in light-years.

"But here is the biggest surprise of the night," he said to me. "Crash and burn!" He laughed uproariously. "But I beg you not to be too disappointed my boy, for you aren't the first to be burned by her. She has a reputation as an ice queen."

"Leyla said that her sister is much more talkative when she's among friends and family," Emre said. If I knew anything about my brother, he was already halfway in love with the angelic-looking Miss Leyla.

"Plus she's beautiful, rich and accomplished why shouldn't she be proud and think highly of herself?" Emre pointed out.

"I could easily forgive her pride if she hadn't mortified mine," I said half-jokingly and bid them both goodnight.

A while later as I lay in my bed reliving the moments in the balcony and out of nowhere the high and mighty Sanem Aydın sneaks into my thoughts. I immediately put her out of my mind and instead try to think again of my erstwhile Cinderella. I pulled the small scarf out of my pocket and inhaled it. The scent went straight to my head. It was like a drug. I had never been so turned on by a kiss in my life. My first instinct had been to chase her, drop to one knee and propose marriage right then and there, that's how crazy she had made me. But she had left me in such a state that I had no choice but to wait it out. By the time I'd gotten my dick under control she had been long gone and the woman, I'd initially gone there to meet showed up. She wasn't happy at my lack of interest and I couldn't entertain the thought of kissing any other woman. I tried to imagine what she looked like but instead and without warning, Sanem's face appeared again. I had to admit she was beautiful, and when our eyes met across the room, I thought that maybe she was the one. But after a few seconds in her frosty presence, I knew that to be impossible. The woman in my arms had been mind-blowingly warm and sensual. Two things I knew for a fact Miss Aydin was not.

****
A few days later and I was at the last place I ever wanted to be.

A maid announced my presence in the Aydin family living room. There was a dinner party underway even though her parents were out of town. When I entered everyone turned to study me as if I was a specimen under their snooty microscopes. I was dismissed immediately as no one of any consequence.

"My brother.. Is he well? " I say suddenly unable to mask my anxiety. Emre had been invited to the dinner by Leyla and, of course, he had to listen to my father's hare-brained matchmaking scheme to arrive by motorcycle even though it was threatening to rain. I don't even know what that was supposed to accomplish. All I knew now was that Emre had been involved in a minor accident after being caught in the downpour.

"The doctor is with him now. It did not seem too serious but I insisted he get checked out."

"Thank you. Can you take me to him?"

"Of course. This way."

I half-turned to follow Leyla out when I noticed her sitting by the window. She'd been looking at me but quickly averted her eyes when they met mine. The thin pale man standing next to her moved closer as if she needed defending. This made me angry for some reason. I gave them both a mocking grin and left to find my brother.