A LEAP OF THE EARLY BIRD

No sky was the limit...

How does it feel to know that someone believes in You? Can it be described? Can it be put into words? And not just believe, silently and discretely, but with a strong voice calling onto You letting You know that You are not alone... That You are cared for... That You are capable of achieving Your goal..

The evening that approached had Sanem all in jitters. Can made it known to all that she was the coordinator for the Compass campaign. And he made it clear to her that he believed in her so much that he would put the presentation in her hands. That mattered to her. Friends, or more, she could not get passed the fact that he valued her as a colleague. He told her in the past that love and work were two separate things. And she was beginning to see it. Feel it. To think that in a matter of less than a year she went from a barely known clerk from the "bring-carry" department to a coordinator responsible for a campaign still made her heart flutter.

It also made her think how much her life changed because of Can. Because they met. Because they fell in love. She was aware that through bumps along the way of their love, they would no longer be able to be together. Can had made it clear. And she made peace with his decision to remain friends. But that did not mean that her heart would ever come to terms with it. She still yearned for his touch. She still yearned for his love. No one fell in love with Can Divit and then stopped the heart from feeling it. No one. Especially not her...

The evening of the Compass presentation she felt as if she could not find a place within the walls of her home to sit still. She couldn't. But she knew one thing. She didn't only want to do a good job as a presenter, she wanted people to feel like she did a good job. She also wanted to impress Can. She wanted him to feel proud of her. And she wanted him to feel like he made a good decision by entrusting the presentation to her. She also wanted him to remember her after that night. Her. Sanem - his friend, not just Sanem - the coordinator for the campaign. So she picked a dress of velvety royal blue. She made that decision on purpose, with full intention. So, Fabri tricked her into wearing a dress of royal blue on her birthday? Fine. But she made it a goal for herself that if Can remembered her in that color, that it would be for a good reason. A great reason. Because not only it was her favorite color, wearing the long velvety royal blue dress would make Can realize that she put their past in the past. And she hoped he would like the way she looked...

The moment she and Leyla walked in to the hall where the Compass campaign presentation was to take place, she realized she needn't have worried or wondered if he would have liked her dress. When he saw her, he could not move. But she felt the same was. She did not realize when Leyla parted from her. She would not have known. Because the entire world seized to exist. She saw Can, and only him. Although her heart felt weary because of the task of presenting for the first time in her life, she forgot anything of that fear the moment her eyes met his. She could not believe it but he appeared to be as taken with the sight of her as she was with him. And she was so lost in his eyes that she did not even see Ceyda's loathsome reaction because Ceyda realized Can only had eyes for one woman...

The moment Can took his first steps to walk toward her, she gathered courage to walk toward him too. They met, face to face, eye to eye, heart to beating heart. She could not speak, and surprisingly neither could he. His heart raced so hard that he felt it would jump out of his chest. Ahh, Sanem, ahh, he thought. How was it that she made the rest of the world around him disappear by simply walking in to the room? How was it that he was crazy about her and did not know how to show it? How was it that a man like him was so in love with a woman yet he was unable to hold her in his arms? He was unable to confess his love to her when all he wanted to do was shout out his feelings to her from the highest of mountains? She made him suffer, and he was at the wits' end about it...

Although he was speechless a moment ago, now all he wanted to do was tell her how affected he was by her. He could not hold his words in much longer. He told her she looked beautiful, and watched as the stars beamed out of her stunningly deep eyes. His gut turned as he heard her say that he looked very attractive as well. As he was looking at her, his gaze traveled slowly to her lips. And his gut turned in knotts so tight that he felt it hard to breathe. Though he knew she was not a woman who ever planned to seduce a man, she did just that. The scarlet red lipstick seemed as if it were created with her lips in mind. And he realized he was lost. Done for. And that was that. If only there were no others around them. If only he had the courage to gather her close. If only...

After Aylin made an unwelcomed entrance, they moved away from the crowd, and stopped by the bar. Sanem was nervous, and she asked Can for any advice he could offer to her. He smiled, and told her that she was ready. He told her to believe in herself, because that mattered. She should stand her ground proud and confident. She should feel like a bird in the air or a fish in the water because she knew this job best of all, better than anyone else. This campaign was her creation, her idea, her concept. She knew it from the inside out. All of what she was about to do came out of her beautiful head and heart. And everyone was ready for her to take center stage.

As they spoke, Ceyda watched from the sidelines and she was livid. Can was slipping away from her and she did not know how to tie him closer. So, she used whatever she had under her hand. She used Maks McKennon. She walked toward Can with Maks, and spared no time to introduce them to each other. But she miscalculated her poker hand. Not only did Can appear more impressed with Maks than her friendship with him, Maks himself appeared impressed with Sanem and her joyful spirit. That was too much for her to handle. She advised Can that he needed to join them during the afterparty, completely ignoring the fact that Sanem stood between them and she too was a part of the conversation. But no one underestimated Sanem and did not feel the afterburn. She smiled, turned to Maks and happily advised him directly that she would be there too. And she spared no happy measure to overemphasize the fact that as Fikri Harika's creative coordinator, Can entrusted the campaign to her. Much to Can's pleasure.

When the time came for the presentation, any confidence Sanem felt when she spoke with Can disappeared. The gratitude she felt for Can because he chose her to head the presentation was gone. She felt lightheaded. She felt too scared, and too inadequate for the task at hand. She wanted to run and hide. But there was no way she would or could do that. She was a creative coordinator. And she had a job to do. So, after hearing her name announced through the speakers, she took the stage. One step at a time. One fearful foot in front of another. She made a little introduction, and then, she froze. What seemed as a sure way to offer her support in the form of the computer slideshow disappeared. The presentation's program powerpoint was gone. Erased.

Whatever fear she felt a moment ago evaporated into thin air. Because, the fear she felt now was a thousand times-fold. And she felt like the old Sanem on the first day she started her job at Fikri Harika. Scared, confused, and overwhelmed. But then she saw Can. He was not worried. He was not scared. Because he was confident with his choice to trust her. HE TRUSTED HER to rock the presentation. So, she straightened her back, she took a deep breath, and looked at him again. His nod meant everything to her. And what came after that moment was the best part of her job. She succeeded. She aced it. Because she realized that if he believed in her, no sky was the limit. Because he believed in her...