EsZan One Shots - Aşk Mantık Intikam

11. Broken - Part 4

Previously

Ozan froze.

"Ezra!" he whispered.

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"You broke him the last time, Esra." The professor said gently. "He is very insecure about your feelings for him."

"I know," Esra said brokenly. "But I love him so much, and I thought that would be enough to overcome our past." She wiped away the tears streaming down her face, "I was wrong."

Tarik clucked sympathetically, he hated seeing this girl in so much pain. Clearly there was more to the story. "If it helps you to talk to me..."

Ozan felt weak. He leaned against the wall for support. This was the part where he needed to walk, to give her her moment of privacy, but he was rooted to the spot - wild horses couldn't drag him away.

Esra nodded, "Maybe that's why I came," she acknowledged.

And then she spilled her heart out the the teacher, how she worked multiple jobs, how she felt extra tired and went to the doctor and found out she was pregnant. How she wanted to tell Ozan so badly, but he was never around, and when he was, he was only half present anyway. How her baby became her focus, her strength, her everything. How she worked even harder to provide for it, knowing that she couldn't rely on Ozan. How she fainted one day at work, and woke up in the hospital to find that she had lost everything - her baby, her will to live, and her feelings for Ozan. All she had left was a deep emptiness inside her.

"I realized I didn't really have anything left in that marriage anymore - not a husband, not a baby, not a life - nothing. I could not share my joys with him, nor could I share my sorrows. I had to leave. I had nothing left to give, and he had nothing to offer me."

Tarik and Esra heard a gasp at the door, and turned in unison to see Ozan.

Esra's hand flew to her lips, her teary eyes wide in shock and disbelief.

Tarik stood up, "I'm going to leave you two alone," He patted Esra on the shoulder, "I will be in the garden, call me if you need me."

He nodded at Ozan and left the room quietly.

His movement broke Ozan's trance. He stumbled into the room, and dropped to his knees in front of Esra. He grabbed her ice cold hands in his, and took them to his lips, kissing them desperately, before dropping his head in her lap and sobbing.

"I'm sorry Esra, I'm so sorry," he repeated like a prayer for absolution, over and over again.

"Ozan.." she said finally, her voice barely audible. She withdrew a hand from his grasp, and it hovered hesitantly over the head buried deep in her lap, until she finally gave in and rested it gently on his hair.

He let out a anguished cry. "Please forgive me Esra. Please. I know I don't deserve it..."

"Ozan.." she interrupted, her fingers stroking his hair, then grasping it and lifting his head up against his will, so he would look at her.

"I don't deserve you Esra. I wish I could go back and change everything, fix everything, be there for you when you needed me. I failed you. I failed our baby." He started sobbing again, and Esra's own tears spilled over.

"Listen to me," she said, holding his face in her palms.

He shook his head - resisting still. He didn't deserve her forgiveness, her kindness, her compassion.

"I broke my promise to you. I promised you the world, but I took your world away from you. And I.. I don't know how to fix it."

Esra smiled sadly, there was the Ozan she knew, and yes, the one she still loved. Always looking for a way to fix everything. "Not everything can be fixed Ozan. Life doesn't give us that luxury. Sometimes you just have to pick up the pieces and move forward with what you have."

He looked at her - his eyes full, his hands clutching her wrists like a drowning man. "I don't have anything if I don't have you, Esra."

She looked deep into his eyes and saw in them all the love, and regret, and longing, and pain that she herself had experienced.

Something shifted inside her. It felt like they were even again - except this time they were not on opposite sides of the playing field, they were on the same side, equally invested, equally committed, ready to face their challenges together.

"You have me Ozan Korfali. For always."

He let out a choked sob, feeling abysmally unworthy and yet unbelievably blessed. He didn't deserve a second chance - he was certain of it. But her she was, with her big heart, offering it to him unconditionally. But wait, his traitorous heart wondered if she was just offering him her forgiveness or more.

"Esra," he needed to plead his case again, just to be sure. "I love you so much, it has always been you. Through everything, even when I wanted to remove every trace of you, I never ever stopped loving you. Please believe me. Just give me another chance. Everything will be different this time."

Her lips parted in that smile he loved so much. The one that reached her eyes and made them twinkle, that impish smile that always lifted away whatever weight was pressing down on his chest. Hope rose inside him like a furious wave, and he could barely breathe.

"I love you Ozan." Her smile widened when he let out the breath he was holding. "I think I've always loved you, I just never knew it."

She drew his face to hers - now on level with her own face, even though he was kneeling and she was sitting down - and pressed her lips to his.

"Esra..." her name dragged from his lips, low and rough and hungry, and it sent an achy wave of need and desire through her entire being.

Tarik walked back into the room and cleared his throat, looking immensely satisfied.

Esra and Ozan drew away from each other, and Ozan stood, gathering her up with him, as if afraid to let go for even a moment. They stood there with their arm wrapped around each other's waists, a silly grin on both their faces.

"I take it you have have figured things out?" Tarik asked, looking both amused and relieved.

They both nodded vigorously, "Evet"

"Good, good." Tarik said pleased. "Now come here and give this old man a hug."

"So you will stay for dinner, yes?" Tarik asked, after releasing them from his bear hug.

Esra and Ozan looked at each other and then at Tarik.

"Umm, sure hocam," Esra said finally, "let me put together the salad."

Tarik let out a laugh, "I'm kidding, I know you kids want to be alone. Git! Hadi!"

Ozan and Esra hugged him again and hurried out of the house holding hands, their step as light as when they were little children.

They walked the pathway to the car, out of sight of the professor, and Ozan pulled her into his arms, crushing her to him, his lips seeking Esra's with a desperation that matched her own. The kiss was soft and sweet and fiery and passionate and everything in between - and laced with a promise of forever.

They drew away slowly, Esra keeping her eyes closed and savoring the moment.

"Esra Erten..." Ozan said, planting loud little kisses all over her face. "Will you come home to me?"

Esra opened her eyes and drank in the look of love in his. "I will."

"Do you promise to share your joys and sorrows with me?" he asked softly, almost pleading. He loved how strong she was, it was one of the things he admired most about her. But he didn't need her to shoulder his pain. He wanted to be the one she could lean on through the good and the bad. "Do you?" He insisted.

She smiled tenderly, it was what she wanted more than anything. "I do."

~to be continued~

Notes (2021-09-12)

Ok, so I needed Ozan on his knees when he apologized lol.

I will add an epilogue with some sexy times this week, to round up this little short story. It feels like they have more than earned it.