The Love I Leave Behind

Rose Garden

I close the panel and turn to face Eda. She is standing with her arms by her side and I can finally take her in. She really  is the most beautiful women in the world and I couldn't look away, I could see her blushing under my gaze and she looked away from eyes. I smile happy that I still made her blush, I was glad that somethings still hadn't changed. I take a step toward her, when she clears her throat. 

"It's been a long time Serkan." The sound of her voice makes my heart beat just a little faster.

"Yes it has Eda Yildiz." I wanna say more but I didn't know where to start. Thankfully Eda spoke so that I wouldn't have too. 

"Look, let's get it out of the way first, otherwise this will be uncomfortable for the both of us. And we've had enough of that to last a lifetime." Eda places her purse on the table and crosses her arms over her chest as if preparing for a fight. 

"Um okay." I was surprised at the turn of her tone. " How's everything been? I heard that you went to Italy?" I already knew all the answers to my questions, but I wanted to hear it from her. She shook her head at me. 

"Serkan ask me what you really want to ask." She looks at me with a hard stare as if challenging me. She was still the same, taking no bullshit from anyone. "Really Serkan, I know you knew where I was, and what I was doing. So ask me. Ask me what you really want to know." 

"Fine. Why? Why were you gone for so long? You knew I got my memory back, but you stayed away. For THREE AND A-" Eda cuts me off .

"You have no right to ask me that." She says in such calm that it actually scares me. Next thing I know the panel is being pushed open by Tahir. Eda looks at me with raised eyebrows. 

"Is everything alright Eda Hanim?" He says while looking at me up and down and then back to Eda. She just nods her head at him. 

"It's fine Tahir, we just got a little carried away." She says while looking at me. What the hell was going on? Tahir nods his head and as he is about to leave, he turns back around to Eda. 

"Eda Hanim." Eda looks away from me and looks back to Tahir. 

"The article is out, everyone knows now." Tahir says and turns back around and closes the panel leaving us alone again. Eda sighs at whatever Tahir just meant by the article being out. 

"Serkan, you know why I left and why I stayed away. I couldn't stay here and watch you with her." I shake my head and wanna tell her it was a mistake but she didn't give me a chance."I know. Deniz told me that you broke it off and found out about everything the day after I left." 

Just hearing his name made me angry. 

"Yeah I did Eda, and he wouldn't even let me call you to tell you I was sorry. I couldn't even tell you that I had made the biggest mistake of my life." I feel the tears start to well up in my eyes. "I hurt you so much Eda, and you just left." I see Eda come up to me and hesitate for a moment but I feel her hands on me cheeks they feel cold and warm at the same time. She holds my cheeks like she used too, and I am looking into her eyes. I feel the weights starting to lift one by one, and I feel like the sun is starting to rise again. 

"Serkan, yes you hurt me." She says while rubbing my face. I grab onto her wrist because I had to touch her or I would go crazy. "I knew that it wasn't the man I loved saying those words to me. It was a product of Selin and her manipulation." She lets her hands fall away from my face, and slip them out of my hands. She turns away from me and looks at my chair at the head of the table, and she walks towards it and touches the chair. I didn't know what was going on in her head. 

She looks back up at me and gives me a small smile. "You know it was right in this spot I gave you my heart, and the same spot that you torn it out of my chest." I feel the tears starting to well up again, and I see her look down at the table. " It was right here you helped me sketch out my first landscape." She looks back up at me. "Do you remember how many times you made me redo that landscape?" I didn't trust my voice so I just nod. 

"That was the moment I really started to fall for you, that moment you accepted that final drawing. God I was so happy, that the great Serkan Bloat had accepted my drawing." She lets out a chuckle, but then I see her face go blank and I knew what was coming next. 

"Then you looked me in the eyes and called me a stranger and that you were with Selin." She walks back to me and wipes away the tears that had fallen with her thumb. 

"So you see Serkan, I couldn't stay here with you. Not after everything. I needed to go out and finish my degree." She takes a step back. " I had to go out and see the world and heal without you. I had to know who I was without you Serkan. I had to be my own breathe." 

"So did you find yourself Eda Yildiz? Did you find the answers you were looking for?" I ask because I had to know if she was here to let go of me forever and I didn't think I could handle it.

"I found a lot of answers Serkan. I found peace with what had happened with us, and I let go of all the anger. I found happiness doing what I love with the people that I love." My head shoots up at that last part? Love? Who did she love? That's when I notice the ring on her finger. A sapphire diamond ring, not too small, but not over the top either. Just right for Eda. I feel all the breathe being taken out of me and all my hopes being crushed. I hear Eda talking , but I can think about is my worst fears being confirmed. 

Eda had stopped taking when she took a glance outside and I see Eda walking towards the patio. I clear my throat and follow her, wanting-no needing to know about the man that had Eda's heart. Eda reaches the patio where she sees the roses that she planted all those years ago. 

"Their still here, and look how much they have grown." She says with such a wide smile on her face, a smile that I thought I would never see again. 

"Uh yeah I made sure that they were watered and taken care of." She looks up at me in surprise. "You told me that you only planted your mother's roses in your happy places, and I wanted to keep it that way. I couldn't let them die Eda." I look into her eyes that are smiling up at me." Plus I wanted them to be here for when you came back." 

She wraps her arms around my neck and hugs me, and whispers into my ear. "Thank you Serkan, you don't understand how much this means to me." I decided in that moment with all the roses around me that I didn't care about the other guy. I was gonna fight for Eda and I wouldn't let her get away this time. I wrap my arms around her and hug her tight.  

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Authors Note :

Sorry for such a late update I was struggling for motivation, but your guys comments and support helped me push through. Thank you guys.