Your Grace - Burak Çelik

CHAPTER 3

A/N: ^Stormy❤ ^

It was seven in the morning, when Ayedah stepped out of the shower and put on her clothes. She wore a pair of neat jeans and a gray blouse which she was to wear with a professional-looking black blazer Aunty Gab had lent her. She took her pill box from the mirror-cupboard and left the bathroom whilst drying her hair with a towel, and sat on the bed next to Stormy. "Do you really think I'm ready for this?" she murmured her question to the cat, as if he would answer back with reassuring words. "Do you think I can handle it?" Stormy replied with a mew that Ayedah could not decipher, and she sighed. "Well, whatever you're thinking, I hope it ends on a positive note anyway," she said with a wry smile.

It was safe to say that Ayedah was exhausted from anxiety. She barely slept the entire night, as her brain would not allow her to- raging rivers of thoughts ran through her mind, playing scenarios in her heads that she would have preferred to not have imagined. Overthinking was a habit she had developed over the years, though she tried hard to stop. It made many things difficult for her, and didn't make dealing with her disorder any easier. At times, it would go too far to the point where it would be difficult to breathe, her heartbeat would begin to thump in her ears, her body unable to stop shivering and it would be impossible to stop crying. Whenever it happened, she would hide herself away, isolated from the rest of the world for some time- especially if it triggered an episode.

But luckily that morning, Ayedah was not as anxious- Ozge had given her a phone call at the crack of dawn, and her encouraging voice had given her just enough motivation to get going for the day, to get herself out of bed and prepare for the important meeting- she was to go to the set of Kurulus Osman at Riva with Ozge and her castmate, Emel Dede who played Gonca Hatun. When they arrive, she would then speak to Mehmet and Asli Zeynep Peker Bozdag about her potential job there as a screenwriter. It had been three days after Ozge had offered the position to Ayedah; when Ayedah called back in the evening of that same day with her response, the enthusiastic young actress wasted no time in arranging a meeting between her friend and her boss. Ayedah had prepared all her writing; most of her pieces related to scripts and historical-fiction that she had written in the past, whether for leisure-writing or for college assignments. Bozdag had requested for her past works specifically, and she wanted to make a good impression. She was relieved that she knew quite a bit about the history of the Ottoman Empire and the surrounding nations, otherwise she would have rejected the job- it was also one of the reasons why she loved Kurulus Osman so much, and why she was so excited when Ozge had gotten the role of Bala Hatun.

"Ayedah, I need to ask you something."

"Ask away, Ozge," said Ayedah as she sipped her tea. It was 10PM at night, and she had just gotten back from a long day of lectures at school. She was confused as to why Ozge was calling her that late at night- if they ever wanted to talk, they would schedule it around 7PM or 8PM her time. "Isn't it 1AM there-" "Yes, but I need to get something off my mind," blurted out Ozge, her voice shaking and nervous. "And I need your opinion."

"Well, what is it?"

"There's this role in a new Historical-Fiction TV Series...and I think that I want to audition for it."

Ayedah's eyes widened, and her face cracked into a smile. "You should, Ozge!" she blurted out, nearly choking on her tea. "You should!" "I haven't even told you the role yet!" laughed Ozge through the phone, despite the fact that she had sounded nervous earlier. "Well, tell me then," said Ayedah. "Even if it is a villain, I'm sure it'll be something good." "Well, she isn't- it's Rabia Bala Hatun, the wife of Osman Bey," said Ozge. "It's for the show Kurulus Osman, the sequel to Dirilis Ertugrul." Ayedah nearly dropped her cup.