Mind Games

Chapter - 1

This core group of people needed each other. Relying on the positivity that Eda provided but she was finding it hard to keep her spirits up the longer Serkan was missing. They all were.

Engin, Pyril, Ceren, Ferit, and Melo were all worried about Eda. They knew that she believed that Serkan was alive and they were trying to have the same faith that she did but it was hard. They were all afraid of what would happen if they found out that Serkan was gone. 

Serkan had the foresight to put a directive in place should he become incapacitated that put Eda and his mother in charge of his shares, but that was putting an undue burden on Eda. The negative effects that the additional pressure of managing Serkan's portion of the business were showing, Eda wasn't sleeping and she wasn't eating. 

Ferit was helping Eda and Aydan with the holding and Engin and Pyril were helping with ArtLife, but there was still so much to be done.

The investors were demanding but Eda was holding her own with them, she had won over even the harshest of critics. Ferit had to admit that she was doing a good job, even Aydan was doing well learning the holding business. It had served as a diversion for both of them.

The work at ArtLife was a different story. While Eda was still a student she couldn't officially manage any project on her own. Idil Hanim had become a temporary partner with them and worked with Eda on the landscape design. Engin had to step up with more of the architectural design in Serkan's absence and they were pushing all of their team. Eda was the face of ArtLife, client's loved her. Where the client's respected Serkan's brilliance it was Eda's charisma that now won them over. 

Eda's talent was bringing in clients and ArtLife had a waiting list of projects for landscape design. She had put a pause on her final semester when Serkan's plane went missing so the added pressure of her unfinished degree was also weighing on her. She just couldn't contemplate finishing her classes with everything that was happening right now.

Engin was working long hours, but Eda was working longer hours. She couldn't keep it up, he and Pyril had talked about it and he resolved to talk to her tonight before he left.

It was 8:30 when Engin was getting ready to leave, he saw that the lights were still on in the conference room, "Eda? Can we talk?"

"Engin? I thought that you had gone home, why are you still here?"

He came in and sat next to her, "Yenge, why are you still here? You should have left hours ago."

Eda turned to him with tear filled eyes, "Where am I going to go Engin? Home? To an empty apartment where all I'm going to do is miss Serkan? My aunt's house? Where she's going to pretend that he doesn't exist anymore? At least here I can work where I feel him all around me and I don't feel so alone."

Engin stood up and gathered Eda into his arms and just held her while she cried, he couldn't hold back his tears either, "Oh Eda, you aren't alone. We're here for you. Pyril and I, Ceren, Ferit, Melo, Leyla. We're all here for you. Come home with me. Pyril and I want you to spend time with us, don't be alone. I'm not taking no for an answer, come home with me, please? We're worried about you."

Eda stepped back and wiped her face with the back of her hands, "That's sweet of you Engin."

"No, Eda. I meant what I said, I'm not taking no for an answer. You're coming home with me tonight, Pyril is waiting for us." Engin grabbed Eda's purse and steered her out of the building to his waiting car.

"Engin, I'm not the best company."

"It doesn't matter. Let us take care of you for once. You've been struggling to take care of everyone else and the company for weeks now. I know that you're doing everything so that when Serkan comes back it's in top shape but you're neglecting yourself."