The Wedding Night...

A battle between the need to protect and freedom...

Dilan woke up and immediately she was grasping for air. Baran was hugging her from the back so tight that she was finding it difficult to breathe. She called his name but he did not answer, his head was buried in her neck, and sounds were coming from him, like he was in pain. It was clear that he was having a nightmare. She started to caress his arms in an attempt to soothe and comfort him. Eventually, it worked, his grip started to lose up enough for her to turn around and face him. It was already morning so she had a clear view of his face, he had a frown on his forehead, his lips slightly parted, and he was mouthing something silently over and over again. He was covered in sweat. Dilan began to brush his hair and with a soft tone, she told him "Baran, you are having a bad dream. You need to wake up..." Her hands moved to his arms "Wake up Baran, everything is okay, wake up" Baran finally reacted, his eyes opened, and he looked around disorientated, but when their eyes met, she saw that his body he begun to relax.

In front of him was his wife, Dilan, the person he was more scared to lose in this life. That nightmare he just had... he shook his head trying to erase the images but he couldn't. Dilan was dead in his arms, people around him trying to take her body from him, telling him that there was nothing that could be done anymore. Then, he would look back to find that Dilan was no longer there, instead, his mother was, dead. He never told Dilan this, but ever since she got shot, now and then he would have this dream, it was the same one each time, a faceless man, pointing a black gun at them, he could see the bullet coming out of the barrel, it was coming for him but at the last minute Dilan would push him to the side resulting on her receiving the shot and dying in front of him. He tried to change the events in the dream, but no matter what he did, it ended the same way. So it became a habit for him whenever he had that nightmare, to look for her as soon as he opened his eyes, he needed to make sure she was there and that she was safe, and on the occasions when he couldn't find her, he would look for her desperately. He could never shake the fear away until he saw her with his own eyes.

"Baran" Dilan said with a worried tone "Sorry Dilan, I am not awake yet" "Do you want to tell me what the dream was about?" Lifting his hand to caress her cheek, he replied "I don't remember clearly what it was" Dilan covered his hand with hers, and kissed it. "I tried to wake you up many times, but you wouldn't come out of it" He wouldn't reply to her, he just kept staring at her face, looking but not looking at her. "Baran" "That is indeed my name Mrs. Karabey" She wasn't at all amused by his efforts to deflect the subject "Mr. Karabey, you think you getting out of this one, however, I want you to be aware that this is me letting go of this topic for the time being, but soon we will revisit it, are we clear?" Baran was hiding a smile, which made Dilan even angrier "I can't believe you" and with that, she tried to get out of bed. Baran pulled at her and she landed on top of him and he kissed her, hard. Despite her resistance, she kissed him back, his hand was on her arm, moving to the back, lower and lower. It was so intense that he pulled at her bottom lip when she tried to get up, but he kept her in place. "Can't believe what Mrs. Karabey? How much you love your husband or how much you want a do-over of last night?" He said looking victorious while Dilan rolled her eyes and pushing at his chest, got up and entered the bathroom.

Baran was getting ready to go downstairs for breakfast and was looking at the mirror, he was having a harder time than usual in shaking the images of the damn dream away. He needed to calm down and focus. Going to his room, he made a call to Kerem, asking him to come by later. Dilan, who was downstairs entered at the same time he was finishing the call. He extended his hand to her and she didn't grab it. She was still upset with him so he walked to where she stood. "Dilan, I need to hug you now, would you let me?" He could see that she was thinking about it and he had to smile, she was seriously contemplating denying him the hug. Before she could give him an answer, he hugged her. At first, she didn't return it, but then she embraced his waist. "Baran, that nightmare, you are worried about that man following us, right?" He inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with her scent before he withdrew to answer. "I am. It's my job to protect you and the family Dilan, and if I fail in that I might as well be dead" As soon as he finished his sentence Dilan said "Don't you ever say that again. I don't want to hear you talking about dead Baran and least of all yours..." placing her hands in his cheeks, she continued. "...I am fine, the family is fine. If something were to happen to any of us, it would not be your fault. All of us know that every waking hour you worry and do everything in your power to protect us. The rest is out of anyone's hands" He refused to accept that.