Colliding Hearts

Chapter 17

Mom, Leila, and I stepped outside to the visitors lounge. "Mom I'm sorry. It's my fault for springing this on you."

"Sanem. Silent" My mom's firm low voice makes me gulp. She turns to look at Leila. 

"Explain yourself" She says looking at Leila

Leila goes to explain herself and as she does mom sighs and sits on the armchair behind her. I watch as a whirlwind of emotions sweep across her face, she went from terror, confusion, fury, to sadness in a matter of seconds. At the end of Leila's speech, mom looked defeated " I am very disappointed Leila. I did not raise you to lie and steal. And no matter how angry I am with you and I am so angry. You are my daughter." She pauses and points her index finger at Leila "I expect you to take responsibility, own up to it." Leila nods.  

Mom continues "whatever the Divits say we will face it together." She pats Leila's back and with a shrug she sadly voiced what we all have been afraid to say "if we need to sell our properties to protect Leila, we will do it. We are a family. This is an Aydin problem and I don't want Mr. Can to bear the burden of this. I want him to come to the house once Nihat is better. I need to have a conversation with him." She didn't leave room for argument.  

"Mom," Leila's voice trembles with desperation, tears streaming down her face, "I will sell everything I've bought. I can't let us lose everything because of me." 

"Yes, you will sell everything and whatever is left we will deal with it. I'm sure the Divits will want to sue us for this." She pats Leila's hand and walks away to dad's room. We both stay seated quietly looking at the floor. 

Craving a breath of fresh air, I step out of the hospital and am greeted by the sight of the sun. We spent the night within the confines of the hospital, no wonder I feel mentally drained. Its Friday morning and I'm sure Leila and I will not be leaving this hospital. I text Deren to let her know I'll be absent. 

At 9:30am I decide to call Can. I want to know if he has found anything on Polen. I also need to tell him that my mom wants to meet with him. I feel butterflies forming in my stomach as I find him in my iPhone contacts. 

I see you still have that red heart next to his name. My inner voice and her sassy comments. I roll my eyes. 

"Good morning Sanem."  

Overwhelmed by the weight of the day and the sheer magnitude of Leila's actions, an uncontrollable sob erupted. It was as if my emotions had reached a breaking point, they were spilling out in anguish. "Can" I sniffed "I'm in the hospital. My dad suffered a heart attack. And...and its all my fault. I talked about Leila and my dad's reaction. I couldn't control myself." I cry out again.

I hear him ruffling around. "Wait for me. I'm going to you love."

I nod even if he can't see me. 

As I end the call, I want to slap myself. Why did I even ask for him? We're not even together anymore. The painful truth lingers in my mind - his lack of trust in me is a reminder of the fractured bond between us. Seeking solace, I sit on a bench just outside the hospital. I didn't want to think about anything right now. I just want to enjoy having empty thoughts and the warm sun on my face. No thoughts, no worries, just tranquility even for a brief moment. "My life is such mess right now!" I mumble to myself

"Let me help you Sanem." Can says as he sits next to me. 

I don't have it in me to argue so I lean my head on his shoulder. We stay quiet for a moment. I lift my head and face him, Can starts caressing my face. "Can we are not okay." 

He grimaces "I know. It will take me ages to beg for your forgiveness. I will never stop trying. All I ask is to be around you." I sigh and at this moment my stomach decides to make its presence known. Very loudly at that. "Have you eaten?" 

I shake my head "Im not hungry" I whisper, no emotion in my voice. 

"You also look like you haven't slept. You still have your gown on." He says as he touches my skirt. "Lets go take a break I can take you home to change and get you food." 

My phone interrupts. It pings with a text message from Leila Dad is awake. 

"I need to go" I awkwardly point to the hospital entrance. "I think its best if you go to the agency. I don't want to raise any suspicion. Actually, before I leave, my mom wants to meet with you to talk about Leila's case. We will assume the consequences so please charge us as you will any other employee." 

He shakes his head and I hold my hand to stop him. 

"We will talk about this later. Thank you." I rub his arm and leave him standing outside as I enter the hospital 

----***----

I feel a pulsating headache forming and I rub my fingers on my forehead. I feel a storm closing in and its the impending arrival of Can and Metin. Interestingly, raindrops begin to fall outside the window, reflecting the current situation. Like mom wanted, once Dad is safe and home we are going to have this meeting.

Oh man! This is really happening. My heart starts beating rapidly, my hands shake, and I feel a cold layer of sweat all over my body. Sanem snap out of it! 

I hear a knock on the door and I go to open it. 

We are all quietly sitting around the dinner table starring at each other. Dad, mom, Leila, Metin, Can, and I. Metin clears his throat. "Here is all the evidence we have against you Leila. If Aziz or Huma who are majority shareholders take a hold of this information they could sue you for copywriting and contract breach. We also have Can and Emre who could take legal matters and if they were, fortunately, there won't be any jail time. But there is a large fine of about 350,000 liras and this is based on the offenses made to the business: copywriting, employee misconduct, and business reputation. Remember that this is all depends on Fikri Harika's shareholders (Huma, Emre, Aziz, and Can) and if they want to sue." 

We are all speechless. There is a palpable tension in the air. Metin continues "My best recommendation is not mention this to Aziz and Huma to avoid it from becoming a big fiasco. To achieve this, we need to retaliate against Polen by using her same approach." Metin swallows hard and shakes his head (I can tell that retaliation goes against his better judgement). "I found some disturbing information on Polen. She is completely bankrupt, so much so that she won't even have a trust fund left to claim. Her father made some poor business decisions and was taking money from her trust fund to even out, which did not work. We can use this to make her stop. We have to back her against the wall by telling her to stop blackmailing you or we will come out with this information to the press. I have typed this contract for her to sign because if there is one thing Polen wants protected is her rich reputation."  

Dad interrupts the quiet pause after all the information Metin dumped "once this is all over with Polen, I want to pay the agency for the disaster Leila has caused. As you mentioned, Fikri Harika lost money because of my daughter. It's only fair we help the business recover that."

Can pats my dad's hand "Mr. Aydin, I understand that and I will work something out with Leila but I refuse to take your money. We can try to see if a percentage of her paycheck is deducted to pay towards the loses. I also want to make notice that I will not charge her 350,000 liras. All I want is for her to pay us the money she made from Aylin." He smiles "Thanks to Sanem we have been able to recover a lot of loses, the agency is better than ever." 

I walk Can and Metin to door, Metin walks to his car and drives off. I lean on the door and Can turns around to say goodbye. "Can thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart." I say almost in tears. 

He caresses my cheek "I love you." 

I still can't find it in me to say it. 

He walks off to his truck.