On Your Wedding Day (edit version)

Chapter 8

As Ariel is walking down the street, he suddenly bumps into Lucian, Izza's ex-husband. He's surprised to see him and instinctively puts his guard up, but Lucian doesn't look like he's going to cause a scene. He's just walking down the street by himself. Ariel decides to just carry on walking and not engage with Lucian unless he talks to him first. Lucian sees Ariel and he gives him a look of recognition, but he doesn't say or do anything else.

Ariel's anger rises when he bumps into Lucian, and he starts glaring at him, "What are you doing here?!" Lucian remains calm despite Ariel looking furious, "Just walking down the street. Why are you so upset?" Ariel scoffs, "Don't act like you don't know what you were doing to Izza the other day. You were threatening her, trying to take Raiq away from her. You have some nerve, showing up here like this." Lucian simply shrugs his shoulders, "I didn't do anything wrong. I just wanted to be there for my son."

Ariel can see that Lucian doesn't see anything wrong with his behavior, and this makes him even angrier. He's not going to let Lucian get away with his actions, "You threatened her and tried to take the son that you're not even the father of. You had no right to speak to her like that!" Lucian rolls his eyes, "Oh, spare me your lecture. She doesn't know how to raise a son and it's my responsibility to look after him. I was being a good father, not an abusive man." Ariel looks utterly disgusted with Lucian's response.

Ariel glares at Lucian, his anger rising with every word that comes out of Lucian's mouth. He can't believe that Lucian would actually say that about Izza. He can't stand by and let him speak about her like that, "You have no right whatsoever to say those things about her. She's a good mother and a good person. Just because she's raising Raiq on her own doesn't mean she's not doing a good job." Lucian scoffs, "You don't know anything about raising a child because you don't have any. You wouldn't understand."

Ariel can't hold back his anger and frustration any longer. He's so angry that he wants to punch Lucian but he doesn't want to get into a fight in the middle of the street. So instead, he grinds his teeth and walks off before he completely loses his cool. Lucian just stands there looking at Ariel walking away, and he chuckles at his reaction. He finds it entertaining to see Ariel so angry and frustrated. But he knows that it's best not to push his buttons any longer and so he walks away as well.

Ariel is a bit shaken up after his run-in with Lucian. He's still trying to wrap his head around what happened but it's hard to find a way to process everything. All he can think of is how furious he was at Lucian for threatening Izza and trying to take away her son. He wishes that he could've hit him but he realizes that would've made the situation even worst, but he's so enraged by what he saw that he finds it hard to calm down.

The next day...

While Izza is at work, one of her colleagues, Fatih, comes up to her and confesses his feelings. He tells Izza that he's had a crush on her since they started working together, and he wants to ask her out on a date. She's flattered but ultimately, Izza isn't interested in pursuing a relationship with him. She doesn't have the heart to tell him directly that she's not interested so she instead tries to hint that she already has someone else. But Fatih is persistent and keeps pressing for her answer.

Fatih continues talking, "I understand if you're in a relationship already, I just wanted to try my chances and find out. If you are single though, would you consider going on a date with me?" Izza hesitates, not knowing how to decline without hurting his feelings. She can tell that Fatih is a nice and sweet guy but she just doesn't feel that spark with him that she would feel with someone she had a crush on. She tries to let him down gently, "I'm so sorry but I'm not emotionally available right now."

Fatih is a little disappointed, but he accepts the rejection and he understands that she's not interested. However, he can't help but feel a little jealous because he can't help feeling like Izza might have her sights set on someone else. But he tries to hide his suspicions and he replies, "Okay, that's fine. I understand. We can still remain friends though, right?" Izza nods and smiles reassuringly, "Of course. I don't see any reason why we shouldn't. Just because I don't see you romantically doesn't mean that we can't be kind and friendly to each other."