A/N: Burak and Jax 🥺
It did not take Ayedah long to find that she was staring due to surprise and shock(not to mention being starstruck). She quickly composed herself, stood up straight, and coughed in what she hoped was a professional tone. She tried to pretend that she didn't recognize him- for even then, she couldn't be too sure if it was him...
It was very possible for the striking, unforgettable eyes of the man she had met a few days before to belong to someone else, and she did not want to embarrass herself further. "Excuse me, I'm really very sorry," she said politely, forcing back the flush that was creeping its way up her cheeks. "I was making my way to look for someone- er, the person I was texting and was not watching where I was going. Thank you for not being upset." Burak Celik smiled at her and chuckled. "Don't worry, it's all fine," he said in his smooth, deep voice. He surveyed her, his icy eyes boring into her own, and she immediately looked down out of humility.
"I am hurt that you do not recognize me, for I usually make an impression on most people I meet," he said in a falsely hurt yet playful voice. "I suppose I completely failed with you- or you didn't pay much attention to me." Ayedah was stung; she did not expect him to be the kind of actor who wanted recognition from everyone, judging by the courteous behaviour she received from Yigit and Burak Ozcivit. "Yes, I know who you are, Mr. Celik," said Ayedah curtly, frowning slightly, but she kept her tone steady to not offend him. "I've paid enough attention to Kurulus Osman to recognize you in real life." To her surprise and utmost indignation, Celik burst into laughter.
"Did I say something to amuse you?" she demanded, and the blonde toned down his laughter; but he kept his dashing smile on his face. "Yes, I am, but that isn't what I mean," he said after he had calmed down and stopped laughing, and his tone softened. "I did not expect to see you again- especially after how our first meeting went, with me smashing your face with the glass door of the vet."
Ayedah's heart stopped. She was right; it was him. Burak Celik was the same man she had encountered that day she went to the vet, that ordinary-seeming day which she could oddly not remove from her memory. Well- no wonder he had seemed so familiar.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, unable to contain her grin, the professional act slipping away immediately as she unintentionally pointed at him. "I can't believe it- you're the one who nearly destroyed my nose?" She went red when she realized what she said, and Celik gave a loud chortle at the memory. He himself went slightly pink with embarrassment. "Yes, guilty. Please forgive me for that. I guess you wouldn't have recognized me at first, as my mask was on when we first met- but I definitely recognize you," he said with a shy grin, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm Burak- Burak Celik, not Ozcivit of course. I believe you already know that, as you have already met him?" "Yes, I definitely know that you are Burak Celik," said Ayedah, smiling softly. "I've watched the show, obviously, I wouldn't be here if I didn't." Celik laughed. "Are you a friend of someone here?" he asked. "You mentioned looking for-" "Ozge Torer," answered Ayedah. "She's my friend, I've known her all my life. She brought me here today with her and Emel to help me out with a job- and may I ask, Mr. Celik, how do you know that I have met Ozcivit?" "I saw him welcome you, Ozge and Emel with Yigit earlier," said Celik, his cheeks going slightly pink suddenly. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to greet you- I was feeding my horse. I could see you from the stables, though. I could not recognize you from afar, though you did seem familiar...but now that I see you up close, I guess my instincts were lucky today."
Ayedah blushed and chuckled softly. "I'm glad you find yourself lucky," she said in a shy voice. "And I've heard about your admirable love for horses- your castmates inform me that you prefer to spend more time in nature with animals than human beings, Mr. Celik." Ayedah could have kicked herself- that wasn't a very professional comment! She could not be acting this way around the cast before she even started work- but Celik smiled at her and shook his head. "Please, Burak is fine- not Mr. Celik, I know I'm twenty-eight but I'm not that old," he said with a laugh. Ayedah nearly sighed with relief that he didn't notice her moment of being star struck, and smiled back at him. "Oh, of course. Didn't want to get confused between you and Burak Ozcivit, you know," she chuckled, her tone slightly nervous. "Ozge told me how it is on set with you two." "You can call me by my last name when he's around," said Burak. "But please, when it's just us- Burak."
"Of course...Burak."
He smiled down at her. "What's your name, by the way, oh 'Mother to Stormy'?" he asked, making Ayedah laugh with his joke. "I wanted to ask when we met at the vet- out of courtesy, of course- but you had already gone inside. And I don't want to address you as just your cat's mother." Ayedah opened her mouth to reply, trying not to laugh, but then Ozge rushed over like a hurricane.
"Ayedahhhh!" She exclaimed, nearly throwing Burak aside, despite how much smaller she was than him. She completely ignored his existence as she focused on her friend. "Well? How'd it go?" she demanded. "Did..did you get in?" Ayedah tore her attention away from Burak and turned to Ozge, a smile on her face. "I'm in," she said, grabbing her friend's hand. Ozge screamed in joy and hugged her. "I'm so happy for you." "All thanks to you, Ozge," said Ayedah happily, hugging her friend back tightly.
"Eh-hem."
Ozge broke away from Ayedah and looked up to see Burak, who had an confused yet amused expression on her face, and grinned at him. "Oh, hi, Celik." "Hi, Ozge," greeted Burak. "Er..do you mind introducing me to your friend?" Ozge smiled at him, and placed her hands on Ayedah's shoulders. "Burak, meet Ayedah Harraz, my best friend and now, one of our new screenwriters." Burak's blue eyes widened. "Wait- writer?" "Yes, of course. Why do you think she is here, investigative journalism?" joked Ozge, and she raised her eyebrows at him. "Though even if she was, I doubt you'd notice- you seem to have noticed her mere presence as a person before wondering about what she's doing here or why." Burak went pink and turned away, muttering, "No, of course not. Though of course when I first saw you here on set I thought you were a new actress-" "Oh, I'm far from that," stammered Ayedah, blushing. "I doubt I'd be able to act if my life depended on it." "Oh the modest lies," tutted Ozge. "I still remember all our role play as kids, you weren't too bad." "You were better," protested Ayedah stubbornly, making Ozge roll her eyes. "Come on, Ozge- you were the one to become a working actress after all, and I'm still jobless."
"Not anymore," grinned Ozge. Ayedah blinked and finally remembered that she had just been employed, and she smiled again. "Oh yes- er, excuse my clogged memory," she joked embarrassedly. Burak smiled at her along with Ozge. "Though I agree with Ozge that you definitely could act, I do think that you will do a good job screenwriting for us."
Ayedah smiled at him. "Thank you," she said, blushing softly. "Come on," said Ozge, and attempted to drag Ayedah along with her "I want to bring you to meet everyone else." "Well then, er...I will see you soon, Burak," Ayedah said in parting, as Ozge seemed adamant on taking her off his hands. "See you...Ayedah," he said back. "Welcome to the crew of Kurulus Osman." Ayedah chuckled softly and gave Burak Celik a last, courteous smile before following her friend.
"Ayedah..." murmured Burak under his breath, before smiling softly and walking off toward the stables again to see the horses.
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"He seems nice," said Ayedah. "He is," said Ozge, silently noticing how flustered her friend was. "He's very quiet normally, and keeps to himself... though according to Yigit he's a chatterbox once you get to know him. But he's alright and friendly, he spends most of his time with Yigit though- or Amor, that's the horse he trains on." "Cute name," grinned Ayedah. "He gives his pets cute names...is he much like his character?" "Sometimes he is like Goktug, from what I see of him," said Ozge, a thoughtful expression upon her face. "How do you know about his pets' names? You two just met."
Ayedah blushed. "He's the guy I bumped into at the vet," she said. "The one who could've possibly destroyed your pretty face with the door?" gasped Ozge. "I'm going to have some words with-" "It's okay!" interrupted Ayedah, slightly panicked. "He apologized, a little too many times for my liking but he did." Ozge relaxed, and smiled. "So he made conversation with you about your pets when you first met?" "Yeah," replied Ayedah, and chuckled. "He was friendly- I didn't recognize him at first because of his mask. But I did catch his eyes." She suddenly felt quite warm around the neck, and cleared her throat. Ozge didn't notice, as she was deep in thought. "Well, even though I'm not very close to him, I can assure you that though he is similar to Goktug, he is nowhere near as bad-tempered as Kongar."
The two laughed as they entered Ozge's trailer together. "I'm glad he isn't, or I'd be scared," said Ayedah. "Kongar was fierce- I'm so happy he became Goktug." "He has a touching story alright," chuckled Ozge. "Celik pulls him off perfectly." "He does," said Ayedah with a smile. Ozge smiled back, but it suddenly turned into a smirk.
"Did you tell him Goktug is your favorite character yet?" she asked mischievously. Ayedah went red and said, "Um, obviously not! That isn't very professional...is it?" Ozge laughed. "This isn't an office, Ayedah," she said. "We're all friends here. Crew and cast alike. Mehmet isn't fussy about that kind of 'professionalism' here, as long as we all get along fine. The film industry is very different from all the others- and especially on this set, we're all friendly with one another. You don't need to put on that weird robot-talk." Ayedah nodded, still skeptical but slightly more relaxed as she walked beside her friend, and entered a large trailer.
Inside were two other women, one whom she recognized as Hazal Hatun from Season 1 of Kurulus Osman and one whom she could not recognize at all. But they both stood up and smiled at her as she walked in with Ozge, and stepped over to greet her. Yesim Ceren Bozoglu, who played the cunning character of Hazal Hatun pulled Ayedah into a hug when she got near enough. Ayedah was taken aback by the hug- especially as she wasn't used to hugging people other than Ozge or her aunt; the intimacy of physical touch that was shared symbolized a connection to her, and that was something Ayedah found hard to come by. It made simple things like hugging or shaking hands difficult, but she didn't resist or push Yesim away and merely hugged her back carefully to not offend her. "Our dear Ozge has told us so much about her best friend," said Yesim enthusiastically, smiling widely. "It's an honour to meet you, and an even bigger one to be working with you." Ayedah smiled at her and turned to the other young lady, who seemed just older than her and Ozge.
"Selam Aleykum, Canim," she said with a grin as she stuck out her hand and shook Ayedah's. "I'm Seray Kaya, I'm playing a new character called Lena Hatun- Savci Bey's wife." "Oh, are you now?" asked Ayedah with a smile. "Do you know anything about her character yet?" Seray laughed. "Not much, but I believe you'll be involved in writing out her story. I hope I'll be able to pull her off," she said with a smile. "I'm new here on set, but everyone has welcomed me so well already." She patted Ayedah's shoulder. "It's good to have someone to relate to." Ayedah chuckled, blushing, and said, "Same."
"And I see you have met our most eligible bachelor here," joked Yesim with a mischievous smirk, and Ozge rolled her eyes as Seray giggled. Ayedah raised an eyebrow, looking confused. "Who on earth are you talking about?" she asked. "Burak Celik, of course!" said Yesim. Ayedah turned to Ozge, who shook her head but was smiling. "Burak- or Celik as we call him, is one of the few single people amongst the cast," she said. "The other boys are always trying to set him up with someone for fun, but it never works out, even with help from Ozcivit." "Yigit joked the other day that he's married to nature, but he took the joke seriously and agreed," chuckled Seray. "He's not wrong though- I've been on set barely a week and I realize that Celik spends more time in nature than he does with human beings."
"So I've heard," said Ayedah. "Why is that I wonder?" "I don't know, for none of us are really that close to him," shrugged Ozge. "You'll have to ask Yigit or Ozcivit. They're close enough." "It's okay," said Ayedah with a chuckle. "I'm not in any rush to get to know him or anything...I'm here to work, aren't I?" Yesim and Seray raised their eyebrows at Ozge questioningly, and Ozge gave them a look that changed their expression immediately. "Of course you are," said Yesim kindly. "Doesn't hurt to make a few friends along the way, though." Friends who probably deserve better than a messed up person like me, thought Ayedah. Why on earth would they want me- no, I must be confident. I won't let my fears get ahead of me this time. Not again.
Ayedah smiled at Yesim. "Of course."
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When Ayedah returned home that night after having dinner with Ozge and Emel, she made an Instagram account.
Ayedah had not had social media for years other than WhatsApp, Messages and Email, and of course her blog- she knew how to use Instagram since she had had it for a while during High School, but deleted it when her schoolmates began to cyberbully her on her account. Ozge too, had an account at the time but deleted it when Ayedah did, but she had recently made another account barely a week before and had been begging her friend to join again. And when Yesim and Seray asked if she had Instagram, Ozge immediately took the opportunity to convince her to make an account, and Ayedah relented. She laughed to herself as she remembered Seray's stunned reaction to her not having Instagram, and Yesim had said, "Now this on its own proves how you really are Ozge's best childhood friend- didn't even have Instagram, for crying out loud!"
She signed up for an account using both her email and phone number, and added a picture of Stormy for her profile picture. Stormy gave a mew as he curled up on her lap whilst she typed furiously, her fingers flying over the keyboard. "Well, there you go, Ozge," she snorted. "Insta it is." She then took barely two minutes to download the app on her phone and logged in; she then took a screenshot to send to Ozge, and went to WhatsApp. But before she even attached the photo, she had gotten a notification:
itsayedahharraz: burakcelikofficial started following you. 0s
Ayedah's eyes widened. "Well that was fast," she blurted aloud. She sent off the picture to Ozge with the caption, 'Here you go, Miss Torer :)' and went to Instagram to follow Burak back. She tapped on his account and his profile came up, and she couldn't help but smile. The topmost picture on his feed was a picture of him and his cat, and the caption was 'Jax'. "So this is Jax, eh?" she murmured to herself, and showed the picture to Stormy. "Cute cat, isn't he?" Stormy narrowed his eyes at her and turned away, jumping off of her lap and sitting himself far at the end of the table. That either meant "Hmph, I've seen better" or "How dare you call another cat cute, Hooman" in Ayedah's understanding.
"Oh, come on, Stormy it was just a compliment," Ayedah muttered, rolling her eyes as the warmth from her lap disappeared with Stormy's absence. She pondered on whether to scroll through Burak's feed further, but decided against it as she assumed it would be weird as she did just meet him. She then got multiple more notifications, including Ozge's follow. She tapped on the 'Follow' button on Burak's page then went to Ozge's to do the same, and before long she had gotten an Insta DM from her.
ozgeetoreroffical: Ugh Celik beat me to following you 😑
itsayedahharraz: Unfortunately 😅
Ozge ranted on for a few more minutes and Ayedah laughed at her friends indignation whilst she was getting multiple notifications from her account; Yigit, Seray, Yesim and Buse had all followed her, as well as some of the crewmates and Mehmet Bozdag's wife, Asli Zeynep Beker Bozdag. Ayedah couldn't help but smile; she could barely grasp the fact that these people were willing to befriend her. She pondered on what Yesim had said; "Doesn't hurt to make a few friends along the way."
Ayedah didn't remember the last time she made a good friend, and the only one who had stuck with her was Ozge. But to her surprise, and for the first time, she had a good feeling and good expectations. Ayedah had almost never had good expectations of a decision she made in her life, especially since the outcome of her consent to going to The School of Sheikh Amaan. But despite how oddly new the feeling was to her, she liked it. She liked having good expectations, and she hoped the reality would turn out just as well.
Just as she was following back the cast of Kurulus Osman, she got a notification from her Direct Messages, from none other than Burak Celik.
burakcelikofficial: Selam :)
Ayedah smiled as she clicked her screen to her DMs to reply.
itsayedahharraz: Selam to you too :)
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A/N: OoOooOooh :))))
I didn't have time to edit this chapter, so I will when I get the chance later hehe. Well, look at our girl, growing up and making friends...and jeez, Burak, you followed her fast O_O
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, don't forget to vote and comment xx
Love you,
Ayesha <3