Bear with me🤗
❤️
The waiting was exhausting.
Seher pulled the dress over her head and looked at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks had filled out a little but the circles around her eyes were more prominent now. For the past few days, she'd had a hard time trying to fall asleep. The doctor had warned that the babies could be born anytime now, and the excitement coupled with the heavy weight around her middle made it impossible for her to rest.
She brushed her hair, tucking the stray strands behind her ears. She checked herself again critically. Seher was so used to being slender her whole life, the added pregnancy weight felt alien to her. After the doctor had warned her that her lightweight would make some complications for her to carry two babies around, Yaman had taken taken it upon himself to stuff her with food until she would feel like bursting. But her body stubbornly refused to gain weight.
At least the babies were super healthy.
Now she felt like a giant walrus, moving around on unsteady feet. Sitting in one place would cramp her back and calves and Seher found out that walking actually helped.
The only problem was she was so slow, a turtle could have outrun her at this point.
Seher walked out of the room. Çenger had refurbished the unused elevator, because she had almost stumbled down the stairs one time. It was way too risky for her to use the stairs when she couldn't even see her feet.
The elevator landed smoothly on the ground floor and she stepped out, focusing on putting one foot infront of the other. She halted at the stairs, frowning.
Yaman was sitting on the living room couch, a frown marring his brows, staring into the space. He'd left earlier, claiming that he had some urgent business to attend to, in the company. But apparently, he hadn't left. His expression looked grave and thoughtful.
Seher slowly approached him and Yaman glanced up. He immediately reached out to help her on to the sofa.
"How are you today?" He asked, automatically.
"I'm fine, except for the fact that I feel like a slow giant most of the time," she replied.
Then she searched his face.
"Are you alright?"
"Of course," But the frown lines on his forehead were prominent.
"You're not," she counteracted.
He shot her a keen look. "You're not in pain or anything, are you?"
Seher reached over and took his hand, peering into his eyes.
"You're hiding something. If you think being pregnant makes me fragile, it does not. Now tell me, what's wrong?"
Yaman took a deep breath.
"It's about the....woman who gave birth to me."
Seher pulled back.
She'd lived through amnesia and she'd hated every minute of it, but if there was one thing she would want to forget forever, it was that woman. Çanan- the woman who ruined her sons' childhood and nearly did the same thing again when she'd returned. Seher still remembered how she'd gone on her knees to beg for Yaman's life to no avail. Çanan's words echoed in her mind, leaving a bitter aftertaste.
"I'm sorry," Yaman said, immediately. "She wasn't a pleasant experience for either of us. It's better if we erase her altogether from our lives. It's just-" He looked at Seher, his gaze intense. "-she was pregnant when she left us."
Seher stared, stunned.
"What?"
"Yes," he said. "I had Nedim hire a detective to dig into her sordid past, when she said something about giving birth to four children. I thought she was just messing with me. But she'd created a full life story for herself by taking credit from loan sharks, to fool us."
A muscle moved in his jaw.
"And I swallowed her bait. I even paid back that loan shark. I was such a..." He shook his head a little. "Anyway, her story was fake. She really did leave us for money. But the man with whom she'd run away, left her as soon as she found out that she was pregnant. The detective is still after her trail..."
Seher let that sink in for a moment.
"You're saying that you have another brother or a sister, somewhere?" She asked. "Wait, did she abandon that baby too?"
"Possibly," he said sourly.
Seher gasped, hugging her belly tight. She couldn't comprehend that woman's actions. How could a mother be this soulless to be cruel to her own flesh and blood?
"What kind of a monster is she?" She exclaimed.
"She's nobody," Yaman said, firmly. "Nothing. But if there's someone out there sharing my blood...."
"You'll find them," Seher said in a decisive voice. "You will!"
"I need more information," he muttered. "Maybe I should pay her another visit...."
"No!" Seher said. "Don't go anywhere near her. Not ever again."
"Okay, okay," He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Don't get yourself into a twist. I have nothing to say to her, anyway."
"I don't want her to even breath the same air as you, after what she did to us!" She said.
"Fine, calm down," he said softly. Then he stood up. "Come on, let's take a walk to cool off ourselves. I mean, you look pretty when you're all red and angry, but it must not be good for your blood pressure."
Seher huffed. She could be sweaty, hair hanging down unbrushed, with a two- day old zit on her chin and he would still think she was pretty. He pulled her up to feet, as if she weighed no more than a feather.
"Don't worry, okay?" She said. "Everything will work out fine."
A genuine smile pulled at his mouth for the first time.
"I know it will."
************************************
Inside, Yaman was burning.
He'd been strung up lately. The babies would come any moment now, and he'd read everything he could find about pregnancy and labor. There were a lot of things that could go wrong and the danger on Seher's life was huge too.
He hated that he had no control over this matter. On one hand, he was ecstatic about the new addition to the family, on the other hand he wished it wouldn't put his wife through so much risk.
And now, Nedim had dropped this bomb-like news on him this morning.
Spring was in full bloom and the mansion garden flourished with Ziya's flowers and plants. Bees buzzed around. The sun shone in a cloudless, pale blue sky.
After a while, they sat on the bench under a tree, tired of walking.
"Shouldn't you be at the company?" Seher asked, wiping at her brows.
He shook his head. "Nedim will handle everything for now."
Seher searched his face, probably realizing the turmoil in his mind.
"Tell me something," she said suddenly. "Do you remember the day you asked me about my dream house?"
"Of course," he said. "You wanted a smaller house than the mansion. So did I. Do you still want that?"
"I wanted a smaller, cosier place- somewhere I can keep my eyes on all of you," she said, grinning. "But I'm glad our babies will be born in the mansion. It holds too many bad memories for us, but it also contains our best memories, doesn't it?"
Yaman took her hand. "I fell in love with you, in-between those walls."
A blush stained her cheeks.
"Me too," she paused, smiling. "When did that even happen? We hated each other!"
They did- borne with childhood wounds, distrust and manipulation. Still, here they were, together against all the odds.
"I fell in love with your hair at first, did you know?" He asked teasingly, running his hand through her curls. "I was itching to touch it for a long time."
Seher's hands flew up to her head, her eyes wide with surprise.
"You did? But I hate my hair!"
"Don't. It's beautiful," he said. "I hope the babies will have all of you and they'll look nothing like me."
"On the contrary, I hope they'll look like you," she said.
"We'll see. Yesterday, I heard Yusuf praying for the babies to look exactly like him- so who knows? So far he's got everything he wanted," Yaman said with mock chagrin. "Maybe we'll have little carbon copies of our Little Fire."
Seher laughed and he felt good, like he always did in her presence.
"Then that's our next step," he said. "Once the babies are born, we'll start planning a home for all of us."
"I'd love that," she said. "There will be ducks and lambs like you mentioned, right?"
"And horses," he said. "We'll teach Yusuf and the children to ride a horse since when they're young."
"Sure, so they won't end up like me- being afraid of horses throwing them off," Seher said.
She straightened, suddenly. "And just like that, I'm hungry again. God, how come they always want food?"
Yaman helped her up.
"Babies do work in mysterious ways..."
It was then, when his phone rang, pulling them out of their cozy, happy bubble.
Nedim.
"What is it?" Yaman answered the call, keeping his hand on Seher's back to keep her steady.
"Urgent news, Yaman," Nedim's voice sounded somewhat off. "The detective reached the end of Miss Çanan's trail. And also he searched through the birth records and somehow attained the DNA reports- they're fully compatible with yours. He...found your sibling."
Yaman's stomach dropped.
"And?" He asked, a sense of foreboding creeping up inside of him. "Who is it?"
Nedim was silent for a moment.
"It's that commissioner. Commissioner Ali..."
************************************
Life was strange.
Seher kept one hand wrapped protectively around her belly, trying to push back her flyaway hair. Firat stayed next to her, his hands pushed deep into his pockets.
Yaman stood infront of the gate to commissioner Ali's house, with Nedim next to him, their heads bent over a folder in his hands. Seher could see Sultan hala peering through the curtained window and disappearing back inside.
Two weeks. It had taken Yaman exactly two weeks to at least acknowledge the fact that commissioner Ali was his sibling. He'd been in denial for as long as he could. Finally, Seher had taken the matters into her own hands. She'd met up with Sultan hala without anyone's knowledge, and after a lot of coaxing, had pulled the truth out of her.
Yaman and Ali really were siblings.
"Can you believe it?" Firat asked. "Who knew that they shared the same blood?"
"I hope this will be a good thing," Seher muttered.
Yaman shook his head at something Nedim said and made his way towards them.
"This isn't working," he said. "I'm not in the habit of turning up at people's doors with life- altering news. Even I still don't believe that we're brothers."
"I mean, you do have some similar traits..." Firat pointed out.
"I'm nothing like him!" Yaman said, vehemently.
Firat put up his hands in surrender and moved away towards Nedim.
Seher patted his hand.
"I think you're better looking than Ali," she said, loyally.
Yaman cracked a smile at that. Then his expression turned serious.
"Now it's becoming clearer to me that Arif baba knew something too," he said. "He always tried to make peace between us. Before he died, he called the commissioner and me to his barbecue place. Maybe he wanted to tell us the truth."
"Maybe," Seher said. "It's not necessarily a bad thing, you know? I, for once, am thrilled that Yusuf and our babies are getting another uncle..."
"It's still early for that," Yaman said. "There are too much bad blood and old wounds between us."
"Then talk," she said. "Talk with him. Clear out the cobwebs. You have all the proofs- DNA records, blood reports, everything. And Sultan hala will help you too. If he doesn't listen to you, at least he'll have to listen to her."
A moment of silence reigned between them.
"You're right," he said at last. "Maybe he'll accept it, maybe he won't. Either way, I'm not losing anything."
Seher smiled. "And I'll be right here, waiting for you."
He nodded and kissed her, as if for good luck.
Seher watched as he opened the gate and walked towards the house with steady steps.
Then he took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
❤️
Sorry for the boring chapter🙃.
Personally, I couldn't care less about "Yaman and Ali being brothers" plotline. The writers had a great opportunity to reveal it during Yaman's illness, make Ali the donor, then let them confront Çanan together and overall write a better plot than humiliate Seher. It's just my opinion🤗🤗.
But I don't like to leave any stones unturned, so here it it.
In the next chapter you'll meet the babies!🥰🥰 (Pray that Seher has an easy labor😁)
If you enjoyed the chapter give a vote and drop a comment 😘
-nocturnal4ever