Deren took the microphone. A very important moment had arrived for her.
"This dance I want to dedicate to my grandmother." she said, looking at her husband.
There was a roar of applause as the music started the first notes.
It was the song that Grandma Pembe had danced to with her husband in her time.
Bulut looked at her tenderly. After seeing her enter in that dress that morning, he had connected all the missing pieces of the puzzle. He knew Deren's story and her love for her grandmother very well.
Sanem applauded vigorously, knowing the story. He remained on board like everyone else, watching that enchanting scene, two souls pining away in a slow motion.
Finally Deren could enjoy a slow dance with the person she loved.
At the thought, she smiled softly, resting her head on her husband's chest.
Sanem was moved. Can embraced her, dragging her to the dance floor for a slow dance. The newlyweds were inviting everyone to join them on the dance floor.
In a corner, at the table at the back of the room, away from everyone, Cey Cey and Ayhan were chatting with Muzo.
So Sanem looked at Can at the end of the dance, saying: "Love, I'll join Muzo, Cey Cey and Ayhan. Will you keep an eye on the children?"
"They are with my father and Mihriban, look." he said pointing at them.
She turned around and saw the children jumping to music with their grandparents.
"Wow... your dad is wild tonight, huh?" joked Sanem.
Can laughed. "It's true. The kids give him a mad rush. He looks 30 years younger." he replied happily.
"Can don't say that, come on. Your father was always young." she reminded him.
"Yeah, and that's what he always said." he confirmed.
"Age of registry doesn't matter. It's how old you feel inside that counts." his wife said.
"Well, then I guess he feels six years old right now. The same age as our children." replied Can jokingly.
Sanem laughed.
"Ah, he is happy. He has found peace with himself. He is happily married to the love of his life, and he has little pests to keep him busy. He is fulfilled." considered Sanem.
"Here, if I had known that to see him so well, it was necessary to give him grandchildren, I would have given him a dozen." Can said.
Sanem looked at him, frowning.
He placed his hands on her hips and glared at her.
"Let's hear! And who did you do them with?" he asked getting nervous.
"But with you, of course love. With whom else?" he replied quietly.
"Ah, that is..." she replied.
"In the past I always said that I wasn't made for marriage and having children, but... I was completely wrong." he admitted.
"Instead, I think it was the best thing I did in my life." he added.
Sanem looked at him, frowning.
"Can?" she called him.
"Yes love?" he replied still tight in the dance.
"Are you drunk?" she asked suddenly touching his cheek.
"How many are these?" she asked showing him a three with her fingers.
"Three love, I'm not drunk." he replied smiling.
"I mean, not of alcohol at least." he said holding her even tighter to him.
"Ha ha, what then?" asked Sanem looking at him quizzically.
"I'm drunk with love." he replied with a lost look in his eyes.
"Uh!" she said, burying her head on his chest. As they spoke they found themselves dancing alone in a corner of the dance floor.
Then Sanem cleared her throat.
"Good evening everyone, tonight we have the honour of having us here: Can Divit the philosopher!" she exclaimed as if speaking into a microphone.
"Yeah, he comes out when you least expect it." he played along.
Sanem laughed, then looking at him seriously replied: "I'm glad you realized that, Can Divit."
Can kissed her. It was a passionate kiss, which Can himself was forced to break off. The room was getting hot.
Sanem caught her breath by fanning herself with her hand. At that moment she felt really drunk.
They looked at each other and both tried to return to reality. That was not the time.
"Um... anyway... what were we talking about? Ah, conversation between neighbourhood mates then?" he asked smiling.
Sanem smiled.
"That's right." he replied, "In fact, I'll take my sister and Osman now too." she said.
"Alright." he replied.
"If Deren should look for me, let me know. OK?" said Sanem.
"It's OK." he replied, waving his white shirt.
Sanem leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek.
"You are unique." he whispered to her.
"Mh... I'll remind you of that the next time you get mad at me." she said, winking at him.
Sanem stuck her tongue out at him and disappeared.
"Leyla?" called Sanem making herself heard over the music, touching her shoulder.
"Sister?" she called her again.
Sanem motioned her to come closer.
Leyla leaned down to hear her better.
"I am joining Muzo from Cey Cey and Ayhan. Are you coming too?" she asked.
"A reunion, you say?" asked Leyla.
"Yes. You go at the table, I'll call Osman." Sanem answered her.
"Alright, sis. I'm coming." she replied, approaching Emre.
Osman and Adile were talking at the children's table with Mihriban and Aziz. Osman's little girl, Asli, had fallen asleep in her mother's arms.
Sanem approached.
"What's up?" she asked, reaching them.
"Ah, Sanem? Everything's fine. You?" asked Osman.
"Fine, fine." she replied.
Sanem stroked the little hand with which Asli had clung to her mother.
"What love." she whispered.
Then she greeted Adile with a kiss on the cheek.
Adile and Sanem had become close friends since they met. During the pregnancy of Osman's wife, they spoke often, despite being far apart due to the two actors' jobs. They exchanged motherly advice, and talked about work and flowers, another thing they had in common.
"Osman?" she asked.
"Tell me Sanem." he replied.
"Well, I am joining Muzo at the table with Cey Cey and Ayhan. I wanted to take the opportunity to have a chat with him given the work commitments of all of us." she said.
"Alright, I'm coming," Osman quickly understood.
"Thank you. I'll see you there." she said walking away.
She moved closer to Adile's ear.
"Sanem what's up? Everything OK?" she asked.
"Ah, yes, yes, I wanted to talk to Muzo. Here, understand a bit how he is, what the situation is like, that's it. The last time we saw each other before he left, his condition was not the best. He was lonely, so I thought I'd test the waters a little bit. Here, seeing the faces in the neighbourhood again will perhaps help him open up. My sister will also join us." she said, pointing into the distance.
"Ah, mh... I see. I feel sorry for Muzo, though I don't know him well." admitted Adile.
"You don't mind right? If I steal him from you for a moment..." said Sanem pointing at her husband.
"Ah, no, no, my dear. Don't worry. I trust him and you." she pointed out.
Sanem and Osman caught up with the group.
"And? Tell us a little Muzo." said Sanem as she took a seat in front of him.
"How did you know we were here?" asked Leyla.
"Yeah, we thought you were still in Brazil." said Osman.
"Well, it was time to come back, friends." said Muzo.
"I got here thanks to Metin." he replied quietly, lowering his head.
"To Metin?!" they all exclaimed surprised.
"Yeah." he replied.
"What do you mean?" asked Sanem.
"My God... we're off to a good start." commented Ayhan.
"No, don't worry nothing happened." he reassured them.
"And?" asked Sanem then curious.
"Well, once I landed, I reached Fikri Harika immediately. I wanted to surprise you there." he admitted.
"Ah... and instead we surprised you." said Cey Cey.
"Yeah, I'm still a little angry about that. How can you not invite Muzo?" he asked.
"But we knew you away..." replied Leyla. "Besides, it's not up to us..." she reminded her.
"And? What happened with Metin? Tell." urged Sanem curiously.
"What do you want happened Sanem!" he replied.
"I arrived, saw and heard that no one was there. Then I saw him from behind talking on the phone...' he recounted.
"What was Metin doing at work today?" asked Ayhan.
Sanem cleared her throat.
"He was working, Ayhan. He was working." replied Leyla waving him off the subject.
"Well, Can had said he had to prepare some contracts." Sanem recalled.
"But you said he was talking on the phone?" she asked.
"Mh, yes." he confirmed.
"It must have been with Deniz." replied Ayhan hastily.
Leyla cleared her throat again.
"Leyla, girl, you don't need to do that. You can talk about her. It doesn't bother me." replied Muzo serenely.
"I don't think he was talking to her anyway." Muzo added.
Sanem looked at him, noticed a strange expression on his face, as if something in what he had seen did not please him. But he did not investigate further.
"Ah, he must have been on the phone for work." Leyla replied.
"Anyway, I asked where you all were, and he answered me at Deren and Bulut's wedding," continued the explanation.
"Ah.." replied Ayhan.
"She didn't seem very happy there..." replied Muzo.
"And I would also like to see!" commented Ayhan.
"Ayhan! Enough!" exclaimed Leyla.
Cey Cey and Sanem remained silent.
"And... Did he tell you the place then?" asked Osman.
"Ah, no. Well, whoever he was talking to when I arrived, he hung up saying he was at work and would call him back later." he said.
"The moment he was about to tell me, his phone rang again, and he ran off, telling me to ask the secretary in the lobby." he said.
"Hmm... strange." replied Ayhan."Ah, but by the way, where is Deniz? She disappeared." replied Leyla.
"Ha, ha, first you stop me, and then you go straight to the topic like a missile, bravo, Ice queen!" applauded Ayhan to her.
"I only said that because he said it's not a problem." she said referring to Muzo. "Isn't it?" she asked in confirmation.
"No, don't worry it's not. It's been a long time now." he replied quietly.
"See?" said Leyla grimacingly.
"Um... Deniz is gone." said Sanem.
"Ah, how? By herself?" asked Ayhan.
"No, Metin came to pick her up. "replied Sanem looking at Muzo.
Frost fell.
"Guys, it's just between us, and now I want to tell you... that Metin doesn't really tell me the truth, you know?" commented Osman.
"Brother Osman is right, I too have been sensing dark forces behind him for a while now." said Cey Cey shivering at the very thought.
"I don't find anything strange about him. He is a very professional person." Leyla commented.
Sanem remained silent, thinking over Muzo's words.
"Ah, Ah!" exclaimed Cey Cey suddenly.
"Sanem look at Deren!" laughed Ayhan.
Sanem turned to look at her. She was dancing with her children and Ilker.
"I can't believe it!" exclaimed Leyla.
"The pregnan-dancy..." replied Cey Cey laughing like crazy at his own joke.
Muzo remained silent for a moment looking at him and then brightened up joining him.
"Oh, how happy she is..." commented Sanem. "And how beautiful they are!"
"I'm convinced she's going to be an amazing mum." admitted.
"I still can't believe Mrs Deren is married and pregnant." Muzo commented. "How many other things have I missed this year, huh?" he asked.
The time came to leave the party. The twins had fallen asleep after dancing with everyone. Can held Deniz and Yildiz in his arms. Ates was asleep sitting on the chair next to them.
"I'll go and put them on the car." Can said, leaving Sanem there at the table. She was sitting next to Ates and stroking her hair as she slept.
Mihriban and Aziz had already gone home. The whole team as well. Only Muzo was left, saying goodbye to Deren and Bulut, and Can and Sanem with their children.
Seeing that she was about to leave, Sanem stood up, snapping her fingers to attract her attention. Muzo turned towards her.
Sanem motioned to join her.
Meanwhile, Can went back for Ates. He loaded her into his arms and said to Sanem: "Um, I'll wait for you in the car, OK?"
"Alright, love, I'll be right there. I'll say goodbye to everyone and I came." she replied.
"Alright." he said.
"Bye Muzo, see you soon." Can replied.
"Bye to you, Can Divit." he replied smiling.
Can also went by to greet Deren and Bulut.
"Tell me Sanem." said Muzo, once Can turned away.
"Muzo, emh, there was no way tonight and it was not the place to talk, but I would like to talk to you about something. Tomorrow morning would you drop by Fikri Harika?" she asked him.
"Of course I would pass there. I was going to pass there anyway, I mean, am I a partner or not?" he said.
"Ah... that is... alright, let's talk about it tomorrow alright?" asked Sanem confirmation.
"Alright." he confirmed.
"Um, come directly to my office at the Sanem if you don't mind." he clarified.
"Alright." said Muzo.
"Good night then." replied Sanem.
"Good night to you Muzo and welcome back." she greeted him.
"Thank you. See you tomorrow." he replied leaving happily.
"No, she was wrong, Muzo had changed!" she thought as she saw him leave.
The next day Bulut "kidnapped" his wife and took her on a surprise honeymoon. The only task he had secretly taken care of.
Can knew about it.
Bulut would take Deren away for three weeks to Hawaii.
"Wow, who knows what a shock that must have been for Mrs Deren!" exclaimed Cey Cey talking at the counter to Sanem, Deniz, Ayhan and Leyla.
"Mh, I can already imagine her screaming because it wasn't planned." commented Leyla.
"Yeah..." commented Sanem.
"Ah, my job! Who's going to take care of everything now! Coffeeee, Coffeeeee!" Ayhan mouthed to her.
"No, my dear, she cannot drink coffee from now on. She won't even have that pleasure any more." Leyla pointed out to her.
"Then she will shout "Coffeeee! Caffeee!" precisely because she can no longer have it!" exclaimed Ayhan.
"Ah, yeah, guys, poor Bulut's ears. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes." replied Can.
"Again?" teased Sanem.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing, you are unbelievable." Answered his wife.
"Guys, let's enjoy these weeks without screaming. Our eardrums will regenerate." said Cey Cey.
"Be careful because when Deren comes back, will be stronger than ever!" warned Sanem.
"We'll think of something in these weeks." replied Can. "By the way, Cey Cey? Your caps don't work." he said, returning to his office.
"How not? Hmm...I'll do more tests, Mr. Can, I promise!" he yelled after him.
"To me, they were working...but! I wonder if Mr. Can doesn't have superhero eardrums..." he wondered as he wiped the countertop.
Meanwhile Sanem saw Muzo coming.
He walked towards him.
"See you guys later." she greeted them.
"Ha ha, Muzo?" asked Cey Cey. "What's he doing here? Back to work?"
Deniz glowered at him and then disappeared.
"Cey Cey..." said Ayhan taking him back.
"Eh, what did I say?" he asked innocently.
"Nothing." replied Ayhan running after Deniz.
"Phew... we can't say anything anymore." he complained wiping the counter.
Sanem reached Muzo at the foot of the staircase leading to the lower floors.
From there he decided to take the lift.
"Come, let's take the lift, it'll be quicker." said Sanem.
"Ah, OK." he replied.
They took a seat in Sanem's office.
"Can I offer you something? Tea? Some biscuits?" she asked.
"A tea, thank you." Muzo replied.
Sanem prepared the tea. She had her personal kit in the office.
"Here you go." she said placing the two small glasses of tea on the desk.
"So Muzo..." began Sanem.
"You must be wondering why I asked you to speak here..." she said.
"Well, it never happened that you called me to your office so, I'm curious." admitted Muzo.
"Alright I'll explain to you now." she said.
"In the meantime, I'll start by saying that I'm very happy that you're back. And I'm very pleased that you took my advice." she began.
"Ah..." replied Muzo immediately realising what he was referring to.
"Well, I read with pleasure every letter you sent me, and replied with equal pleasure." replied Sanem sincerely.
"Then from letters we moved on to stories, and from stories to essays." she pointed out to him.
"There, I never replied to all that great material you always sent me. But there is a reason." replied Sanem.
"Ah..." replied Muzo. "I've been heavy as usual, haven't I?" he replied, lowering his head.
"No, Muzo. I didn't have time to read them right away. It took me a while. You know, between work and children..." she reminded him.
"Ah, no, no, of course, I understand..." Muzo replied a little sad.
He understood but, he was also used to being under-calculated by everyone.
"But then I did, Muzo, slowly I read them, and I noticed a great improvement in your writing. " Sanem complimented her.
"Really?" he asked surprised looking up.
"Really." she confirmed.
"I mean, you still have to learn the gift of synthesis, but... slowly I am convinced you will succeed." Sanem replied.
"Well, I would like to thank you Sanem. For advising me to write. I took it literally, and threw myself into it." he admitted.
"I realized it was good for me. I know, that my writings are meaningless, at least not to others. I know they are personal, but I sent them to you as a thank you." he said.
"I understood that." Sanem replied.
"And I thank you for sharing them with me. But I haven't finished my speech yet." she replied.
"Ah, excuse me..." he said, shushing himself immediately.
"Here, out of all the ones you sent me..." said Sanem pulling out a stack of bound papers from the drawer.
"This is the one that impressed me the most." she said handing it to him.
Muzo read the title. Then he looked at it.
"I liked everything about this...essay? What shall we call it? Guide? I don't know, but I really liked the way you wrote it, and I find there cannot be a more correct title." admitted.
"You liked it? This one? Really?" he asked surprised, flipping through the pages.
"Well, I can assure you that this one, of all the others, is a notch above." she told him in a professional tone.
"But this is the last one I sent you before I left. I mean... it must have been 10 days maybe?" asked Muzo. "You said you didn't have time to read..." replied Muzo.
"At first... but I devoured this one, Muzo. I am not joking. I read it in two days." she told her truthfully.
"You're joking... here, that's not possible..." he replied laughing.
"I mean, this is a collection of all the things that have happened to me. It's probably the most personal thing I've ever sent you!" exclaimed Muzo incredulously.
"But also the truest, Muzo." Sanem replied.
"If you will notice I have written notes. So I'm not joking when I say I read it with pleasure." she pointed out.
"I think this book deserves publication Muzo. And I would like to help you do that, if you want." said Sanem. "That's why you are here." she said.
"What do you mean? Publish it? You want to publish my essay?" asked Muzo shocked.
"Not me... that is, but I could propose it to my publishing house." she thought.
"Really? Well, I don't know, Sanem, I don't know if I want to expose myself that much. Once maybe I would have, but now... I've become very jealous of my writing. And there are references inside... here..." he said uncertain and confused by the news.
"Deniz you mean..." replied Sanem.
"Muzo, you have taken a huge step towards yourself. Do you realize that? Pulling out what hurt you the most and turning it into something like this... means you dug deep and it takes courage to do that." she complimented.
"Look, you think about it, OK? The publishing house might not even consider it after all. But I ask you this question: what do you have to lose?" she asked him.
"Do you have other plans in mind that I don't know about? Other jobs in the works?" she asked.
"Well, no, I thought I would go back to work at Fikri Harika like before." Muzo admitted embarrassedly.
"You can do both if you want, I'm not kicking you out. But I think you are ready for another task at this point." said Sanem clearly.
"I don't know, that is." he replied.
"You should give yourself a chance, Muzo... you did all this for whom? To find yourself, right? So you said." she gave him pause.
"Yes... and I realized so many things. Accepted so many things about myself that I didn't want to admit to myself before." he replied.
"I know..." she replied.
"How do you know?" he asked surprised.
"I mean, I feel it, I see it... all of it can be felt in your writing." Sanem explained.
"Listen, as I once told you, writing is a most powerful weapon. It has the ability to bring out the best and worst in us and get us to people's hearts. You managed to get to mine...well, not in the way you mean, eh! Let's get this straight right now." snapped Sanem seriously, remembering Zebercet.
"I get it." laughed Muzo.
"But I heard you, and if I can hear you...." she said, leaving the sentence in mid-sentence.
"The others can hear me too, you say?" he completed her.
"I am convinced that you sent me these things, not because I am a writer or because I have known you since you were in nappies, but because you wanted someone to hear you and understand you. Am I wrong?" asked Sanem.
"That's it... I didn't do it with a purpose, it was involuntary... natural, that's it. You always listened to me." said Muzo.
"Listen, think about it, OK? No one is rushing you. Meanwhile, if you want to resume your routine here, go ahead for the time being. But I think you, from the Fikri Harika archive should move to the Sanem." she said.
"Alright, I'll think about it." Muzo replied still in shock.
"And you won't be alone if you decide to do it. Alright? You can count on me." said Sanem.
"Alright. Thank you Sanem. Really." he replied gratefully.
"Don't thank me. I haven't done anything yet, silly!" she told him.
"No, I'm thanking you because you were exactly right." he insisted.
"About what exactly?" asked Sanem.
"Sometimes, writing is what saves us." he recalled.
___________________________
Hello reader :)
Thank you for reading this 15th chapter.
See you soon with the next one, and as always, if you like, leave me a comment.