Nearly a week passes, and Emir and Reyhan are no closer to figuring out who's trying to hurt Hikmet than they were when they started this secret operation. Nearly a week, and aside from the necessary check-ins with each other, Reyhan hasn't spoken to him, still upset about the fork incident. It shouldn't bother him. They're divorced. And he promised her that he would have nothing to do with her when she came back this last time for his father. He just never imagined that promise would be so hard to keep.
That all changes later that afternoon. He's walking down the hall headed towards the kitchen when he hears his name whispered from behind him.
"Emir!" the whispered voice repeats when he doesn't stop at first. He turns to try to see through the darkness.
"Reyhan?" he says when he realizes who it is.
"Shh!" she tries to silence him, before pulling him into a dark storage room. Seconds later, he hears footsteps walk past and realizes how close they were to getting caught together.
When all is silent again, she relaxes a bit and a stream of light from a small flashlight she has in her hand turns on.
"I found something," she says quietly, but no longer in a whisper.
He follows her across the small space and squats next to her when she points to an object wrapped in newspaper and tucked into a back corner. He pulls it out and unwraps it, his brows furrowing in thought until he recognizes what it is.
"This used to be on my father's desk," he says. "What is it doing here? No one has redecorated that space since long before his accident."
"That's the thing," she starts. "I'm beginning to think it wasn't an accident. I don't think he just fell. I think he was hit. With this."
"No, my father collapsed. He fell and hit his head on the desk." But as Emir is saying it out loud, a new light of suspicion shining on it, that version of events is starting to make less sense to him.
"Think about it," she continues. "His wound is on the back of his head. As if someone came up behind him and hit him. That injury couldn't have come from him being alone in his office and simply collapsing."
"Someone did this to him," he realizes, believing what she's saying. It makes sense.
"We need to get this to the police," she says. "Unfortunately it could have anyone's fingerprints on it. So it won't help in figuring out who hit him. But it may have traces of his blood on it. Then we'll know for sure what happened."
Emir shakes his head.
"No police," he says. "Any possible answers to our questions won't be good. Involving the police right now will only make things worse."
He lets out a heavy, grief filled sigh.
"This is my fault," he says. "Too much has happened around here that I've never questioned. But if this is true, if someone in this household did this to my father, then what kind of people are we? How can that person live with themselves, seeing every day what they did to my father? He may never be the same again."
One of the biggest problems is that after eliminating himself and Reyhan, very few possible suspects remain. And the idea that any of them could be guilty of this is unfathomable. But he has to start considering the fact that someone did that. Someone still in this house.
She puts her hand in his to comfort him, and he finds himself not wanting to let it go. It feels good. It feels right. But their moment is interrupted when the door begins to open. Panicking, he shoves her into the dark corner and covers her body with his. They both go stone still, barely even breathing. Peeking around the corner, Emir notes that Melike has come into the storage room just to get a jar of tomatoes. She never sees them.
They both let out the breath they were holding when she leaves again, tomatoes retrieved.
"That was close," Reyhan whispers, being careful not to be heard.
"Very close," Emir agrees. But he isn't talking about them nearly being caught. And he isn't moving. He suddenly is very aware of the position he has put them in, bodies pressed together from head to toe. This is the closest they've been in a long time and he doesn't know how to deal with the way his heart is about to burst from his chest.
Her heart is beating just as fast as his and when the tip of her tongue quickly darts out to wet her lips, he breaks.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Reyhan pours water into a glass. At least, she tries to pour water into a glass. Her hands are shaking too hard to keep the pitcher steady.
He kissed me.
The thought keeps echoing in her head. But no matter how many times she says it, she's no closer to believing that it happened. Or that she didn't stop it. Actively participated in it, if she's remembering accurately. Although, that kiss left her brain scrambled. So she's not sure what she remembers. Except her frantic escape into her uncle's room, where she is now ... unsuccessfully getting water.
"Reyhan? Kızım?"
Reyhan jumps and squeaks out a little scream at Melike's greeting. The glass drops out of her hand and crashes on the floor.
"Are you alright?" Melike asks, pushing Reyhan aside. "Let me clean this up. You'll cut yourself."
"I'm sorry," Reyhan says. "You startled me."
Melike pauses in her sweeping to give Reyhan a look.
"I called you several times, but you were too distracted. Red cheeks. Goofy smile. Rubbing your lips," she teases. "What have you been doing, I wonder."
"Melike abla!" Reyhan says with a gasp, looking around to make sure they have privacy. She crosses the room and makes sure the door is closed just to be on the safe side. "Don't say things like that."
Melike just smiles and finishes cleaning the glass. Then she takes another glass from Hikmet's bedside table and fills it with water, giving it to Reyhan.
"Drink. Cool down. Then tell me what happened while I feed your uncle."
Reyhan just sighs. She wishes she could tell Melike what's going on. That kiss left her in turmoil and she doesn't know how much more of this she can take. Not being with Emir is suddenly very hard. It was tolerable when she thought he hated her, that hatred a physical barrier between them. But this kiss tore that wall down.
"I don't know where to begin," Reyhan tells her.
"How about with this ... you still love Emir." Melike states it as a fact rather than a question.
Reyhan reluctantly nods. She can't deny it.
"Then why did you divorce him? It clearly wasn't because you didn't love him."
Reyhan is silent for a long time, not knowing what to say.
"Did he do something to you?" Melike asks cautiously. "Did he hurt you? Did he ..."
"No!" Reyhan stops her, her eyes wide with shock at the very idea. "Emir would never!"
"Then why, Kızım? Why break him like this?"
Reyhan takes a deep breath, trying to hold in her tears. She knows the divorce hurt him. Confused him. But to hear Melike describe him as broken is more than Reyhan can take.
"I wasn't trying to hurt him," she says through her tears. "I was trying to protect him. I was trying to protect this family."
"Kızım?"
Reyhan shakes her head, holds up her hand to stop any other questions.
"I can't say anything more. Please, Melike abla. Don't ask anything else. And please don't say anything to Emir about this."
Melike just stares long and hard at her for a while before eventually agreeing to follow her wishes.
"For now," she nods. "But if trouble is involved, consider talking to someone, even if you can't tell me anything. Kemal, maybe? He's a lawyer. He may have a legal solution for whatever your problem is. He'd at least have to keep whatever you tell him confidential. And who knows. He might give you some good advice."
Kemal abi? Could he really help? Reyhan gives Melike's words serious thought.. She never thought of going to him. But Melike is right. He'd at least have to keep what they talk about a secret if she hires him.
"That's a good idea, Melike abla," Reyhan says with a smile, feeling real relief at a possible way to fix this mess. "Kemal abi might actually be able to help."
Her relief is only momentary. The door opens and Cavidan comes in, her intense glare focused solely on Reyhan.
"Melike, I'm going to need you to get an early start on dinner," Cavidan says, not taking her eyes off of Reyhan. "You'll be doing everything alone for the next few days. Nigar and Sefer had a little family emergency. They're going to be gone for a while."
"Gone? When are they leaving?" Melike asks, standing up and gathering the remains of the meal she just finished feeding Hikmet. "I was going to send Sefer to the store later."
"Yasin will go," Cavidan says. "Nigar and Sefer are already gone."
Melike leaves the room and Reyhan gets a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Cavidan is up to something. When Cavidan closes and locks the door, Reyhan knows she's definitely in trouble.
She never sees the first strike coming. The slap is surprising and shocks her to a momentary stillness. That moment is long enough for Cavidan to push her down.
"You think you're so smart," Cavidan taunts her. "Tricking my son with your lies once again. But I know the truth. I know what you're up to."
"Cavidan hanim. Please," Reyhan begs her. "I didn't do anything."
"Oh, I know. You wouldn't have the nerve to do something like this." She takes a fork Melike accidentally left behind and stabs Hikmet in the same spot he was stabbed before.
"Stop!" Reyhan screams, scrambling up from the floor to try to push Cavidan away from her uncle. But Cavidan turns the fork on her. Reyhan tries to knock it out of her hand, but fails. Cavidan ends up stabbing her arm. The fork is too dull to do damage under normal circumstances. So it takes a good bit of force to break skin. The pain is unbelievable and makes Reyhan stumble backwards. She trips on the edge of the carpet and ends up hitting her head on the arm of a chair. She blinks away the stars, but fortunately stays conscious.
"You dare attack me?" Cavidan asks, tossing the fork and moving across to where Reyhan is. She begins to kick her. "When are you going to learn that I can do anything I want? This is my house!"
"Please," Reyhan begs again. "I didn't do anything."
"Wrong answer! You stabbed your uncle. Then you made Nigar and Sefer lie for you. That is what you're going to tell Emir." Cavidan kicks at her again.
"I'm not going to lie to him," Reyhan sobs, blocking the next kick.
"Oh really? You lied to him before to get him to divorce you," Cavidan sneers, laughing at Reyhan's look of surprise. "Yes, I know all about your deal with Cemre. You can't think she was smart enough to come up with that plan."
"You're a part of this? A part of sending your son to jail?" Reyhan gasps, partly from disbelief, partly from the pain from her injuries.
"Please," Cavidan scoffs. "I knew good and well you would never allow that. Just like I know good and well you're going to confess to Emir that you stabbed your uncle. Even if to only stop me from doing this again. And again. And again." Each again is punctuated by yet another stab into Hikmet.
Reyhan can't stop herself from being sick. After, she wipes her mouth and looks up at Cavidan through her tears.
"How can you be so evil? Instead of protecting your son and your family, you let Cemre blackmail me? Would you really have let her send Emir to prison?"
"I knew it wouldn't go that far," Cavidan says with a shrug. "I knew you would never let it happen."
Reyhan closes her eyes and cries. Because no matter what just happened here, Cavidan is right. Reyhan will do anything to protect the people she loves.
"Okay," she says through her tears. "You win. I'll confess. Then I'll go."
"Of course you will, canım. I had no doubt," Cavidan laughs before looking around the room with disgust. "Now clean this place up. You made a mess."