Emir is silent for a long time. It begins to worry Reyhan. Several times he opens his mouth, as if he's about to say something. But he ends up just shaking his head and remaining silent.
"Emir?" she says cautiously, not sure what to expect. "Did you hear me?"
He just nods. And then runs his hands over his face. He heard her. He just wishes now he didn't ask. Because now, he'll never get her words out of his head.
"It started on our wedding day. Cemre told me you two had been in love your whole lives and that I was stopping you from being together."
Lies.
"She was the reason that psycho Vural fixated on me. She gave me Suna's old computer and when I wasn't aware, used it to communicate with the guy on my behalf."
So many lies.
"She hired that woman to pretend to be your lover. She wanted me to believe you had cheated on me."
Tricks.
"She really did drug Suna. I saw her buying the pills myself. And when I tried to take the pills to the police, she dumped them down the drain. Then she had someone alter the test results. She admitted it all to me, gloating. Telling me not to get involved in a war with her that I wouldn't win."
He can't believe he had been so blind to these games for too long. Suna could have died because of his ignorance.
"She has a video of you killing a man. And told me that unless I divorced you, she would give the video to the police and you'd go to jail."
The pain he feels makes it hard to breathe. How could someone be so evil? How could someone he thought was a friend take away the thing he loves most in this world?
"She's in love with you and wanted me out of your life. She thought that if I left you, if I made you hate me, then she would be able to have you."
How is this even real life? How could this have even happened? Does this mean Reyhan left him, not because she didn't love him, but because she did? He finally looks up at her. He looks long and hard, trying to figure out the answer.
"Are you ... mad at me?" she hesitantly asks him. She tries to keep the little hitch out her voice that gives away the utter fear she's feeling because of how he's staring at her. She wouldn't blame him for being mad.
But at that instant, his face relaxes. His eyes lose the coldness and when they meet her own eyes, her heart flutters. He slowly reaches out to take her hand as a tentative smile grows on his face.
"Let me just ask one question for now," he finally says. "Do you still love me?"
She just nods, giving him her own little smile.
"No," he says, shaking his head. His gaze is begging. Pleading. "I need to hear it."
"I do. I love you so much, Emir. I've always loved you. Being without you was worse than death."
He closes his eyes and lets out a deep breath she didn't realize he had been holding. Tears leak from the corners of his eyes and just like that, her heart is broken again.
"Emir," she sobs.
"Come here," he says, pulling her into his arms. He holds her so tight that she can barely breathe, but she doesn't mind. She's holding on to him the same way. When she feels his warm tears on her neck, she breaks again.
"I'm sorry," they both say, over and over as the tears continue to flow. Healing tears that start to mend both their broken hearts.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Zafer finds them like that several hours later, curled together on the bed until he can't tell where one ends and the next begins. They're sleeping so peacefully that he hates to wake Emir. But he has to.
He nudges his friend until one eye cracks open and squints angrily at him.
"Sorry, man. We need you out here. Your uncle is here with something he says you have to see."
Emir looks down at the sleeping woman in his arms and his heart fills with joy. It takes a lot to convince himself to let her go, but he finally nods at Zafer and carefully gets out of bed to avoid waking Reyhan.
"This better be really important," he says with a yawn as he follows Zafer down the hall and to the living room.
"I'd say it was a matter of life or death."
That stops Emir in his tracks. He sees the serious look on Kemal's face and begins to worry.
"Who's life? What's this about, Amca?"
"You better sit down," Kemal suggests, pointing to a seat on the sofa next to him. "This is going to be a lot to take in."
Emir furrows his brows in confusion, but he complies with his uncle's order. He looks over at Zafer while sitting down.
"Do you have any idea what this is about?" Emir asks his friend, looking back and forth between his uncle and Zafer and noting the looks of extreme distress on both their faces. "You two are starting to scare me. What's going on? Is it my father? Did something happen to Baba?"
Emir begins to panic when the other two men just look at each other again.
"Your father is fine for now," Kemal starts. "I've sent Oya over there and she's going to be staying for a few days and keeping a close eye on the situation. So you don't have anything to worry about currently."
"Okay, now I'm really scared."
"You should be. It turns out, Reyhan's intuition about your father's safety wasn't wrong. When you sent me a copy of the note she received, I decided I needed a constant look at what was happening around your father. Don't be mad, but I've had a nanny cam watching him since the day Masal and I visited."
"That was almost two weeks ago," Emir says.
Kemal just nods.
"And this video shows who's been hurting my father?"
Again, Kemal just nods.
Emir just sighs and looks at the other men again.
"Based on the looks on your faces, I have a bad feeling about what I'm about to see."
He steadies himself for what he knows is going to be a shock and directs Kemal to play the video.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The next time Reyhan wakes up, she has an initial moment of confusion, but her mind isn't nearly as cloudy as it has been the past couple of days. All the drugs must have finally left her system. She's feeling almost normal again, but with one exception.
She looks over to see Emir staring out the window, his body outlined by the moonlight shining into the room. She smiles, because the ache in her heart is gone. Being with him again has made everything better. Getting out of the bed, she walks quietly behind him and wraps her arms around his chest, laying her head on his back. Just because she can.
"I love you," she whispers. Again ... just because she can.
He turns and pulls her into his arms.
"I love you, too."
His voice alerts her. He sounds upset. Looking up at him, she sees that he's been crying.
"What is it? Dayı? Did something happen?"
"He's fine," Emir assures her, hugging her again. "And he will be fine from now on. I promise you."
He lets out a heartbroken sigh.
"But there's a problem. There's been a problem for a while that I've been blind to: my mother," he admits. "She hates him. I don't know how long this has been going on, or when it started. Maybe when he brought you from Erzurum for me. But she hates you both with a passion and has seemingly made it her life's mission to get rid of you both."
He gives a humorless chuckle at the look on her face.
"This isn't exactly news to you, I see." He shakes his head in disbelief. "Baby, why didn't you ever tell me?"
"Because she's your mother," Reyhan shrugs. "For one thing, you probably wouldn't have believed me. For another thing, how could I say such a thing about your mother? I could handle the way she was treating me. I understood that she didn't love me. I didn't need her to love me as long as you loved me. Your peace of mind and happiness was the most important thing. I couldn't let you see your mother in a bad light just because I couldn't figure out how to get along with her. But I had no idea how she felt about your father. Are you sure?"
"Saw it with my own eyes," he says. "Amca left a nanny cam in my father's room. I've seen and heard every abusive, hateful, and horrible thing my mother has said or done to my father. I heard how my mother and Cemre plotted to make it seem like you stabbed my father. I saw how my mother beat you and threatened you to confess to me that you had in fact done it."
"Which one of them did it?" Reyhan wants to know. "Which one of them actually stabbed him?"
"My mother. Cemre was too squeamish," Emir says flatly. He's accepted it all. But at the same time, he still can't believe what has been happening this whole time. "Fun fact ... but my mother actually likes to gloat to my father about how she succeeded in setting him up for her shooting."
Reyhan is shocked speechless.
"My reaction too," Emir laughs that humorless laugh again, shaking his head. "She hired a man to shoot her and then tell the police that my father paid him to do it. Who would even think of something that evil and diabolical? Oh wait ... the same people who would think to make a fake video to blackmail you into divorcing me."
He takes her hand and walks over to the bed where they sit.
"How did this happen? Why did this happen? Why are they doing this?" Emir asks, not really expecting an answer. Because there aren't any answers.
Reyhan leans over and kisses him on his cheek. Then she rests her head on his shoulder. And for the moment, it's enough for them both.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This time when she wakes up, it's morning. And she's alone. Emir isn't in the bed or the room and the sun is shining through the window. She has no idea what time it is, but she feels well rested despite all the disturbing news she heard the night before.
"Günaydın!"
She sees Emir standing at the door to the bedroom, a huge smile on his face.
"Günaydın," she smiles in return, happier than she's been in a long time. She would only be better if she were in his arms. As if reading her mind, he comes over to the bed and wraps his arms around her. She nuzzles her nose into his neck and breathes him in. "I've missed this so much."
His touch was everything to her. It nearly killed her to be without it. It tore her heart to shreds to make him believe she hated it. She doesn't want to let him go ever again.
"As much as I love this," he says with an awkward laugh, "we can't stay in bed all day. At least not yet."
"Not yet?" she asks curiously. He just smiles.
"You'll see." His smile gets even more mischievous the more confused she seems. "Get up. Get dressed. We're going to be late."
Late for what? She wonders to herself.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Three hours later, she has her answer.
"We're getting married?" she asks when they walk into the wedding hall.
"That's up to you," he says, pulling her hand to his lips for a quick kiss. "We have an appointment for today. If you want we can keep it."
"To get married?" she asks again.
"Listen," he starts. "I know I hurt you. I know I've given you so many reasons to cry. But if you let me, for the rest of our life, I want to be the one to make you smile. To love you with all my heart. To make the world burn for your sake.
"I know it upset you to think I killed a man for you. But I would have. I'd die for you, Reyhan. And I definitely would kill for you. I'd do anything for your happiness. And one day, if we're so blessed, I want to hold our children in my arms and let them know how much I love and cherish them, the same way I love and cherish the woman who gave them to me. I love you, Reyhan. More than I ever thought possible. And so much that I no longer know how to live without you. Will you marry me?"
He pulls out a stunning diamond ring that takes her breath away.
"Emir," she gasps, staring at him, then the ring. Then back at him. "I ..... I ..... I left you."
His heart sinks, especially when he sees her eyes fill with tears. Is she about to say no? He won't let her. But her next words surprise him.
"How can you ever forgive me?" she asks. "How can you promise to love me after what I did to you?
"Even if you stopped loving me, I'm always going to love you," he promises. "I know that now."
"I never stopped loving you," she admits. "And I never will stop loving you."
She lifts a shaky hand and wipes the tears from her cheeks. Then she holds the hand out to him, giving him a shy glance and a tiny smile.
"Is that a yes?" he asks, his own smile returning.
"Yes! Evet!" she giggles, squeaking when he picks her up and spins her around. All around them, the other waiting couples in the lobby erupt into applause.
"I know this isn't the wedding of your dreams," he starts. But she interrupts him with a kiss.
"It is," she assures him. "It's a dream come true. Being back with you is everything I've ever wanted."
He smiles, cupping her cheeks in his hands.
"Then let's go get married again."