The drive to his office seems to take longer than usual, causing Emir to swear most creatively at the traffic causing the delay. Today is not the day for this. He's out of patience and all he wants to do is get to the one place where he believes he can have a little peace. This holding is the one place in his life that's not overflowing with signs of Reyhan. And right now, he can't be anywhere near her. The past four days have been filled with an awkward silence. He needed to get out of that house. And away from her.
"Emir?" Zafer says, shocked at seeing him when he finally arrives. "What are you doing here today? I thought you said you'd be working from home."
Emir's dismissive grunt clearly isn't a satisfactory response for Zafer and he ends up following Emir into his office and closing the door.
"I don't really want company right now, Zafer," Emir says, trying to be nice. He's about two seconds from bodily throwing his best friend out the door. And he doesn't want it to get that far.
"You've got that I'm mad at Reyhan look on your face again," Zafer sighs in disappointment. He just shakes his head while taking a seat on the side of Emir's desk. "I'm not going anywhere until you at least tell me what's going on so I can talk you down off the proverbial ledge."
"What do you mean again?" Emir is annoyed at his friend and doesn't hide it. "You act like ..."
"Like you're always mad at her?" Zafer finishes. "That's because you always are. And it always turns out to be for no reason. How have you not yet learned? There has been a grand total of zero times that Reyhan has been guilty of whatever you're blaming her of."
"This time is different," Emir says. "This time I have proof."
He pulls out the document he found in his office - the one with the picture Masal drew on the back - and slides it across the desk for Zafer to see. How strange that a simple piece of paper used to display a happy family is about to be the very thing that tears his family apart.
"I found that document. It gives Reyhan company shares," Emir explains.
"Okay. I'm confused," Zafer admits. "This is bad because ..."
"Look at the date," Emir points out. "It was two days before the wedding. That means Reyhan only married me for money."
"Ahh. I see," Zafer says. "This upsets you because you think it's proof that you're alone in your feelings. You're disappointed to find out she hasn't fallen in love with you the way you've fallen in love with her."
"Love? What are you talking about? What love? You're crazy. I'm not in love with her," Emir insists, almost too insistently. And he's unable to look Zafer in the eyes. "I'm just disappointed to find out she's just another gold digger. She pretends to be so innocent, so naive. But really, she's just as manipulative and calculating as any of the other women who have tried to be with me because I'm rich."
"Who? Reyhan? You seriously believe that?" Zafer asks incredulously. "She doesn't have a deceitful or dishonest bone in her body. I think you know this by now."
"I thought I did," Emir shrugs. "She really has a way of making me believe what she's saying. Something in her eyes is just so ... earnest. But what if it's all just a game? What if she fooled my father as well? Why else would he have given her those shares?"
"Okay, clearly more has happened than you just getting your hands on this document," Zafer says, tapping his finger on the cursed paper. "Why don't you start at the beginning and tell me everything. We'll figure this out. Because what you're saying just doesn't make sense. Things were changing between you two. You were getting closer. And I was sure you two were on your way to making me an uncle. The visit with Masal gave you baby fever, my friend. And you may not realize it, but your eyes light up whenever you see Reyhan. What changed?"
"Everything changed. In the blink of an eye," Emir says with a heavy sigh. "Those days with Masal seemed like the start of something good for us. And you're right. Seeing Reyhan with Masal really did something to me. I could actually see myself having children with her."
If Emir is perfectly honest, that happened long before Masal's visit. He began to see Reyhan differently when they faced death together. When she was kidnapped - when he was shot saving her from her kidnapper - something inside of him just clicked into place. She had taken care of him and they had shared their makeshift bed that night, the first time since their wedding night. It had somehow felt right to him. Her warmth. Her scent. Her weight against his side. It kept him tethered to life when the pain and blood loss was trying to pull him to the other side. He had lived for her.
And then Erzurum happened. That's when he knew. Seeing her with that baby in her arms had filled him with such joy and hope for their future. He's never known peace like that. At that moment, he realized he actually did love her. Telling her wasn't an option, however. He didn't want to scare her. But from that point on, he was determined to show her how he felt until she was as in love with him as he was with her. So how did things go so terribly wrong?
"I don't know what happened," Emir tells Zafer. "One minute we were happy, the next we weren't. I had this paper in my hands and suddenly all the pieces fell into place. It became perfectly clear she only married me for money."
"No, something must have happened," Zafer pushes. "Because why would you even get suspicious about your father giving Reyhan company shares? She is your bride, after all. It's normal she'd get something like this."
"I don't know," Emir shrugs. "I guess it was the little disagreement we had with my mother earlier that day. I took Reyhan's side and it annoyed my mother. She told me that Reyhan couldn't be trusted. That she was only with me for the money. That soon I'd see her real face."
Zafer gives him a confused look.
"That's weird. Was the fight about money? Has Reyhan ever done anything up to that point to make you think she's only interested in money? Or even in money at all?"
Emir thinks about what Zafer is asking and only frowns when he can't come up with an answer. Reyhan has actually been quite the opposite. She even tried to refuse the credit card his father had given her.
Zafer takes his silent pondering as agreement and continues.
"So don't you think it's odd that your mother would accuse Reyhan of only wanting money with nothing to justify the accusation, and then you suddenly find this mysterious document out of nowhere that seemingly proves that very thing?"
"Maybe," Emir reluctantly agrees.
"If your mother had never said anything about Reyhan being out for money, would you have even thought twice about this document?"
"What are you trying to say?" Emir asks, losing his patience. "Are you saying my mother set this whole thing up?"
"No, I'm just saying that maybe this is all just a misunderstanding," Zafer corrects him. "A coincidence, maybe. What did Reyhan say about this document? How did she explain it?"
Emir just looks away. He doesn't want Zafer to see the guilt in his eyes.
"You didn't ask her about it, did you? How about your dad? Did you ask him? Of, Emir, of!" Zafer sighs in exasperation when he realizes Emir can't answer this question either.
"What else was I supposed to think?" Emir asks. "She won't ever admit why she married me. This seems to be the reason."
Zafer just shakes his head and mutters "unbelievable" under his breath. He picks up the paper to give it another good study.
"Do you know if Reyhan even knows this document exists? There's no signature anywhere. Wouldn't a document like this have a signature? And if this was put together before your wedding, why isn't her maiden name on here?"
Zafer is right, Emir realizes. These are questions he never considered. It doesn't necessarily make Reyhan innocent, but maybe he jumped the gun a bit on punishing her as if she were guilty.
"I have one last question for you." Zafer waits until he has Emir's full attention before continuing. "Say this is exactly what you think it is. Say Reyhan agreed to marry you and received these company shares in return. Say she really did marry you for money. If I'm not mistaken, your reasons for marrying her weren't exactly noble. You married her as a way to get back at your father and prove him wrong. You planned on divorcing this girl within a couple months, even after having made her your wife in truth. Emir, what if she had gotten pregnant? What if there was a child? What future prospects do you think she'll have as a divorced woman? I know these are modern times, but what about the men who only care about virginity? You took that away from her just to make a point with your father. How is your reason for marrying her more justifiable than her reason for marrying you? How do you dare sit there and judge her? And if I know you, punish her as well."
Emir winces when he thinks about said punishment. He realizes now that nobody deserves to be treated how he treated Reyhan. He can't help but remember the look on her face when he gave her the check and told her it was payment for her services. Like she was some kind of whore.
"What have I done?" he whispers, more to himself than anything. But Zafer hears him anyway.
"You need to talk to her and make this right if necessary," Zafer tells him. "I don't know what's happened between the two of you, but going by the look on your face, it was nothing good. And you're going to have to do a lot of groveling to undo the damage."
As usual, Zafer is right. Emir is actually afraid he may have already left their situation unaddressed for too long. The past four days have been one long session of torture. He's been avoiding her and the room since she tore up his check. The first few days he stayed at work until very late, coming home only to shower and change. But he knows he can't do that much longer because his mother will have something to say about it.
He has to admit, despite being so hurt by her, he misses Reyhan. He misses seeing her. He misses hearing her voice. Smelling her scent. It's permeated the room since she's moved in. Four days without it has him longing for her.
"But seriously, Emir," Zafer continues. "If this document is what you think it is, if she did in fact marry you for money, would that be a deal breaker? I mean, you didn't want to marry her, but all that has changed and you've fallen for her anyway. And now you're about to lose her. Why not make her fall in love with you instead? Don't think of this as a setback. Think of it as a challenge. Don't be so quick to let her go."
Does he want to lose her? The fact that he didn't even bother to deny Zafer's claim that he's fallen for Reyhan is his answer. Because it's true: he has fallen for her. And he can't lie: his heart broke a little when he saw her walking away from him. He can admit now that he didn't want her to leave. But his anger, and his pride, kept him from asking her to stay. He can only be grateful she came back on her own. But he can't let his pride be a part of this right now. He can no longer just sit back and do nothing. That decision made, he knows what he has to do.
"Where are you going?" Zafer asks, confusion on his face when Emir takes the document and stands up from his desk.
"You're right. I need to at least talk to her about this .... Okay, about a lot of things," Emir adds when he gets a pointed look from Zafer. "Our communication is lacking."
"Just don't play with her anymore, Bro. Reyhan's a nice girl. You know that in your heart. Don't blame her because she doesn't love you the way you want her to. You haven't exactly been Prince Charming to her. You haven't exactly given her a reason to love you. Maybe you should change that."
Emir just nods before walking out the door. He has to admit, Zafer raised good questions. The main point is that he just doesn't know anything. He didn't ask any questions. He just made assumptions. His mother put it into his head that Reyhan was only using him for money. Before that day, he never got that impression about Reyhan. Maybe his mother had been mistaken. Why did he even listen to her?
From what he's seen of Reyhan in the few months he's known her is that money is the last thing she thinks about. She's never wanted anything material from him. All she's ever wanted has been kindness and mutual respect. He should have at least given her a chance to explain. They don't know each other. But how can they get to know each other without talking through issues when they come up?
He hurries to his car and can only hope he isn't too late to fix this. He hopes his pride hasn't caused him to lose possibly the best thing that's ever happened to him.