Your wife had a series of seizures, the doctor had said. Her body seems to be preparing to shut down, system by system. The seizures were her mind's way of putting her body into a self preservation mode of sorts.
He didn't completely understand what the doctor was saying, the medical jargon competing with his grief. But he did understand one word: coma. They had put her into a medically induced coma to keep her body from shutting down further. To give her time to heal. It's meant to help her. But it's still a coma all the same. The word sticks in Emir's throat and makes it hard for him to say anything. How did this even happen? He was just with her. They were just making plans for the rest of their lives. How is she now like this? Is this punishment for the way he's been treating her since they married? If it is, then why is she the one being punished?
"You're just setting her up for heartbreak later. Just go, Emir. Get out of here."
It breaks Emir's heart that that's probably the last thing she remembers hearing. She started getting upset when his father had made that nasty accusation. Emir had tried to reassure her, but maybe she still had doubts. He can only pray he'll get the chance to make things right with her. He has so much to make up for.
"She looks like she's just sleeping," Emir says, still trying to understand exactly what happened to Reyhan. She's more critical than she was before, so now, no one is allowed inside her room. Not even Emir. So he's forced to just look at her through the window. "How did this happen?"
He turns to a guilty looking Cemre and pins her with his glare.
"Why were you even in there?" he asks accusingly, willing to toss the blame on the easiest target. "What did you say to upset her?"
He knows he probably isn't being fair to Cemre, but he's just trying to make sense of it all. Reyhan was fine. Now she isn't. And he has no idea why.
"Come on, Emir," Zafer says, trying to calm his friend. "You can't blame Cemre. The doctor says that sometimes this just happens with patients like Reyhan."
Emir looks like he has something else to say on the matter, but he decides not to. Whatever happened has already happened. There's no changing it. And there's nothing he can do about anything right now. All he can do is get Reyhan the best help possible.
"I'm going to go talk to her doctor," he tells his friends before leaving them standing there.
He told his father earlier about the clinic and how he was willing to move to Ankara with her for her treatment. But he thought he had some time to discuss that plan with Reyhan and get her input on the matter. He didn't realize the decision would have to be made now and that it would be his alone. Or that it would be a matter of life and death for her.
Don't borrow trouble, Zafer had said earlier. And Emir is trying to take his advice, but it's so hard. He's terrified he's about to lose his wife just when he was feeling like he was finally starting to know her. It's not fair.
He needs to get himself together. He needs a clear head to think about what to do for Reyhan. He's too emotional right now. He can't speak with the doctor in this condition. He needs some air first. And some space. Maybe then he can deal with this situation.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Cemre watches Emir walk away. This has gotten out of hand. She never expected anything like this to happen. She went into that room to give Reyhan incentive to leave, not make her even more sick than she was to start with. Because now, they're stuck with her.
"Stupid leech," she mutters to herself, low enough so that Zafer doesn't hear. "There's no getting rid of her now."
"Getting rid of who, Kızım?"
Cemre freezes, then groans at her lack of caution. It's Hikmet Amca. She turns around to face him, hoping he didn't hear what she had just said. She has to come up with something quickly to deflect. She holds up her phone.
"Just a silly message," she claims before quickly changing the subject. "I'm glad to see you two have arrived. Emir is so stressed. He could use the support."
"Where is he?" Hikmet asks her.
She breathes a sigh of relief that the topic has been successfully avoided.
"He went to talk to the doctor." Cemre points down the hall.
"I'll take you to the office," Zafer offers, leading Hikmet down the hall. Leaving Cemre with Cavidan, who had reluctantly accompanied her husband to the hospital.
"I told you to get her to leave Emir, not kill her," Cavidan says quietly, looking around to make sure no one is within ear shot. "What did you do to her?"
"Nothing!" Cemre says, her voice carrying.
Cavidan scowls and pulls her away from the room and down a different hall so that they can have some privacy and not worry about being overheard.
"Then what happened to her? Why is she like this?"
"Why does everyone care about her?" Cemre whines. "Do you know what it was like for me to be in there when she started having those seizures? I was terrified. It traumatized me. I'm not sure I'll get over it."
"Well, neither of us will be able to get over it if Emir finds out you told Reyhan about him planning to divorce her and send her to that clinic in Ankara."
"You're the one who told me to tell her!" Cemre screeches, causing Cavidan to cringe and look around again. She tries to hush Cemre, but Cemre just continues. "You're the one who heard Emir say he was going to divorce her and send her away. You're the one who told me to tell her that. You were wrong. Your plan backfired. And now, Emir has to stay with her out of guilt."
"Well, what happened happened," Cavidan says with a sigh. "There's nothing we can do to change it. We'll have to regroup and try something later to drive her away. The important thing now is to make sure this stays between us. If Emir finds out what we did, he'll never forgive us. Now let's get back before someone comes looking for us."
They head back towards the room and run straight into Emir when they turn the corner. Cemre lets out a loud gasp. The look in his eyes let her know she won't be as lucky this time. Unlike with Hikmet earlier, she's sure Emir heard each and every word of this conversation.
"Emir. Oğlum. I thought you were with the doctor," Cavidan says, pasting a smile on her face. "Cemre was just explaining to me about Reyhan. How is she, Son?"
Emir continues to just stare, his angry glare going from Cavidan to Cemre and then back again.
"One of you, explain to me what's going on here. Now!" he growls.
Cemre flinches at his outburst and looks over his shoulder at possible avenues of escape. But his large body seems like it's blocking the entire hallway and she realizes she has nowhere to go.
"What are you talking about, Son?" Cavidan asks, still trying to play off the whole thing and act like nothing's wrong. "You seem upset. Is it Reyhan? Has the poor dear taken a turn for the worst?"
If Cemre didn't know better, she would believe the woman is actually concerned. But Cemre knows better and based on the look on Emir's face, he does too.
"We didn't mean anything by it," Cemre finally confesses. "You seemed so unhappy being married to her. We just wanted to help you."
"Help me?" Emir asks skeptically. "You tried to murder my wife to help me?"
"It wasn't like that! We just thought it would be better if she left once she got better. That way you wouldn't have had to be the 'bad guy' and send her away yourself," Cemre explains.
Emir stares at them both again and Cemre is surprised to find herself terrified of him. She has to say something, anything. He has to forgive her. She won't be able to live if he thinks badly of her.
"Emir ..."
"That's enough, Cemre," he says, voice still cool and distant. "You've done what you came to do. You should go now. I have some things to say to my mother in private."
Cemre wastes no time leaving.
"Son, I don't know what you think you heard, but I can assure you it's all a misunderstanding."
"No, Mother. You are the only one who seems to be misunderstanding around here," Emir says to her, tired of all her games. This is the first time he's seen one up close and personal. The first time he's caught her red handed. And for the first time, he can actually believe that all Reyhan wrote about his mother in her journal is true. For the first time, he can see what kind of woman his mother is.
"Whatever you're thinking, you're wrong. We weren't trying to hurt Reyhan," she insists. "On the contrary. We were trying to help her get out of a situation neither of you wanted to be in. Admit it. You wanted this girl out of our lives. I even heard you tell your father about your plans to divorce her. I just thought a nice, amicable parting would be better for both of you."
A nice, amicable parting. It almost makes Emir laugh. How has he never seen the master manipulator hiding behind his mother's face? Looking into her eyes, he can see that even she believes the story she's telling him. She truly believes she's done nothing wrong. No, that isn't true. She's just trying to make him believe she's done nothing wrong. But she knows exactly what she's doing. He has to remind himself of what he just heard her say.
We'll have to regroup and try something later to drive her away. The important thing now is to make sure this stays between us. If Emir finds out what we did, he'll never forgive us.
She knows perfectly well she crossed the line. And what's worse is that she plans to try again. He knows his mother well and nothing will stop her from getting her way. And what she wants is Reyhan gone. She's not going to stop until she reaches her goal.
But what can he do? Nothing is going to change his mother. It's going to be up to Emir to instead change the circumstances. He has to get out of this twisted little game his mother has decided to play with his life. It's the only way his marriage can survive.
"I guess I should thank you," he says after a long silence, needing the time to make a tough decision. But if he thinks about it, it wasn't such a tough decision after all. It's the only decision he could make to protect his wife, his marriage. His mother, her antics, made him finally see that.
"Thank me for what?" she asks warily, only becoming more confused when instead of answering, he just walks away. Someday she'll find out she was responsible for him taking this step to grab his happiness. Not today, but someday.
"Emir!" she calls out, calling after him.
But he just keeps walking. He doesn't stop until he reaches Reyhan.
"This is the only way," he whispers to her through the glass. "The only way to protect you until you can protect yourself."
"Sounds ominous."
He turns around to find Zafer standing behind him, a concerned look on his face.
"What's going on?" Zafer asks.
"Things you would never imagine," Emir tells him with a humorless laugh. Because right now, it's all he can do to keep from crying. "Reyhan is like this because of my mother."
Emir takes a few minutes to explain to Zafer as best he can what happened. And this time, he tells him everything.
"It would seem that from the very beginning, my mother has been conspiring to get rid of Reyhan. All those times I came to you with complaints about Reyhan, ready to divorce her? All thanks to my mother. And probably Cemre too. But definitely my mother. I had no idea about the way my mother treated Reyhan until I read about it in her journal. Zafer, it's a miracle Reyhan didn't leave on her own."
"A miracle?" Zafer asks, picking up on what Emir said. He gives his friend a teasing smile. "So does that mean you want her to stick around."
"I do," Emir easily admits. "Forever. I'm not going to lose her now."
"Oh wow," Zafer says, taken aback by his confession. "You really have fallen for her."
Emir just smiles. It's the second time he's heard that and the second time he's not going to say anything. No just yet. Not until he can tell Reyhan first. But to tell her, he needs her to get better. And she can't do that here.
"We can't stay here," Emir tells his friend, his mood turning somber again. "I have to make sure she has whatever she needs to heal. And what she needs is in Ankara. There's a clinic there that can help her. And it's away from my mother."
"Are you sure?"
"It's the only way," Emir shrugs. "She's my priority. I have to take care of her now, Zafer. Getting her away from my mother is the best thing I can do for her. And our marriage."
"Sounds like you're following your heart finally," Zafer smiles. "You can't go wrong. I think you're doing the right thing."
"I do too, Son."
They turn around to see Hikmet and the doctor standing there.
"Take care of your wife. Don't worry about me or about this family. It was unfair of me to expect Reyhan to be the glue that holds us together. We'll be fine as long as she's fine. I'll be happy as long as you two are happy. It's all I ever wanted," Hikmet tells him. He pulls him in for a hug.
"It's the best course of action for Reyhan hanım considering her recent setback," the doctor agrees. "This clinic has had excellent results for patients like her."
"And you can take over the consulting work I was doing with the sister company in Ankara," Zafer says, adding his support. "I'll travel back and forth between here and there to maintain business continuity. Don't worry. We've got your back, Bro. You just focus on Reyhan."
Leaving home and being so far away from his family will be different. But it's what Reyhan needs. And she's his family now. He has to put her first. There is no choice to make.
"Then I guess we're moving to Ankara."
He's nervous. But something tells him he's about to make the best and most important move of his life.
End of Part 1. Stay tuned for Part 2, coming soon! Emir and Reyhan move away for awhile for some adventures on their own, building their own little family to stand up against Cavidan. She unfortunately isn't through with them yet. But we should have a little break from her in Part 2.