After the events at the nightclub, I hadn't been able to easily shake off the shock. Some of Sarp's men had chased after the car that was waiting for the man and woman who tried to kidnap me and then fled. The other men were collecting the corpses and cleaning up the area. I hugged my dear friends Aslı and Elif, whose eyes were swollen from crying. Even though they didn't want to leave my side all night, they had to. Cem and Erdem said they would take care of them and take them home, and they left the club. Sibel was crying, clinging tightly to Kaya. Sarp and my brother were pacing around like gunpowder. Sarp was saying, "Who are these people? Enough already. I'll kill them. Whoever is doing this, whoever is involved, they will fall into my hands sooner or later. I'll make them beg for mercy and then kill them," as he broke and smashed anything he could get his hands on. He seemed enraged.
I was sitting in a corner, sipping the water Aytaç had given me. Sarp wouldn't be silent tonight. This nightmare wouldn't end. I turned to Yasemin sitting next to me. She wasn't doing any better than me. She was very sad. "Yasemin, tell my brother to take you away from here," I said. It was obvious from her demeanor that she was intimidated by my brother's angry state. Realizing he wouldn't say it, I called out to my brother. Hearing my voice, he immediately came to us. Showing him Yasemin's condition, I said, "Go, rest, Yasemin is very scared." Before my brother left, he went up to Sarp, said something, and then left. Sarp closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. He let out a weary breath, calming himself down. When he came to me, he took my hand and said, "Let's go home now, my beautiful." ****** "Ceyda, who is carrying out these attacks, my girl? I can't comprehend it. What could they want from you or my son? I lost my mind when I heard about the incident. How many times have they attacked you now?" said Aylin, my mother-in-law. When we got home last night and told her what happened, she got very scared. She still looked worried. Naturally, I had been very scared too. I looked at Aylin mom sitting on the couch opposite me to answer her. "I don't know, Mom. They mention a man named Cemil; I think this is his doing. What does he want from us? Why did they try to kidnap me? I don't know. I was so scared last night. Not just me, all of us were scared. I'm still under the effect of the event. I startle every time I think about it," I said, then turned to Sibel sitting next to me and took her hand. She was very listless today. "My Sibel, my dear, I didn't want your happiest night to end like this. You were very affected too. I never wanted it to be like this. But your brother will handle this matter, my dear, very soon," I said. "You didn't want this to happen either, Ceyda. You can't feel guilty." Her eyes immediately welled up. She suddenly hugged me around the neck. "What if something had happened to you? What do they want from us?" she said, starting to cry.
"Shhh... Please don't cry, my dear." While trying to calm Sibel down, I also started crying. "Don't do this, girls, you'll make me cry too," said Aylin mom, coming over and hugging us. "I know what's been happening lately isn't easy. Life can be very cruel sometimes. If you let yourselves go, you won't be able to overcome it. You have to learn to stand strong somehow. Now wipe your tears; I don't want to see you like this." When we heard a man's voice, as if clearing his dry throat, we separated and looked at the source of the sound. Aytaç was standing there watching us with surprised looks. He paused for a brief moment and then started speaking. "Ladies. I think I've come at a bad time." "It's nothing, son. How could there be a bad time for you?" said Aylin mom. "Don't trouble yourself, Aylin mom, I was going to go to the kitchen. I'm hungry, I'll grab a bite to eat." "I'll come with you. We can talk a bit while I prepare food for you," I said. The surprised expression from before returned to Aytaç's face. "Talking is fine. But Sister Peri can prepare my food," he said. Wiping my still wet eyes with the back of my hand, I smiled. When we entered the kitchen together, Aytaç said, "Sister Peri, can you prepare some food for me?" as he sat at the table. "Sister Peri, you mind your work, I'll prepare it," I said. "You sit down, girl, we'll prepare it." Smiling at Sister Peri, I took a plate from the cupboard. I opened the lid of the pot. It smelled wonderfully of stew. I filled the plate and put it on the table. There was rice in another pot and cacık in a large bowl. I prepared those too and put them on the table. Aytaç was still watching me with the same look. Then I sat down opposite him.
"Don't look at me so surprised. Come on, eat your food before it gets cold. I know it's a strange situation. I'm trying to break down my prejudices against you," I said. "You're right," said Aytaç. "My appearance is a bit cold. I can express myself wrongly sometimes. But I never had a problem with you. It was with your family. And I never made a bad accusation against you. I'm just protecting my friend, Sarp." "I understand you. I became very emotional suddenly yesterday. I misunderstood you without listening. You saved my life. I owe you a lot." "You don't owe me anything, Ceyda. I did my duty. I told you, Sarp is very valuable to me. Anything valuable to him is valuable to me too. I tried to talk to you, but you got up and left without listening to me. A while later, I heard my men's voices through my earpiece. We reached you just in time. If only I knew what these stupid bastards want from us. Who are they after? You? Or Sarp?" "I was living a quiet life until I met you all," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "I'm seeing these kinds of men for the first time in my life." "We'll look into it. We'll find out who is involved in this sooner or later. From now on, I'll increase the guards around you when you go out. And since Miss Sibel is engaged now, I guess she won't run away from home anymore. Do you know the way she used to escape?" Normally, I would never tell this, but since it's a matter of life and death now, I had to say it. Sibel shouldn't run away anymore either. "She uses the underground passage under the outbuilding," I said, and he suddenly cursed, pushed his chair back, and stood up. "How? How does Sibel know about it when many of my men don't even know?" he said. I guess he didn't know how alert and smart a girl Sibel was. As he stormed out of the kitchen, I followed him. As soon as he entered the living room, he shouted, "Sibel!"
Doesn't this man work here? How can he shout and demand an explanation from the daughter of the house? It seems they give him too much leeway. "Sibel, how do you know about the underground passage?" "What?" said Aylin mom in surprise. Sibel turned her eyes from Aytaç to me and looked at me with disappointment for a moment. "I'm sorry, my dear," I said. "I had to tell. For your own safety." "What are you talking about? What underground passage?" said Aylin mom. "Yes, Sibel, I'm listening," said Aytaç. "Who told you about the secret passage's location? Which one of my men?" "No one told me. You know how curious and adventurous I am. I was curious and explored the inside of the outbuilding when no one was there. While all the floors are tiled, the room you set aside as an arsenal is floored with wood. Moreover, while there are no rugs in the other rooms, there is one there. And in that room surrounded by so many weapons, I looked for a mystery. It was purely my curiosity. While examining everywhere, I finally looked under the rug. At that moment, a lid, like a door, appeared. And you know me, I don't just stand still. As soon as I opened the lid, I went inside to explore the passage. Of course, the passage was dark and scary, but it became the path that led me to my Kaya." "Oh, Sibel, you will not use that place again. You're engaged now. Your wedding is very soon. Whenever you want to see Kaya, we will take you. Or he can come here," said Aytaç. "My girl, have you lost your mind? How could you do such a thing? I always wondered how this girl manages to escape. I was starting to think the guards at the door were useless. And how does she put them to sleep, I wondered." Sibel just smiled in response to her mother's words. "Don't laugh, little lady. From now on, every morning at eight, both you and Ceyda will take fighting lessons," said Aytaç.
Sibel and I shouted "What?" at the same time. "What nonsense are you talking about, Aytaç? What training?" said Sibel. "Okay, I promise. I won't run away anymore. When I want to see my fiancé, I'll tell you." "Sorry, girls, but you have to do this. Isn't it better to gather some strength rather than living in fear that something will happen to you every day?" "Does Sarp know about this?" I asked Aytaç. "Yes, he actually requested this. He asked me to handle it because of his busy work schedule." Sibel started muttering, "What do I know about fighting? And you say at eight in the morning." It would actually be good if we learned enough technique to protect ourselves, but neither Sibel nor I would learn easily. ****** It was eight in the morning. I was rubbing my still sleepy eyes, looking at Aytaç in front of me. My eyes, which I was struggling to keep open, were desperate to close. Sibel was also sulking, in the same state as me. Was it really necessary to train at this hour? Sarp had forcibly pulled me out of my soft bed and then woke Sibel up, handing us over to Aytaç. From now on, we were supposed to set our alarms and get up by ourselves. What kind of nonsense was this? It was like we were in a military camp. How long had it been since I got married? While other couples were enjoying their honeymoon period, my husband was sending me to the army. "Ceyda, stand opposite me," said Aytaç. Oh no, here we go. This man would beat me up.
"Sibel, you stand opposite Cem," he said, pointing to Cem with his head. "I think it would be better if I stood opposite Cem," I said, taking steps towards Cem. Smiling, he said, "Sorry, sister-in-law, but you'll be fighting with me." I had to reluctantly stand opposite Aytaç. If only it were Cem opposite me. I could have used emotional blackmail to make him not hurt me. But there was no way I could fool this guy. He would hurt me no matter what. First, he showed me a few moves and said, "Now let's start, let's see how much strength you have." When I threw a punch as he showed, he dodged it. Second punch, third punch... he was avoiding all my punches. I got frustrated and started throwing kicks. After a few kicks, I suddenly fell flat on my backside. "Ouch," I groaned, and my eyes caught Sarp standing a little further away, smiling at me with his hands on his hips. Why was this man grinning? Shouldn't he come to help me up when he saw me fall? Frowning, I said, "They're beating up your wife here, and you're standing there watching with pleasure." This situation was upsetting me. "Everything is for your own good, my beautiful wife. Now get up from the ground and fight. I'll take care of you tonight," he said and left. I was left staring after him with my mouth open. I couldn't believe this man. "Come on, get up, let's continue," said Aytaç. When I got up, he said, "Are you hurt?" "No, I'm fine." "Then we're running around the garden." And he started running. I had no choice but to catch up and start running. We weren't very fast, but since I wasn't used to it at all, it was going to be very hard for me. They had placed guards all over the garden, doubling the security. How many laps were we running around this huge garden? My knees were giving way. With a voice barely coming out from exhaustion, I said, "Enough, Aytaç, enough." "Are you trying to kill me?" "Are you going to give up this easily, sister-in-law? That won't do," he said.
"Don't start with your 'sister-in-law' now, I can't take it anymore," I said. My mouth was dry. Aytaç looked very comfortable. He didn't seem tired at all; it was as if he had just gone for a walk. Well, I was done for. Every time I passed by the front door, I don't know if it was just me, but the guards were looking at me with strange looks. As I passed by them, trying to shout for them to bring me water, I threw myself onto the grass. I lay on my back and looked at the sky. It felt like the ground was moving under me. One of the guards ran and brought me water. I sat up slightly and started drinking the water. I felt refreshed. Then I lay back on the grass again. I was going to start this training like this. "If you've rested, let's continue, dear sister-in-law." "Is your aim to kill me? Do you push someone this hard from the first day?" I said. "We only ran six laps. We need to make it ten." "Sorry, Mr. Aytaç. No power in the world can make me continue running today," I said. I was getting angry at this Aytaç now. If I had the strength, I would beat him up right now. "Okay, that's enough running for today," he said, and I was surprised. So he was taking pity on me and ending it. "Now let's punch the sandbag a bit." I had been mistaken to think he would give up so quickly. When he took my hand and pulled me up, we were back at our starting point. This time, Cem and Sibel were running. I was just hitting the sandbag in front of me. I really didn't think I would get stronger like this. Because I was dying of exhaustion. We had been working out for a full two hours. When Aytaç finally said, "That's enough for today," I hrew myself on the grass again. Sibel had thrown herself down next to me. Both of us looked disheveled, sweaty, and wretched. Turning my head towards her, I said, "How are you doing?"
"Like sh*t," she said. "How about you?" "The same," I said. We both giggled. ****** When we entered the house, Aylin mom was stunned to see our condition. She hadn't expected this much either. We could barely stand. Since we weren't in any condition to talk, we immediately went to our rooms. First, I took a hot shower, put on something comfortable, and immediately threw myself into bed. I hadn't combed or dried my hair; I fell asleep with the towel wrapped around my head. I don't know how many hours I slept when my door knocking woke me up. "Come in," I said. I lifted my head from the pillow and looked at Gülperi abla entering. "Ceyda, my girl, how are you? You've been sleeping for hours. I was worried about you. Also, food is ready, come down and eat something. You haven't eaten anything since morning." "I'm so tired today, Gülperi abla. That Aytaç practically killed me. I've never been this tired in my life. Actually, all of this is the fault of that husband of mine. Would anyone do this to his wife?" I complained, and Gül abla was laughing at my state. "It's all for your own good, my beautiful girl. So you can protect yourself. The recent events are obvious." She was sitting on the edge of my bed, stroking my hair while talking to me. "Otherwise, would my son Sarp ever hurt you?" "You're right, but they'll kill us before we get used to it," I said, getting out of bed. First, I pinched Gül abla's cheeks and kissed her. Then, smiling at her, I said, "I'll change my clothes, wash my face, and come down, dear abla."
After Gül abla left, I got ready and left my room. The food smelled wonderful. Only Aylin mom and Aslan dad were sitting at the table, eating. When I sat at the table, they both looked at me and smiled. "My girl, how are you? Were you able to rest?" said Aylin mom. "Everything still hurts so much. It's like a truck ran over me, mom," I said, pouting and speaking as if whining. Why hadn't Sibel come down to eat yet? Aslan dad's smiling face changed. "I don't know what Sarp is trying to do. Look at the state of my girl! Okay, you can teach some self-defense moves, but is there any need to work her this hard? Sibel must be in bad shape too since she couldn't leave her room." "How will she stand if she's hungry? Like me, she last ate in the morning," I said. "She wanted her food in her room, my girl; she'll eat there and sleep again," said Aylin mom. Look at my smart sister-in-law. She ordered her food to her room. Well, the girl knows what she's doing. Should I, Ceyda, come to the table out of politeness? Even though I was very hungry, I couldn't eat much because of the exhaustion. After getting up from the table, we drank a coffee for fatigue. Since it didn't help much with my extreme tiredness, after a little chat, I went back to my room and slept again. A shiver ran through me from the fingers wandering on my cheek. I suddenly opened my eyes. I met Sarp's gaze. He was lying on the bed, one hand on my cheek, the other wandering through my hair. "Did I scare you, my beautiful?" he said with a worried expression. "Believe me, this fear is nothing compared to what I experienced today, my dear husband," I said, reproachfully. "My beautiful, I know you were very tired today; I know all about it." "Very tired is an understatement. I was literally dying of exhaustion."
"I'll talk to Aytaç tomorrow; he shouldn't overwork you," he said with a deep sigh. "It's all for your own good, my beautiful. You and Sibel need to learn some things. I hope we don't experience any more unpleasant events after this. We have to consider every possibility, my beautiful." "You're right, but if I get this tired every day, how will I get stronger? I won't be able to learn anything anyway," I said. He looked at me with a sweet smile. "Your body is soft. You're not used to exercise. That's why you got so tired, my beautiful. You'll get used to it day by day; be a little patient," he said, snuggling closer to me. He took me in his arms and stroked my back. "Will the moves I learned be of any use?" I asked. "Yes," he said. "They will. Should I give you a massage?" "Could be. I was very angry with you today. And I said a lot of things behind your back," I said. "Then maybe I can earn your forgiveness with a nice massage," he said. "Could be." ****** We were on our feet again at eight in the morning. Miss Sibel had slept until last night and hadn't woken up at all from night until morning. We still had to struggle a lot to wake her up. Aylin mom and I. A shooting range had been set up in the tree-covered part of the garden. A target board, bottles lined up in a row. So they were going to teach us how to use a gun.
I still shudder when I see Sarp's gun. Me using a gun? No way. Sibel went to stand next to Cem again, while I would be working with the cold fish Aytaç again. First, he looked at me and said, "I won't overwork you today, Ceyda. Sarp gave me a good scolding. You'll just be shooting." "Yeah, because of you, I was a wreck. I was dying of exhaustion. You're merciless. You're cold, you're a block of wood. If you keep this up, you'll end up alone anyway." He had his mouth open, listening to me. "I might have worked you a bit too hard on the first day. That doesn't mean I'm merciless. As for the other thing you said, no such girl has ever come my way," he said, making a face. Seeing his expression, I couldn't hold back my laughter. It seemed he agreed with me about ending up alone. Aytaç first introduced the gun and gave a brief talk about how I should stand while shooting. I was still thinking about how I would even hold the gun. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't hit the target board. It just wasn't working. When it came to the lined-up bottles, "I couldn't hit the target even once, and now I'm supposed to hit the bottles?" I snapped at Aytaç. My nerves were frayed. But Aytaç patiently said, "You can do it, just be determined and feel it," he said. He was trying patiently for me to learn. At one point, I turned to see how Sibel was doing, and my eyes widened to their fullest. How was this possible? Sibel had hit two of the six bottles lined up side by side. While I was watching her, another bottle was hit by Sibel's bullet. When I turned back to Aytaç with my eyes still wide open, he was grinning at me. "How is this possible?" I said.
"The girl must have gotten competitive. She wants to be the best. Don't give up immediately, strive. Focus on the target. Feel it. You will succeed too." I couldn't help but turn to Sibel again. There was only one unbroken bottle left in front of her. Was there something wrong with me? I hadn't managed to hit anything in an hour. If Sibel could do it, so could I. First, I breathed in and out calmly. I would be very calm and lock onto the target. After a few tries, I managed to hit one of the bottles. I couldn't believe my eyes. I had hit it. "I hit it! Aytaç, can you see? I did it!" I shouted. Aytaç smiled and said, "I told you you could do it." "Keep up the same determination." I was so happy. This made me even more competitive. After a while of trying, I hit another bottle. I was so happy I jumped, but Aytaç stopped me, saying, "Don't shoot me while you're celebrating." When we finished our training, I immediately started moving towards Sibel. She could have taught me the way to aim so well. "You're amazing, my dear sister-in-law. While you were shattering all the bottles, I only managed to hit two. It seems your trainer is more successful," I said, looking at Cem. Cem came up to me, grinning. "Exactly, dear sister-in-law. Your trainer is a bit passive," he said. As Sibel hit Cem on the shoulder, she said, "Don't mind this conceited guy, dear sister-in-law, I already know how to use a gun." "You were very good in the first session. Believe me, I had to practice for days before I could hit two targets."
Raising my eyebrows, I turned to Aytaç. "He told me the girl got competitive for you. That she wanted to be the best. He didn't say she already knew how to use a gun," I said. Aytaç raised his hands as if surrendering. "If I hadn't said that, maybe you wouldn't have succeeded," he said. He was right. ************ We had been continuing training for weeks. I thought what I had learned was enough for me, but Sarp wanted me to be better. I didn't know why this much was necessary. There was no sign of the men following us anymore. So they must have given up on messing with us. My dear friend Kaya and Sibel's wedding was very close. We were all very happy and excited. Preparations had already started at home. We were going to hold the wedding in the garden of Kaya's large house. For security reasons, the number of guests was minimized. And Kaya's house would be heavily guarded from all sides. We had even gone shopping for the wedding with a huge security entourage. Sarp was doing everything he could to get through this wedding without any problems. Tonight, however, at Sarp's request, we had gathered with our friends. We had invited my brother and my friends. Although Sarp had many friends, he didn't want to invite anyone else. A large table had been set up in the garden; a few men were busy with the barbecue while others were serving the rakı. I went and sat next to my brother, while Sarp sat on my other side. Everyone was in high spirits. Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt for me to drink a little tonight. As my brother put his arm around my neck, I hugged his waist tightly. I loved him so much. When I was little, I had always wanted a brother. I wanted him to love only me, to always protect me, and sometimes to fight with me. It turned out I already had a brother. They took him from me. They took our childhood together, our siblinghood, our bond, our fights from us, without any mercy. Heartlessly.
"My beautiful, are you okay?" said my brother, lifting my head from his chest by holding my chin and looking into my eyes. "Your eyes are teary, were you crying?" Trying to smile, I said, "I'm fine, dear brother." "I just got a little emotional." I didn't want to hide anything from him. "Why are you emotional, my beautiful? Did someone say something to you? Or did Sarp upset you?" He immediately panicked. Just as he was about to turn to Sarp and complain, I stopped him. "Stop, brother. It's not like that," I said. "For a moment, I remembered the past events and the twenty years I lived without knowing of your existence. That's why I got emotional." His eyes also welled up suddenly. He hugged me tightly. "My dear sister, I'm so sorry I couldn't find you sooner," he said. "You're not at fault for any of this, brother." He kissed me, inhaling the scent of my hair. "I'm so sorry for the crimes my mother committed, for not realizing what she was doing, for every moment you spent without us, my princess." "Brother," I said. I didn't know how he would react to the question I wanted to ask. But I wanted to ask. He also went through hard times after separating from his mother. "What you went through wasn't easy. I don't want you to be sad. After all, she is your mother. Have you ever talked to her?" I said.
"She calls constantly, but I don't feel like talking." "I heard she was abroad. Do you know which country she's in?" When I said this, he paused for a few seconds first. Then, hugging me again, he said, "Don't worry your pretty head, my beautiful. Don't think about these things." "Hey, what's going on with you two? Brother and sister, it seems you really missed each other," said Sarp. He pulled me close to him, holding me tightly. "Well, if you put the girl through training for a month, we can't see each other, we miss each other, brother and sister. Don't you think you're overworking my sister?" "It's all for her own good. Look how strong my wife has become already," he said. At the sound of Aytaç's voice, we all turned to him. "Erdem, play a folk song," he said. While Erdem sang his song, we listened and ate our food accompanied by rakı. When Erdem's song ended, we all started applauding him. Aslı said, "Ceyda has a very beautiful voice too," and Elif and Yasemin agreed. Kaya said, "Yes, my sister has a very beautiful voice. I haven't heard that beautiful voice of yours in a long time. Come on, sing a song," and I laughed in response. "Why did you hide this talent from me, my wife?" said Sarp, looking into my eyes. Without taking my eyes off my handsome husband, I started singing the first song that came to my mind. He was looking at me so beautifully. It was as if there were only the two of us. Him and me.