Say You'll Remember Me

the best people in life (are free)

This chapter was going to be Serkan's apology to his friends and employees and the confrontation with Selin together. But the apology got way too emotional for me and I separated them. I think it works better this way.

Thank you so much for reading this little story of mine. This is the first fanfiction I've written for any fandom ever and I never thought I'd get this kind of response. Only two more chapters left after this one and then this one-shot turned six-shot will be over.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. There are inconsistencies and things that wouldn't make sense in the real world. It's a good thing this work of fiction is not real world. I don't own any characters but I do own this little made up story and all my mistakes.

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After the meeting, Serkan was finally caught up on what went down in the time he didn't remember and the two months he was missing. He was experiencing all kinds of feelings at the same time. Anger at the board of directors (and also at Selin) who tried to take advantage of a very delicate and difficult situation. Relief for the fact that their plans didn't work out. Gratitude for his friends and employees who stuck around and made sure he still had a company and family to come back to.

But most of all, he was grateful for Eda. Yes, she hadn't done everything by herself, she had friends and an entire company that stood by her and helped her pull off what some people would call impossible but she was the one who rallied the troops, so to speak. She was the glue who held them together, the missing piece of the puzzle. As if the word "impossible" didn't exist in her vocabulary. The more he listened, the more ashamed he was of the way he fell for Selin's lies and took his anger out on Eda. Why hadn't he asked around? Listen to other people for their version of events? Just, why? And yeah, Eda had accepted his apology but did he really deserve to be let off the hook that easily? Apologising wasn't something he did. Ever. It hadn't been easy for him, to apologise to her. But after everything he said to her, an apology seemed so simple. He should do something. Something that she will appreciate. Something to help mend their broken relationship. They'd agreed to take some time for themselves and he still didn't remember everything that happened between them, how they got to a place where they were going to get married but he had a feeling that falling in love with Eda Yıldız was one of the easiest things he had ever done in his life. Eda wasn't a woman who liked expensive gifts or jewelery so those were out. How could he even begin to make it up to her?

(You are such a robot. What do you think I could've wanted from you? An apology! A simple apology.)

"Serkan. Serkan! Serkan!" He startled from his thoughts. No. Memory. He remembered another thing. It was coming back to him piece by piece. "Are you alright, Serkan? You look a little pale."
"I'm fine. I just.. I just wanted to thank you. For sticking around to make sure this place was still here for me to come back to. I was gone for two months. You could have jumped ship. Looked out for yourselves. It's what a lot of people would have done. But you stayed. Helped Eda save the holding and this place. Took care of her. Made sure my mother wasn't alone. I know that I don't say this, well, ever. I certainly don't say this enough but thank you. I appreciate you more than I could ever say out loud. And I want to apologise to all of you, for my behaviour yesterday. It was out of line, I was out of line. Eda, I shouldn't have taken Selin's word at face value and blow up at you. I should have at least talked to Engin and Pırıl to get the full story. I'm sorry."
"Serkan, we are your friends. Of course we stayed. That's what friends are supposed to do."
Hearing those words from Ferit was weird. His last memory of him was staging an contract engagement with Eda and here he was, sitting around a table with his friends and Ferit was included as well. He started laughing. And  couldn't stop.
"Serkan? Serkan? Serk- okay, he's officially lost it."
"No, I'm fine. It's just.. the last memory I have of Ferit is me faking an engagement to separate him and Selin so he'd be away from the holding. And now, here he is, saving the company I wanted to keep him away from, helping  my friends and being my friend as well. I have no idea how that happened. And I'm completely fine with it. It's.. it's weird!" Well, he was right. And laughing is contagious. Eda starts laughing too. Then Pırıl. Then Ceren. Soon enough, they are all laughing and it doesn't seem like it'll stop anytime soon.

But they do stop to wipe the tears from their eyes and calm themselves down. Serkan can't remember the last time he laughed this much. Was this how he felt with his friends before the crash? He could get used to this. But he needs  to pull it together now. This isn't over yet.
"I know that I don't deserve to ask anything more of you but I need to apologise to everyone out here as well and I'd really appreciate it if you were there by my side." They all look at one another and nod. "Of course we'll be there. Always."
"Thank you. Although, Ferit, you were wrong about one thing."
"What's that?"
"You guys aren't my friends. Friendship doesn't even begin to cover what you mean to me. You guys are my family."

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They made their way to the common area where everyone was working to gather everyone. Serkan stepped forward.
"If you could all listen to me for a moment, please?" The staff dropped what they were doing and turned to him. They were a little angry. And disappointed. But he was still their boss and he deserved to have a chance to explain himself.

"As you all know, I had a little accident and were missing the last two months. As you can see, I'm getting better now but what you probably don't know is that I came back with memory loss. The last thing I remembered at the time was the mess because of the stolen designs for which I initially blamed Eda. Someone who I thought was my friend found me after the accident and took advantage of my vulnerable state. She convinced me that Eda came into my life in order to get revenge and steal the holding and ArtLife. When I came back only to see her in charge, I wrongly accused her of horrible things. I messed up by not talking to my friends to get the full story. I messed up by not trying to listen before I acted. And I am sorry you had to see that. It never should have happened. I apologised to Eda and everybody else for what happened but you deserve an apology as well. That's why I want to apologise to each and every one of you for my behaviour yesterday. I was caught up on what I missed and I know about what happened with the board of directors. I know how you helped Eda and the others save the holding and ArtLife. I don't know what to say except, thank you. Thank you for staying when you had every reason to leave. You are extremely good at your jobs. You could have gotten another job at whatever company you wanted. But you stayed. So, thank you. I am a very lucky man to get to work with people like you."

The staff were baffled. They didn't know about the memory loss. As far as excuses go, it was a good one. And he apologised. Serkan Bolat. Apologised. They had a silent conversation amongst themselves. Then one of them, Suzan, stepped forward.

"We appreciate the apology. And thank you for explaining everything to us. You didn't have to do that. We are sorry that this happened to you. We hope that you get your memories back soon. And about us staying, Mr. Bolat, we know that we could have found other jobs. But we wanted this place to be worthy of you even when you weren't here. We know that you took care of our student loans. We know about scholarships you give to our siblings or our children. And we also know about countless other good things you do and never once mention them to get good press like some other people do. You do these things because you care. People think you are a difficult person and a harsh boss but that could not be further from the truth. You were there for us when we needed help, so we wanted to be here for you when we found out about what was going on. We wanted to help in any way we could. We wanted you to have this place to come back to if you ever returned and we are so happy that you did. So, in short, apology accepted."

Serkan was touched. He didn't know his employees were aware of his help to them and his charity work. He really was lucky to get to work with them.
"Thank you. Now, back to work everybody. We need to show our competitors that we are back and stronger than ever."
"Yes sir."