SelDem One-Shots (English)

Boundaries

Plot: What if Alara did something to Selin that stopped Demir from going to Paris in episode 9.

Alara knew how to push Selin's buttons. She was cruel, manipulative, entitled; everything that Selin wasn't.

Having moved from a small village in Sinop, Selin had worked her way up from the bottom to make a name for herself in Istanbul. Despite her troublesome school years, Selin had studied tirelessly for exams, graduated with top grades in her faculty and had poured her heart and soul into every job she took on at Artemim. She'd brought a house on her own, taken out loans and worked overtime to try and pay off her mortgage.

So for Alara to insinuate that Selin had trapped Demir into living with her for her financial and professional gain was most definitely degrading.

But as a girl with thick skin, Selin had first brushed Alara's vile comments aside. She had encountered countless people like Alara before; people with superiority complexes. Alara thought she was better than everybody else and thought her wealthy Father and rich contacts gave her the right to insult everyone who didn't have the same fortunate upbringing that she had.

But as Demir began warming to Selin, everyone noticed how Alara's insults towards Selin grew tenfold. Alara was threatened by the growing relationship Demir and Selin and even before she had Demir, Alara felt like she was losing him - it was why she'd proposed the weekend trip to Paris.

Whilst it was under the pretence of a business trip, Paris was undeniably one of the most romantic cities in the world. It was bustling with Parisian charm: quaint cafes, warm croissants for breakfast, candlelit dinners on the River Seine, opera performances at dusk. Alara knew some time away from Artemim and the stresses of living with someone like Selin would help calm Demir's nerves. He'd be able to relax by her side and wishfully, she hoped that would lead to more.

Determined to make sure Demir actually came on the trip with her and didn't send Burak in his place, Alara turned up at his house the night before their flight. Demir had been out for dinner with Vedat and Selin had answered the door. Alara rolled her eyes and waltzed into the house with a sense of entitlement, almost like a girlfriend or a family member would. She figured her presence was something that Selin should get used to since it would eventually become a common occurrence.

"I'll wait for Demir upstairs." Alara smiled bashfully. "He's expecting me." Before Selin could try to refuse, Alara had left as if she owned the place.

Selin hated how comfortable this woman was in her house and she followed her upstairs closely. Last time she was here, she'd gone nosing through their stuff and it hadn't sat right with Selin. Her home - hers and Demir's - was her sanctuary, somewhere that was deeply intimate to her, and she didn't like Alara turning her nose up at everything.

"Maybe you should wait downstairs." Selin pointed out as Alara took a seat on Demir's neatly done up bed.

"No, thanks, here is fine with me." Alara flashed Selin her pearly teeth and began rummaging through his night stand, making Selin's eyebrows shoot up in surprise. She picked up his copy of War and Peace and tossed it aside, ran her fingers over the frame of his glasses and then picked up a threaded bracelet ... Selin's bracelet.

Selin had found it among Demir's things a few days ago and it had warmed her to think he'd kept it close to him. Although she was annoyed he was going on this Paris trip, the thought of him silently treasuring something of hers so closely had brightened her mood ... but to see that same bracelet in Alara's hands felt wrong somehow.

"Don't touch that." Selin warned defensively. "O benim."

"I should have known." Alara curled her lips in disgust as she eyed the bracelet up. "Demir would never keep something so cheap." She flung the bracelet on the floor which made rage bubble in the bits of Selin's stomach.