Unscripted love

30. A Day To Celebrate

6 November 2018

Can

Sleepless night. Now that I know, nothing else matters.

I only swallow my anger, I need to find the culprit, the one through whom all this happened. I contacted Burak, my best friend and lifelong partner. Together with Nazli, they listened and advised me. The tension is still there, I have an irrepressible need to hit, to let off steam but they know how to talk to me and how to bring the pressure down so that I can concentrate on what is important... to find the identity of this person, as calmly as possible.

I'm also angry with Demet. She didn't see fit to tell me, she didn't trust me enough, let alone our relationship. I'll deal with it and we'll see later but the anger is real. It's going to be complicated to deal with my attitude towards her now that she doesn't know that I know.

Confronting her will be my second step.

I wish I had protected her from all this. I could have, if she had told me...

Damn strong woman feeling. I'm not used to so much resistance.

While Burak launches an investigation with a private eye he used to work with, I go to meet Seckin. My luck : he's in Istanbul right now and our respective agents have discreetly arranged a meeting.

I keep in mind, and this is my side of the law, that everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty...or at least in this case I try to convince myself of that.

It's 8pm. The Ruby is relatively quiet, I order a double whisky from the bar, it hasn't arrived yet. My blood is boiling, I've chosen to meet him alone, is this a good idea?

He arrives a few minutes later, curious and haughty.

"I don't have much time..."

"It's a good thing I don't either."

He raises an eyebrow, obviously intrigued. I point to a table away from him and continue.

"I suppose you have some idea why we met?"

He raises his eyes to the sky.

"No, actually... Demet, maybe? She left you, didn't she?"

His disdainful smile makes me want to punch him in the face and knock out his teeth, it would make me feel better for a while...

"You're very funny... how do you know?"

"Your dejected look perhaps?"

"Maybe you had something to do with it?"

It's almost unnoticeable, but his eyes sharpen. His body tenses up.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Look Seckin, I don't have all the time in the world so I'm not going to beat around the bush. I'm not supposed to know anything about it because she hasn't told me, but I know that Demet has been receiving threats, anonymous letters to be precise. These letters all ask her the same thing, to break off all relations with me or else we would be exposed publicly, causing us harm, in order to break my career. That's why she broke it off."

"And? What do I have to do with it?"

He has a detached air. Whatever, I'll see it through.

"You tell me..."

He comes closer to me, a little threatening, eyes to eyes. I play nervously with the amber liquid in my glass, rolling it against the edges.

"I've moved on, all right?"