The Return To Istanbul

Chapter One

Sanem.....

April 28th.......9:47 am

      Sanem held that phone tightly on her hand as she listened to her sister. "Abla, I'm so sorry to give you this news but you knew the last time we spoke he wasn't doing well. I wish you had come home then." Leila closed her eyes as she waited for her sister to reply.

      She slumped down in the chair, feeling her body go limp, " I know, I wish I had, but it just so hard to come back at that time, there was so much going on right then. Abla how is he, what have the doctors said.  I can't stand the thought of him suffering." Sanem could barely ask the questions as the fear of losing her dad entered her mind. Leila breathed heavily, " Well, mom is with him right now, and Melihat has been there too, as often as she can."

      As Sanem listened to her sister explain the report from the doctors, she leaned back against the chair, her heart breaking. Her dad had always been the person that she could go to for anything, he was the person that understood her most in this world. She closed her eyes thinking back to when she was a child, how he protected her, nurtured her, never letting anyone hurt her.  Now she wanted to protect him, nuture him, and never let him go.

      Her thoughts went back to all those times that she had disappointed him, went against what he wanted for her. All the times that he had stood up for her and helped her through the hardest times in her life. 

      Even when she was older and she chose Can Divit, going against her family, but mostly her dad, he still stood beside her. When Can left Istanbul and her, without a trace, and she fell apart completely, her dad never said, " I told you so".  Her dad stood beside her all those months that it took for her to gathered herself up emotionally and move on with her life.

      Her decision to make that move to the Galápagos Islands had been the most difficult. Her dad and the rest of her family had begged her not to go, as well as her best friend CeyCey. They tried so hard to make her stay there, promising her that Can would be back.  

      CeyCey always had so much faith in the love that she and Can shared that he was sure it would overcome all other obstacles. But Sanem was determined to move on with her life, just as Can had. 

      All of these memories were running through her mind, as if they happened yesterday. The hurt that she had felt, the determination she had to make her life mean something. And once she had made that choice to leave Istanbul, her dad was the first one to accept it and stand behind her. 

       It hadn't been an easy time in her life. Can had left Istanbul and everyone behind. Everything she had done she had done for him and the agency, but sometimes offering your soul to someone just isn't enough. 

      When she left that day headed for Galapagos, her family and CeyCey clung to her, pleading with her to stay. But she waved goodbye to them with a smile, " I'll be back, don't worry. If Can wants to find me he will know where I am." And with that, she boarded that plane and left Istanbul, her family and her friend to try and start her life over. 

      That seemed to be the downfall of her father's health problems. After a while it was evident that Sanem would not return to Istanbul. That was when her dad began to feel the loss of his daughter, but when they learned that Sanem would stay in Galapagos permanently is when he had his first major health crisis.

      That had been over 6 years ago, and now she would make that trip back to Istanbul for one of the worst reasons she could think of, to comfort her dad in his last days.