The Business Trip Part 2

Preperations

One look at her face and he knew Cagla had said something to upset Hayat. Not wanting to give Cagla the pleasure of achieving what she had set out to do, he whisks Hayat away after saying their goodbyes.

Hayat is awfully quiet on the ride back to the hotel. Sensing something wrong, Murat asks her, "Are you Ok?"

She just looks away from him and nods her head, " What is it Hayat? I know something is bothering you?"

" No, it's nothing, I didn't realize how tired I am, I just need a good night's sleep." She turns her head away pretending to look out the window, not wanting him to see the tear that has escaped her eye. As if he was reading her thoughts, he says, "better get some rest Hayat, tomorrow is going to be a long day, I don't want you tiring yourself too much."

Both their rehearsals were scheduled at around the same time mid-morning, which worked well for them. the show was at 7 sharp in the evening and Hayat had a little time to rest in between the rehearsal and show. She was to meet Emre at 9 am in the lobby, he had carried all the dresses with him.

Murat is still in a dilemma on how to approach Hayat about modelling the showstopper. Sleep eludes Hayat that night, Cagla's parting remark still weighing heavy on her mind. For some reason, try as she may, she could not believe that Murat would betray her, but then Cagla was so sure of herself, would she lie so blatantly, after all she had seen the pictures of them kissing. That was not made up, who could tell what might have transpired after that. Who should she trust? Murat, who hadn't even bothered to check on her and who could have easily got carried away, in order to teach her a lesson, thanks to his ego. Who was telling the truth? She finally falls into a disturbed sleep.

Signs of lack of sleep showed up immediately on Hayat's health and she was too tired to get out of bed which led an anxious Murat to feel even more guilty. The nausea which didn't seem to get better with the advancement of the pregnancy, washes over her yet again and she runs to the bathroom with a concerned Murat following her and patting her back as she throws up remnants of last night's dinner. "Are you sure you are up to this?" He asks her. She felt much better after throwing up and nods her head in the affirmative. " Yes, I think I'm fine, a hot cup of milk and some cereal and I should be good to go" He places the order and makes sure she finishes everything and begrudgingly agrees to take her with him to the rehearsals. "But make sure, if you feel even a little tired, you will rest" he reprimands her. They get ready and leave for the venue, she was to meet Emre there. The theatre had smaller dressing rooms allotted to each designer, where they could store their dresses and accessories, Emre looks up at Hayat just as she walks in, her radiance always lighting up the room she enters. "are we ready to rock this show?" he asks her chirpily.

" Oh Yes, Emre, ready as can be, I'll look at the models and their fittings, we have the stage at 12 to rehearse, we have 20 minutes of stage time to work everything out. Just enough time to set everything. So, let's work out the details before the final rehearsal on stage." she adds and gets busy with the models.

" Oh, and Hayat, I'll take care of the showstopper, I really want it to be a surprise!" says Emre, to an unsuspecting Hayat, just send Didem to me and I'll see to her fittings.

Meanwhile, Murat is busy with his rehearsals, the stickler that he is for perfection, he wants to make sure that every aspect of the show is taken care of, the models, the lighting, the music, the accessories and of course the dresses! And now to the difficult part, he sends a text to Hayat, " Could you meet me in the dressing room at one, I have something for you." Hayat's curiosity is now aroused, and she texts back, " Sure." There is still an hour before Hayat would come, so Murat goes to Emir for the much-dreaded meeting to put across his choice for the showstopper. As expected, Emir is taken by surprise and reacts apprehensively, " I'm not so sure about that Murat, I understand that we want to present a market for every woman in every phase of her life, but making the maternity evening gown a showstopper, would still be taking our motto a little too far. and how are we going to get a pregnant model at this last minute?" And then it dawns on him, he realizes that all along, Murat had Hayat in mind to model the showstopper. " Will she agree? There is no doubt that she is at par with any of our top models, but would she oblige? that is really the question here, Murat," finishes Emir. And that's when Murat tells Emir of his plan, it strikes Emir a bit odd that Murat would have to trick Hayat into modelling the showstopper, and really does not buy his explanation about Hayat being too shy. "But he had to agree with Murat's vision and agrees to the plan for the benefit it would bring to his company. Emir was also worried about Caglas reaction, but decided to deal with it later, he was sure she wouldn't create a scene at the show.

With Emir taken care of, Murat sets out to put his plan into action. This would be his greatest challenge, getting Hayat to do as he wants, a tired Hayat slowly walks into Murat's dressing room, it is very quiet, the usual hustle bustle was missing, and she assumes that everyone was out on a lunch break. What could Murat want to show her? And then she stops, in front of her is the most beautiful evening gown on display. It was layered and looked straight out of a fairy tale and most importantly, it was a maternity gown, which meant it was not for the show and at that very moment she also realized who it was for, Murat softly steps in the room from behind and walks up to her, not only is she stunned into silence by the sheer beauty of the gown but also awed by her husband's creativity and realizes his true potential. "It's beautiful" she whispers, and he softly whispers back in her ear, "designed for the most beautiful mother to be, ever! Hayat would you oblige me by wearing it to the show this evening?"