The Business Trip Part 2

Encountering the Truth

Murat steadies her, and Hayat is surprised to see an amused look on his face. "What's so funny?" she retorts. "And what are you doing with Emre?" she quizzes him. " I hope you didn't give him a tough time, Murat. Please do not tell me you asked him to let me off easy because I am pregnant, could you please not interfere in my work, I am fine and I can manage everything." she continues, completely misinterpreting Murat's visit to Emre. Murat is glad that she does not suspect anything leading her on, " Of course, I did not tell him much, just that he should not overwork his employees, especially the ones who are pregnant and think they fall into the superwoman category." he ends with a smirk on his face. Hayat realizes, he is pulling her legs and just shakes her head. "I came here looking for you, Hayat" he says. " Don't you know its unethical to peep into your competitors' rooms, what if you steal our designs?" she asks him cheekily to which Murat only rolls his eyes making Hayat giggle like a schoolgirl. Of course, he did not need to steal anything, he was 'The Murat Sarsilmaz', the next big name in the Istanbul Fashion circuit. Oh! how he had missed her laugh, her dimples showing, lighting up her face, all he wanted to do that minute was pull her into his arms and ravish her. For a second, it was just like old times, the easy camaraderie, the jokes which only they understood but then she sobers up immediately as Emre comes to the door to see what the commotion was all about. "Oh, we are almost done, you go ahead Murat, and I'll meet you in the reception in fifteen minutes." says Hayat.

After taking one last look at all the dresses, her eyes come to rest on the dress in the corner, she had not seen it before, it would have to be the showstopper, she looks up at Emre, "Wow Emre, you outdid yourself there, that is a beautiful gown, quite worthy of being the showstopper." Emre clears his throat, not knowing what to say next, not wanting to take credit for something he had not created, quite unlike the old Emre, who would not have thought twice before stealing someone else's designs. "Err, thanks Hayat! I too can't believe it turned out the way it did!" he says turning around to look at some other dresses, unable to meet her eye. "Isn't Didem our showstopper?, she will rock this dress, Emre, be prepared for a huge round of applause after that dress is showcased, you will definitely be the talk of the town. And now if everything is in order, I will take your leave and see you in a couple of hours. Good luck!" she finishes closing the door behind her. As she is about to enter the reception area, she realizes that she had the backstage badges in her bag, figuring that Emre would need those, she turns around to go back to Emre, as she nears the room, she hears a familiar voice talking to Emre."... this will be the end of that proud man Emre, can you believe it, you will be the most sought-after designer in Europe and that Murat can rot in hell for what he put me through, he has to pay the price for rejecting Cagla Yilmaz!" Hayat cannot believe what she was hearing. This only confirmed her worst fears, Murat was right all along and she was right in her decision to trust Murat, "That Murat Sarsilmaz, he will be a broken man after today, neither will he have his wife next to him, nor will he have any fashion house backing him, that poor woman, how easily she was fooled by those pictures that I mailed her, she fell for it and now he is already paying the price for it, Emre, you be prepared to lay your claim over the fashion world and also on Hayat, after today I don't think Hayat will want to have anything to do with Murat, he will be a huge failure, I want to see him destroyed! That is what you get for saying no to Cagla, Murat Sarsilmaz!" And there it was, straight from the horse's mouth, tears of joy and anger stream down Hayat's face, and just when she was having her doubts about trusting Emre again, she hears Emre tell Cagla "Don't involve me in your game of revenge Cagla, Hayat is my employee and I will protect her in every way possible, as far as your equation with Murat goes, I'll let you figure that out, now if you could please leave me alone, I have some things to take care of backstage..." he trails off. Hayat is relieved that Emre had not let her down, she quickly hides behind the door as Cagla storms out of the room, stomping her high heels on the tiled floor, miffed at Emre's lucid response.

Hayat waits for a few minutes before she enters the room surprising Emre, she quickly gives him the passes and tells him, " I forgot to give you these, you will need them." Before he could ask her anything she runs out of the room, leaving Emre in a dilemma whether she had heard his earlier conversation with Cagla. Walking out of Emre's dressing room, Hayat still could not figure out what Cagla had planned, she only knew something was to unfold that evening, but what was it that would guarantee Murat's failure? How was Emre involved in it? There were too many unanswered questions and Hayat was getting stressed with the entire situation. Feeling a little dizzy as she reaches the door to the reception, she opens it to find Murat waiting and then a black veil covers her eyes as she collapses to the floor.