Love in the time of war- Short Story (DefOm)

Part 1

Defne was researching the gas leak story from a renowned petroleum company in the region. She has been working on this piece for the last 2 months and only recently she had hit the jackpot. An ex-employee from the company was ready to come on her show. She knows calling an ex-employee who had been removed from the job was very risky, but she had run a thorough background check on the employee and he had nothing but a clean slate on him. She had already had a mock interview with him to prepare the guy and now all that there was to do was go in there guns blazing and show people how these companies are falsifying the data they are sending to the government and harming the environment.

As she is rubbing the pencil on the back of her neck, an unnecessary habit of hers, she hears someone knock on her office door.

"Come in," she says as she looks up and her heart skips a beat.

He is back. She sighs in relief after taking in every inch of his face.

He has a smirk on his face. That bastard. He knows she was worried for him and even then, he didn't call her or simply write her a short text about him being back in the country.

"Oooohh Defne (Ms) hanim. Our great and most prized prime-time show star. How are you? Did you miss me?" 

Omer moves forward and makes himself comfortable on her office chair.

Defne grits her teeth in frustration. This guy will be the death of her. He takes so many unnecessary risks. The last time she saw his face and spoke to him was when he was reporting from Syria, and there was a bomb attack during the live interview. The chaos ensued then with people running around screaming and that's when the screen went blank leaving the whole studio gripped by fear and shock. 

Defne has screamed Omer's name on screen when they were live. She was so scared for him; she had almost died at that moment. They had wrapped up the show anyhow, she has no recollection of how as she was running on autopilot then. Her senses were tuned only to one thing and that was to know if Omer is safe.

Nearly a day later, during which all Defne did was pray profusely, they received communication from Omer. He said they were safe and that the bomb blast was a little far away from where they were, and that nobody had been injured. He had told them that the communication systems in the area were messed up hence they couldn't let the team back in the country know sooner. Defne thanked God profusely then, for keeping him safe.

"Me and miss you? No chance Iplikci," she said returning his smirk.

She wanted to get up from the seat and hug him to her, tight. She wanted to take him in her arms and crush him to make herself believe he was safe and sound. And that he is back.

Omer is a war correspondent. The best one in the country. They work for News Central channel, one of the top news channels in Turkiye. So, running on adrenaline and chasing danger was his thing. When people flee from a country away from all the dangers, he runs towards it. She is always on the edge whenever he was out on assignments.

He looked into her eyes as if he was looking into her soul, knowing what she is made of; as if knowing all her truths, which she has guarded for so long.

"So, how is Pamir?" he asks while looking at her intensely suddenly losing that ever-present smirk.

She knows she couldn't lie. She wants to tell him that she had broken up with Pamir on the day he went missing. She wanted to tell him, that she had realised the depth of her feelings for him on that day and knew she couldn't kid herself and marry Pamir. Pamir is an amazing guy but he is not Omer. Even after being in a relationship with Pamir for a year and finally getting engaged only recently,  she still couldn't make herself feel for him 10% of what she feels for Omer. She knew she couldn't do that to Pamir, so she returned his engagement ring and broke up with him.

Defne and Omer had an unusual relationship. They are good friends. They were since they were both interns in the company and were trying to learn and work their way up. Many nights they have scoured the police stations in the search of stories. They were partners on numerous assignments, most of which have garnered praise from higher-ups for their work because they were an amazing team.

But a sometime a year earlier, he had shifted from prime-time reporting to war reportage. She couldn't understand the shift. She couldn't understand why he was putting himself in dangerous situations. Nor could she bear the fact that he is constantly in danger whenever he is out there to present the truth to people. That doesn't mean she is not proud of him. She is mighty proud of him to be able to show the truths of people suffering from unnecessary wars. But at the same time, she finds it difficult to breathe whenever he is out there, only able to breathe properly when he returns with that crazy smirk on his face.

She is not brave enough to admit it but she had fallen in love with him ever since she first saw him on her first day at work. From the first time they had met, they clicked. She felt as if she has known him for years, such was the start of their friendship.

Sometimes Defne wonders if he feels anything for her. Omer doesn't believe in being in a relationship. He is a love 'em leave 'em kind. In all the years she has known him, he has never had a single relationship lasting more than a few weeks. Defne is the opposite of him in this sense. She wants to be in love, wants someone who loves her as much if not more than she loves him. Commitment is a deal-breaker for her. The main reason she had started dating Pamir was that he was very honest about his intentions from the very start. None of that matters now.

"He is fine Omer."

"How are you Daredevil? The recent incident scared the shit out of all of us not going to lie," said Defne suddenly turning serious.

"Were you very scared?" asked Omer cheekily.

"Uff Iplikci Uff. You are incorrigible. Let's go they are waiting for us."

"After you, mademoiselle," replied Omer with his eyebrows raised, his eyes twinkling.

"Nope, not falling for that again. You're just saying that because you want to check my backside."

"Uff Topal. Give this guy a break. It's not every day I get to check out a beautiful woman's ass" said Omer with a puppy face. 

Shaking her head, Defne takes Omer's arm in hers; instantly feeling the tingling sensation that she always feels whenever her skin comes in contact with his and starts moving towards the conference room where everyone from the team is waiting for them.