Noite Escura / Dark Night / Noche Escura (Port/Eng/Esp)

Dark Night - Chapter One (English)

Hey guys! After a long hiatus, we're finally back with a new story. This time, the couple is BURKEM. This is my first story about these two, and I gotta say it's been a really cool challenge because they are completely different from Ilgaz and Ceylin. But before we go into it, I have to point out a couple of things. 

What motivated me to write this story was watching the transformation of Burcu's character between seasons 1 and 2. At first, she is introduced to us as a conservative, discreet young woman who literally shivers at any type of physical contact with a man who makes her feel a level of attraction she's never felt before. Burcu and Kemal then finally get together, but when we see them again in season 2, she is laughing in bed with him, clearly more comfortable to be in his company. 

How did that happen, exactly? The idea for this story is to fill this gap. 

One thing I have to make clear is that Love 101 sets in the early 90ies. It might not seem like much, but 30 years ago, there were no smartphones or internet. Access to information was more limited, and society was more conservative. I am mentioning this because it's very relevant to Burcu's character. She is a teacher from a small town who had a rigid upbringing (we saw her family in season 1, it gave us a good idea of what kind of people they were), and then moved to a big city. Her life story is quite opposite to Kemal's, a former athlete who's traveled the world, met people, places, cultures, and has experienced a lot more than she's ever had. 

Now let's finally get to business!

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Dark Night - Chapter One

Burcu went down the stairs in front of her building, watching as the taxi driver who had been waiting for her handled her only piece of luggage.

Her head was still spinning with questions she didn't know if she'd ever get answers to. But Burcu imagined that if she stayed in Istanbul, getting rid of such uncertainties would be much more difficult.

After Billy's acid comments on how the universe conspired to bring her closer to Kemal, Burcu had thought about the recent events in her life leading up to the end of her engagement and the wonderful kiss she'd shared with Kemal in his office.

At this point, all the teacher knew was that she needed some distance to reflect and organize her thoughts. She had just been confronted with hard truths and didn't know which of the disappointments she was experiencing was the worst.

There was a deep sadness in realizing that the teenagers she'd spent the last few days defending had spent most of that time conspiring behind her back, interfering in her private life most likely for their own personal gain.

Burcu had believed the five of them to be better than that, but perhaps she was being too hard on the kids. After all, it had been their interference that had made her see enough to believe what she had suspected all along but never dared to admit - even to herself. Tuncay was a completely different man from the illusion that Burcu had spent a lifetime trying to convince herself that he was. Thanks to the teenagers' antics - and Kemal walking into her life, probably - Burcu had managed to see the truth she had been avoiding.

After all, things would be infinitely worse if she had that epiphany only after marrying the guy.

In parallel to this, there was also the disappointment she had put her family through by breaking off her engagement. It was especially hard with her parents. As the only child of a small-town couple, Burcu had had a conservative, old-fashioned upbringing. It was no secret her parents expected her to become an improved version of her mother. They had been looking forward to her marriage to Tuncay since she'd graduated high school, and her decision to end the relationship had been a massive letdown for them.