Early Bird (Erkençi Kus)(Part 1)

17. Seaside story

Sanem kept her eyes closed almost the whole way, and Can could see it in the mirror. He grins and turns his head so he could ask her if she was afraid.

"Me?!" she yells against the wind.

"Yes!"

"No!" He chuckles at her choked response. "Why would I be afraid?!"

Sanem felt dizzy on the back of the motorcycle, her initial excitement disappearing the moment he started driving down the highway. All she wanted to do now was get off it. She didn't appreciate the fact that he was clearly loving her discomfort either.

After what feels like an eternity, Can finally pulls up on the side of the printing business but Sanem stays put, her fingers clinging to him in a visegrip.

He looks down at her hands around him and then he lightly taps them, trying to tell her it was okay. "Sanem?"

"Huh?" she groans against his back.

"We're here."

Sanem opens one eye, then sees they have stopped but still doesn't move.

"Do you want to go around the block again?" he jokes.

Sanem clears her throat. "No. No," she says quickly. She felt out of breathe from the ride, and her mouth was dry. She needed water.

"Are you okay?"

"Am I okay?" Since they were no longer moving and he couldn't roll the death machine out of spite, she told him the truth, feeling much braver on solid ground. "I almost died! Were you trying to kill me?" He purses his lips. "I almost died on this thing because of you!" He nods. "Next time just let me lay down in the road and you can drive over me, crush me under the wheels..." She wiggles the clip on the helmet. "Why can't I...How do you take this thing off?" she panics, her fingers feeling numb.

"Relax, relax, let me help you." He turns around and her fingers pause.

"I'll do it myself, just tell me - "

"Let me do it," he moves her hands out of the way. She lets go and he starts to unclip the helmet. His eyes go to her face close to his as he tries to unclip her. She looks away and he finally manages, wondering why it was being stubborn in the first place. "You know, if you'd just let me help without complaining it would have been faster," he quips, starting to take off the helmet for her. She was shaking her hair out already before he was even done and some of it gets caught in the clip. "Hold on," he says and untangles her hair.

"I wasn't complaining," she returns and he hums. "I can't do anything right can I? I'm useless!" He frowns and waits for her to finish her rant. "I didn't even want to get on this thing, but my boss made me," she narrowed her eyes at him.

He turns his head all the way to look into her gloriously fuming eyes. "Let's go inside," he ignores her comment about him forcing her to get on the bike, instead getting off to put away the helmets. If she expected a debate she was sorely mistaken. He didn't force anyone to do anything, so she would have lost anyway.

Sanem slowly gets off the bike as well, looking around them, trying to feel if her legs would hold her. They almost buckle but she manages to stand.

When they get inside the building, a man with a beard and short trimmed hair is busy speaking with someone who seems to be his secretary.

Can thanks the friendly employee who showed them through and the man turns when he hears his voice.

"Well well well!" The two men hug each other, laughing.

"How are you Akif?" Can asks.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Sanem is noticed next to Can then and also greeted. "Hello there."