Early Bird (Erkenci Kus)(Part 3)

51. Burning sensations

Can places the tools he had been working with back in the toolbox one by one, each in its original space. He was done with working down the white moonstone to the right size and it was safely tucked away.

The front door opens behind him and Emre walks into the living room seconds later.

"Hey brother."

"Emre," Can looks up at him fleetingly, closing the toolbox, "hey, what happened today? You left the agency early."

Emre puts his coat on the armchair before he shrugs and sits down with a loaded sigh. "Let's just say I had something important to do. How was your meeting with McKinnon?"

"Very good. It went well. He asked us to work the campaign for Redmod Cosmetics."

"Seriously?" Emre's eyes widen. Can nods and he grins. "That's great news."

"If everything goes according to plan, yes, that is to say if we manage to impress everyone involved. If we can do that, this may be the biggest deal in the agency's history."

"Are you crazy? Of course we'll crush this! We'll be back on top."

"I think we may be over the top." Can had faith in his employees and their abilities to clinch this deal.

"Wow," Emre breathes, shaking his head, looking at the coffee table. "This is amazing, really, I'm happy to hear some good news after..." He trails off and then exhales heavily. "It's been a rough couple of days, so it's good to know it will change soon."

"Yes, well, our success with Compass Sport brought us to this point." Can gets up after slapping his hands on his jeans.

"We can't forget about Ceyda's influence in this," Emre says and follows him down the hall. "She's very, invested shall we say?" Can rolls his eyes behind his glasses and purses his lips, turning into the kitchen. "She probably won't be happy when she finds out about you and Sanem."

"That's her problem," Can reaches for a glass on the top shelf. "Nothing I can do for her, but I'm going to pour myself a drink, you want one?"

"Sure."

"Get us a snack will you?" Can nods at the cabinet behind Emre and gets another glass, putting both on the kitchen island and getting the whiskey. "Now, enough dawdling," Can says as he pours. "Tell me what's up with Leyla."

"Nothing," Emre shrugs and comes back with the bag of chips, dropping it on the island before sitting down.

"Sanem told me you hurt Leyla. Badly." Can sits down as well. "Why did you have to do it? She didn't even come to work, was she avoiding you?"

"Probably. And I have my reasons."

Can takes a sip and shifts his shoulders. "Okay," he shrugs, "but everything was going fine. What happened?" Emre frowns at his glass. "You can tell me, I won't judge you."

"Can," Emre purses his lips and looks up at him. "You know I ended things with Aylin just recently, right?" Can nods, wondering what Aylin had to do with this. "I thought I was ready for a new relationship. I wasn't. Yes, Leyla is pretty and nice and she's kind..." Emre looks far away and Can wants to shake him for his stupidity. "But her family and...It just wasn't for me, it moved too fast."

Can nods despite feeling Emre was making a mistake. "You're right, things did move fast between you." There was no denying it and obviously it was a solid reason. Not a good one in Can's opinion but solid for someone like Emre.

"What about you? How are things with Sanem? Any problems?"

"No, no big problems," Can inhales and sighs, "but it's becoming clear that we won't be able to meet up or do anything together for a while."