Feraye somehow manages to avoid Ateş for an entire week.
She hates herself for being so weak and choosing the easy way out, but Güneş is in his office a lot of the time, and the thought of seeing him with another woman is too painful. She makes sure to do her work though, and she does it well.
Feraye manages to avoid Ateş for an entire week, but-
Her luck runs out on day eight.
She steps out of her office and her eyes catch his as he's coming up the stairs. He slows down, his eyes drinking her in. When their eyes meet, she hopes he can read the apology in hers as plainly as she can read the disappointment in his. "Ateş," she mutters, once he's close enough to hear her.
He stops in front of her, doesn't say a word. She shrinks in on herself, unable to say anything else.
Ateş scoffs, shaking his head, then walks away.
Feraye watches him, willing herself to say something, anything, but is unable to get the words she desperately needs to say out.
He slams his door shut. Feraye flinches. When she turns to reenter her office, she catches Güneş at the foot of the stairs, looking up at her.
Feraye is the first to look away.
.
There's a knock on her door. "Come in," she says distractedly, too focused on the design she's working on to even look up. "Hello," the last person she would want to see right now says, "may I come in?"
"Güneş?" She sits up in her chair, cautious as she stares at her intently. "What are you doing here?"
"I think you and I need to talk, Feraye."
.
She stares at the woman. "What is it that you think we need to talk about?"
"Ateş."
Feraye doesn't expect the direct answer and is struck speechless by it. She recovers in a matter of seconds though. "I don't think there's anything about him you and I need to discuss, Güneş."
"There's nothing going on between us, Feraye." The words force her to look at the woman sitting opposite her. "I'm not going to lie and say I didn't want something with him at some point, because I did."
Feraye looks down at her hands, just to avoid looking into the other woman's eyes. She doesn't want to hear this, doesn't want to hear her admit her feelings for him when they're written so plainly all over her face. "You still do."
Güneş lets out a shuddering breath. "I think a part of me will always love him, but no, Feraye- I don't want to be with him anymore."
Feraye purses her lips. "Isn't that contradictory?"
The other woman shakes her head. "I've completely given up on that man, Feraye."
She wants to believe her. Desperately. "Why?"
Güneş looks down at her hands. "I met him when I first came to Urgup. I was completely alone, and so was he- at least, that's what it looked like to me. I was naïve to think meeting him on the side of the road when my car broke down was fate bringing us together, two kindred spirits," Güneş laughs, shaking her head self-deprecatingly. "For a while, it was wonderful. He was the breath of fresh air I needed. We went on dates, we were spending the majority of our time together, and he opened up to me, you know? For a month, I felt like I was on top of the world, and I kept thinking: this is too good to be true. And I was right, because about a month later, it all fell apart."
