Tears of love

10 | 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞

Nehir rushed away from the house, holding her backpack close. A smile lit up her whole face. Escaping the house had been the hardest part. Her family was already on their way to the Uçars.

Her mother hadn't even bothered to try to convince Nehir to come with them. She had said it would be better if she stayed home as no one would notice how unhappy she was. And she wouldn't embarrass the family any further.

In other circumstances, Nehir would have laughed at the irony. Her family was trying to avoid an embarrassment, and because of that, she had a chance of running away. Her actions wouldn't just embarrass them. They would destroy her family's reputation.

She immediately saw Oguz's car. It was one of her brother's, but Oguz had told her Hakan was the one who had given him a car to leave.

As she got into the car, her smile became radiant, lighting up her entire face with joy. They had finally made it. Her family had no way of stopping them now. They were too busy. Her father was too busy trying to make Davut a business partner.

Nehir's smile died when she saw Oguz's face. The despair and sorrow in his eyes. He slowly nodded towards the back of the car, making her look behind her.

To her brother. Bora. Who had a gun to Oguz's head.

"Going anywhere, sister?" Bora asked.

Nehir didn't answer. Instead, she looked at the man next to her brother. Dursun, her cousin.

"Drive," Bora said to Oguz. "We'll tell you where."

Nehir turned around, looking at the window. She didn't even try to open it and run. Her brother would kill Oguz if she tried the smallest thing.

She stood in silence, tears falling on her cheeks, as Oguz drove, following Bora's indications. Had it been Hakan in Bora's place, Nehir would have had hope. Hakan wasn't a monster. Bora was.

She had always known it. Even when they were children, Bora would hurt people when they didn't do as he wanted. Their mother only encouraged it. Even when Bora hurt her, Neslihan had always put her son over her daughter.

Nehir knew how much her own mother resented her. She had hated Nehir from the day she had been born when Neslihan learned that her first child had been a girl, not a boy, as she had always wanted. Nehir had always been the unwanted child in her mother's eyes.

She recognised the way. She knew where they were going. Part of her had feared Bora would take them to her father and to Davut. But he wasn't doing that. No. He was taking them to Aylin's abandoned cottage from the forest. A perfect place to kill them.

Her body went cold with dread. So, that was it. Her own brother would kill them. Fear pulsed through her, and there was nothing Nehir could do to stop the tears falling on her cheeks.

She had been so foolish, thinking she could ever escape her family. Thinking she and Oguz stood a chance. And now she had sentenced them both to death. If she had given up on her love, they both would have lived more. If she had simply accepted that she would forever be her father's pawn and that she would never be free.

Free of the name she carried. Free of the burden that came with the name Akpinar. Free of the fate her father had written for her.

The car stopped, but Nehir didn't get down. She waited until her cousin opened the door and dragged her outside, while her brother got Oguz out, the gun still to his head.

Dursun's own men were at the cottage. Someone hadn't wanted to risk them getting away. Neither Bora nor Dursun were smart enough to do this.

"How?" Nehir whispered.

How had they learned of their plan? What had Nehir done wrong?

"I heard you leaving last night," Bora said. "Mom was surprised you would try something like this. She said she didn't think you would have the courage."

So her mother had planned everything.

As Dursun dragged her to the cottage, a deep hatred formed in Nehir's heart. For her mother, who cared more about money than her own daughter. For her father, who had never even tried to pretend to care for her or Bora. Her father, who had sold her like an object for his own gain.

At least that would go wrong. After Bora killed her, Metin would have no daughter left. Ayşe had escaped his clutches.

"See what you have done, Nehir?" Bora asked as he pushed Oguz on the floor.

When Dursun didn't let her go, Nehir understood. Pure terror coursed through her veins, freezing her blood. No.

"No," Nehir screamed, fighting to escape from Dursun's grip. "Please, don't!"

Tears fell on her cheeks, and Nehir could do nothing to stop her. She couldn't even escape Dursun's grip.

"Bora, please! Don't!"

"Why?" Her younger brother asked. "What are you going to do? Tell Hakan? Tell Ayşe? Please, tell them! Tell them you caused his death!"

"Bora, please," Nehir screamed, still fighting Dursun. "I'll do anything you want. I'll never see him again. I'll do anything. I'll marry Yavuz. Please don't kill him!"

Bora raised his gun to Oguz's head while Nehir kept screaming. Begging him not to kill the one she loved.

"I love you," Oguz muttered, looking towards her. "I love you so much. And I regret nothing. I–"

He didn't have the chance to finish.

Nehir screamed. Her whole body was trembling, and she couldn't accept what she had just seen. What her brother had just done.

"Bora! No! No!"

She fought Dursun's grip, although she had no idea why. What could she do? Attack her brother?

"What?" Bora asked. "Are you surprised by the consequences of your actions? You should thank me, Nehir. If Davut or Yavuz learned of this, you would be dead."

It would have been better. It would have been so much better.

She couldn't stop the sobs escaping her throat. It was as if someone had tied an anchor to her heart, and she was sinking deeper and deeper in the river of her tears.

There were so many things she didn't tell him. So many things she wanted to say now. Things that had never seemed important before.

She wanted to tell Oguz how happy she had been every time she saw him, how she forgot all about her problems when she looked into his eyes. She wanted to tell him how easy it had been to lose herself when they would talk for hours sometimes. It had been so easy to imagine a happy life next to him. So easy to find happiness in his presence.

He had made her so happy. And now she felt as if she would never manage to force herself to smile. Not even for a second.