Fate had always played a big part in Zeynep and Halil's lives. At a young age, the two met and subtly fell in love. Zeynep perhaps was louder than Halil with her love but Halil didn't miss a day without saying Zeynep's name back home. He always narrated stories to his dad about how they fought each other, how they fought others and also how their day went along. He always mentioned how he looked forward to getting back at Zeynep for whatever vendetta they had from school. It was a known fact to both the Letos and Karasus that their children laughed, cried and even played together. Both families couldn't stand each other but Halil and Zeynep looked forward to their mornings and hoped for the nights to never come. Like firewood, their families' fued fueled the need for each other and that's how their story started.
However, after that morning, the morning of Halil's dad's assassination Halil their story took another turn. They both were forced to lead different and separate lives. Halil grew up in Istanbul while Zeynep was stuck in KaraDeniz. After ten years of waiting, Zeynep found herself betrothed to the Kulpa family courtesy of her step mother. Halil hearing that, he could only join the army hoping for it to partake the role of distracting him from thinking about it. He trained hard and long to wipe her name from his heart, erase her face from his brain but her memory to him was imprinted on him like a tattoo. Forever inked not to be erased. Every time he sneaked into KaraDeniz, he saw her sit at her balcony, her hair flying due to the wind with her hand on her cheek. She looked deep in thought but he never once hoped she thought of him. However, the truth was that Zeynep never forgot about him.
Her pillow was always wet from her tears, she cried for hours everytime she was forced to the marriage. When she stood in front of a mirror, she could only see Halil's shadow reflected instead. Every time her dad forced her to Levent, she felt so disgusted she sometimes threw up. However, such is life, the possibility of her meeting Halil in this life was close to zero. She could not just stay alone all her life aching for her childhood love. At some point, she would have had to let him go and move on. Let her first love end like how every other first love story in the world does. So she decided to leave for America, away from her hometown. Away from the smell of the town that reminded her of Halil Ibrahim. Away from the streets which they used to run across and also from the fragments that pierced her broken heart.
America was obviously an excuse for Zeynep but for Halil Ibrahim it was a choice. A choice for him to move on and forget about their fate. If his hope for love was gone, he thought life wasn't worth living. That's how he decided to join in a very dangerous mission. He paired with Oguz and while they were almost completing it, the only option for them was for either one of them to sacrifice themselves and get captured by the bandits. Halil volunteered himself and thus helped Oguz out. He was tortured in all kinds of ways and was broken into several pieces he couldn't recognize. Every time he lost his will, Zeynep visited his dreams. He could hear a voice calling out his name, the voice as sweet as birds singing and calm as the night sea, which finally makes his heart beat again. That's how he survived the five years in captivity until Oguz came to his rescue. On the other hand, Zeynep became officially engaged to Levent despite her escape to The States. She now had a ring on her finger which actually felt like a leash on her neck. This leash always struggled her till she couldn't breathe every time she wore it.
Halil also took on the responsibility of ridding KaraDeniz of evil thus connected with a girl who's been crushing on him for years. He planned to move on and forget about his love Zeynep. Therefore he came to propose marriage to Yasemin. Little did he know that the day he plans to move on from his feelings rooting twenty years back is the day Zeynep will appear in front of him. She came back and the moment he saw her, his heart started beating in a different tone. He tried to stay calm to never rekindle any bit of the love he had for her but his efforts were like pissing in the wind. Zeynep automatically reclaimed her place in his heart and he didn't hear no bells or any signals as a warning. Just like that, she became the crown on his head and everything he did from then on was for her, by her and with her.
