can you love me again? (an aslaz season 2 story)

chapter 4

we're continuing with asi's pov in this chapter! we'll see her journey returning to istanbul (featuring a run-in with an unlikely character) and her second time coming face to face with alaz. the song for this chapter is "the grudge" by olivia rodrigo, as its lyrics perfectly describe everything asi feels toward alaz.

They arrived in Istanbul less than a week after receiving Ece's diagnosis. Handan and İlker had reached out to old friends to take care of their home indefinitely and swiftly packed the few belongings they had, ready to make the trip to the city. The guilt of tearing them away from all they had ever known ate away at Asi, but they had been adamant that they would follow Asi and Ece anywhere.

The number Asi had called belonged to a talent agent from a prestigious company. She recognized his voice on the phone and recalled when he had first shown up at the restaurant and heard her sing a few weeks prior. He had approached her as she had been coming off stage and had praised the emotion she conveyed through her voice. After Asi had reintroduced herself over the phone, she had heard the man's voice go up three octaves in his excitement. He had immediately booked her an all-expenses-paid, two-week hotel stay in the city.

"I've got big things planned for you, Asi," he had said. "With a voice and looks like yours, fame and success are guaranteed."

Asi knew she should be happy. After all, this was what she had always wanted. However, sitting in the back of İlker's rundown car, watching her daughter's chest rise and fall, she couldn't muster up any emotion other than fear.

After landing in Istanbul, Asi was immediately pulled into a meeting and found herself seated across from a row of middle-aged men wearing identical suits and fake smiles. They explained that they had a close partnership with one of the most popular clubs in the city and had gotten her a residency there that would last for the next eight months. They also planned to put out her first extended play by the end of the year, which would feature covers of classics as well as a few original songs. As they went into detail about what image they wished for her to portray and the writing team they planned to set her up with, Asi began to lose focus. Her mind drifted to her family, and Ece in particular. She had to find the money to pay for her medical treatments, which would likely run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It was her desperation that made her say, "I'll agree to whatever you want. The image, the residency, I don't care. I just want to know what I'll be provided with."

Her agent, Nejat, smiled at her and pushed a stack of papers over to her side of the table. "You will live very comfortably, Asi. We will provide you with a lovely home in the center of the city for you and your family. And your salary is incredibly generous."

Asi flipped through the pages to find the benefits and salary listing and nearly choked. The sum was exorbitant and, for a girl such as herself who had grown up pinching pennies, it was more than she could ever imagine. She didn't bother with any more questions and signed the contract.

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Asi settled into a new routine. She would wake up in the wee hours of the morning, before the sun even arose, to feed Ece and take her to the hospital for daily tests and meetings with her care team. She'd return Ece home, rush to the club for rehearsals, and then go to the studio to record and write. Any time she had a moment to herself, Asi was on the phone with Handan or İlker asking after her baby girl. In the late afternoons, she would return to the hospital and hold Ece through her treatments and then race back across town to perform her set at the club to a drunk and roaring crowd. Asi would finally return home in the late hours of the night, kiss a sleeping Ece on the cheek, and then crash before waking up a few hours to do it all over again.