Count on Me

Chapter Five: Front Page News

Brushing her hair from her face, Katrina rested against the counter for a moment wanting to have a bit of a break; the restaurant was especially busy today and she had no idea what was going on. 

There hadn't even been time to text Mesut during her break since she'd barely stopped and Katrina missed their lunch-time talks; they were something she'd grown fond of recently. 

Katrina spotted another table was ready to order and sighed wondering where help was; Nick was busy in the kitchen and the two of them could really use an extra set of hands right now. 

"Welcome to Dancing Zorba's, what can I get you?" Katrina asked smiling at the table filled with girls, she pulled out her pen and paper just wanting to sit down for five minutes without having to do anything for a little while. 

The girls all seemed to turn to look at Katrina before they started whispering to one another, it made Katrina nervous but she doubted that they were discussing more than what they wanted for lunch. 

"Are you Katrina Portokalos?" one of them finally piped up, they all stared at Katrina curious about what she was going to say. 

Katrina slowly nodded her head, she had no idea what was going on but she didn't like it; her first name was on her name tag but that was it, she didn't know how these strangers seemed to know who she was. 

"Is it true you're Mesut's soul-mate?" another piped in, she couldn't believe that Mesut Özil's soul-mate was standing before her and that she was actually meeting her. 

Katrina felt her blood run cold as she stared at the group before her, there was no way that anyone could know that and they had already agreed to wait until after Christmas to announce their relationship. 

"Oh my God it is... look at her marking," a third girl gushed spotting the same mark that sat on Mesut's wrist where his counter had been on Katrina's wrist.

Katrina opened and closed her mouth, before she quickly turned on her heel and hurried away; she didn't know what else to do and she had no idea how they had known she was Mesut's soul-mate. 

Entering the kitchen, Katrina took a deep breath trying to work out what she was going to do; she was frightened and if those girls knew then there was no doubt that the press knew as well. 

"Kat?" Nick asked concerned at the sight of his sister, things had been pretty busy today but he hadn't expected her to storm into the kitchen like that. 

Nick would happily sort out any customer that might have been rude to her, she worked hard and he didn't want people getting under her skin; he slowly walked forward realising how shaken Katrina was. 

"I need to call Mesut," Katrina whimpered not liking this, her hands shook and she knew that this could be worse than she realised; she didn't know how anyone could know about this. 

Mesut had promised her that they could wait until things had calmed down before they made the announcement and he'd been covering his wrist to stop people from seeing the marking that they shared. 

The girls' words rang in her ears about how the marking on her wrist matched Mesut's, Katrina had no idea how they could know that; he would have warned her if something had happened. 

Nick nodded his head before moving to get her mobile for her, he rummage through her fringe duffle bag and paused at the sight of the messages that Mesut had left for her. 

It was suddenly clear why they had been busy all day, Nick looked to Katrina knowing that this changed everything for her; everyone knew who she was and he doubted this would be going away any time soon.

***

Climbing out of his car, Mesut cursed his father for speaking to the press about this and he couldn't believe that he had gone against his wishes; they might not have been talking right now but Mesut hadn't expected him to do this. 

Ignoring the calls from the paparazzi that had camped themselves outside of Katrina's home, Mesut could only imagine what was going on inside the house given what was happening outside. 

It was clearly only going to make Katrina's parents dislike him more, Mesut took a deep breath moving to knock on the door; he was relieved when Nick let him inside away from the glare of the press. 

"Bedroom," Nick said pointing him in the right direction before he headed back into the kitchen, the entire family was here all talking about how the world had found out about Katrina and Mesut. 

They were far from pleased with the attention that they were all receiving, they'd all had to close their businesses when people became more interested in questioning them about Katrina than actually wanting anything done. 

Heading up the stairs, Mesut tried to keep himself calm knowing how freaked out Katrina had sounded over the phone; he didn't blame her especially when people weren't meant to know about them yet. 

It didn't help that Mesut could hear what was being said by her family, he wished that he could make this easier but now that they knew about Katrina that wasn't going to happen. 

Stepping into Katrina's bedroom, Mesut quietly closed the door behind him wanting to speak with her alone; it hurt him to see her like this, this was the last thing that he wanted. 

"Katrina?" Mesut murmured making her look at him, his heart ached at the fact that she had been crying; he could only imagine what had happened before he arrived, the house was thick with tension. 

Things had clearly been said and Mesut hated that it had happened now, there was enough happening without family's cause trouble for them.

"I am so sorry liebling," Mesut mumbled slowly walking to sit down on the edge of the bed, he wished he knew what to say that would make this better; they'd barely known each other two weeks and this was happening. 

Katrina sniffled and shook her head, she wasn't upset that people knew about them only that her family were still taking this so badly; her father had already asked her not to return to work for a while. 

It had been horrible to come home from the restaurant to people complaining about how they had been harassed all day by people asking about her; Katrina wondered if they realised how hard this was for her. 

"Could I come stay with you until my apartment is fixed?" Katrina asked feeling horrible about asking him this, she didn't want to stay at home and she had nowhere else to go right now. 

It wasn't like she was expecting to share a room or anything, she'd happily sleep on the couch if Mesut would let her; she just wanted to get away from home until everything calmed down. 

Her family were pretty unhappy right now and Katrina didn't blame them, her father was refusing to speak to her after insisting that she wasn't needed at the restaurant for a while. 

"Of course... meine liebe, you are more than welcome to come and stay for as long as you need," Mesut insisted knowing that he had enough guest rooms for her to be comfortable in, he just hoped that they would be okay for her. 

Katrina smiled at him gratefully, she doubted that her parents would take this well but she needed to get away from her family if there was any chance of them making their relationship work. 

The moment that her apartment was fixed she would move back in there, until then she would have to live with Mesut.