Count on Me

Chapter Fifteen: Flying Home

Leaning back in his seat, Mesut closed his eyes wanting to relax for a little while and forget about the dinner they'd just had with his parents; he was furious with his father for showing up and talking to him like that. 

Katrina watched him from across the cabin, he had barely spoken to her as they collected their things before they had headed for the airport and the private jet that was waiting to take back to London. 

Taking off and leaving Germany behind, Katrina was a little disappointed that she didn't get to see more of the beautiful country but she was sure that they would visit again. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Katrina asked softly, she peeked at Mesut worried that he might snap at her; she knew that things were tense right now and she didn't know what to say to fix this. 

The compartment was silent and Mesut took a deep breath, it wasn't fair to take this out on Katrina when she had done nothing wrong; he was just angry with his father for causing all this drama. 

"My father has always been a problem," Mesut revealed shaking his head, he looked out of the window and admired the view as they started to travel back home; he couldn't believe that it had gotten to this point. 

Not saying a word, Katrina moved closer to Mesut listening to him; things were so crazy right now with their families and she knew it was all going to boil over at some point causing them more trouble. 

"We've never really gotten along and he's always pushed me to do things I didn't feel were right," Mesut mumbled through gritted teeth, he hated that Mustafa had this power over him and he was glad he had sacked him as his manager before it was too late. 

Running his fingers through his hair, Mesut tried to calm down knowing that it was pointless getting worked up over this; he was going to be glad when this was all over.

"I wanted to stay in Madrid but he forced through a transfer to London," Mesut revealed as an example, he had seen how well the team had been doing and wished a little that he could have been a part of that. 

Madrid had always been home to Mesut and it had taken him a while to get used to living in London; it was better now that he had Katrina in his life. 

Katrina couldn't imagine what that had been like for Mesut, he was doing so well at Arsenal now but being forced away from somewhere that you loved couldn't be easy especially when you had people you cared about there. 

"Around the same time, he left my mother... she came home from shopping one day and all his things were gone," Mesut spat clenching his hands, he still couldn't believe how much of a coward his father had been; he adored his mother and he couldn't imagine what she had gone through when this had happened. 

Gulizar had been so strong since Mustafa had moved out and it still surprised Mesut how friendly his mother seemed with him even after what he had done. 

"He's moved in with some girl that he'd met at one of my matches," Mesut continued taking deep breathes to calm himself, it wouldn't be right for him to snap at Katrina and he knew that she was just trying to help. 

Sitting silently, Katrina wondered how Gulizar could stand to be around Mustafa after what he had done; he was meant to be her soul-mate and he had betrayed her. 

"So you sacked him?" Katrina said softly, she didn't blame him and she hoped that this wasn't going to cause them more grief further along the line. 

They were working so well and Katrina couldn't imagine losing Mesut, he meant so much to her even if they had been dating for two months.

Not saying a word Mesut nodded his head, he had felt that he had every right to sack his father when he seemed only interested in helping himself and Mesut wasn't going to allow anything to ruin things now. 

The two were silent for a moment thinking about what had been said, it wasn't going to be easy and they both knew it; there were certain things that they both had avoided talking about. 

"What are we going to do?" Katrina asked softly, she didn't want to but she knew they did need to start thinking about this especially when it came to raising children. 

They were both from very different cultural backgrounds and it was going to become clearer as they moved forward in their relationship; things that they couldn't ignore forever no matter how much they tried to do so. 

"We're going to do this our way..." Mesut said reaching out and taking Katrina's hand, he offered her a smile knowing that it wouldn't be easy but they would work around any issues that they had. 

Katrina was what Mesut wanted and he knew that it would all work out in the end, she was his soul-mate and he wouldn't risk losing her over anything; they would ignore the religious parts of their lives if it meant that they would be able to be together. 

Mesut would never expect Katrina to convert for him and he knew that Katrina would never expect him to convert for her; they would find a way to make this work and he was sure it would be fine. 

"There is no way we're just going to let this go Kat... we will find some way to make this work for both of us," Mesut promised her, he quite liked the idea of marrying Katrina on a beach somewhere tropical instead of a religious ceremony.

***

Staring at the magazine that was open in front of her, Maria couldn't help but smile at the sight of her daughter; it had been a surprise when Voula had phoned and told her that Katrina and Mesut were in the papers. 

"She looks very beautiful," Maria gushed admiring the dress that Katrina was wearing, she peeked at Voula who had come rushing around when she had heard the news. 

Everyone in the family was calling about the pictures, they all seemed so proud now and Maria hated how they were clearly only doing this now that it was clear that Mesut's fame seemed linked with Katrina. 

Yes, her and Kostas hadn't been the most supportive parents when the news came that another one of their daughters would marry a non-Greek but there was no way in hell that anyone was going to use Katrina. 

"She looks like you," Voula mused sitting down with her coffee, she had been so surprised to see her niece in the paper; she looked so grown up and it was clear that things were going well for her and Mesut. 

There really hadn't been much news from Katrina since she had gone to stay with Mesut, she tried to avoid speaking with her parents because of how upset Kostas was about all of this. 

Maria nodded her head, a small smile on her face as she went back to admiring the pictures; she was going to cut them out and save them somewhere for her to always have them and remember. 

"It is time," Maria announced getting to her feet, she wasn't sure if Katrina would agree but there had been enough of her hiding away from them and she knew just want to do to fix that. 

Kostas was not the easiest to get along with, he still had moments where he wasn't entirely fond of Ian but he would get over it when he saw how happy Katrina was with Mesut. 

Grinning Voula nodded her head, there was no way around it and it was about time that Mesut got a proper introduction to Katrina's parents considering how they had reacted to him the first time.