Feriha stood in the park leaning against the frame of the swing and watching the swing swinging like the pendulum of grandfather clock. She was recounting the life that she had lived till now. She stood there pondering over the past and present, the leaves of her life lay strewn around the park and then she came face to face with present, 'Emir'. Emir was also walking towards the park. They started to walk slowly towards each other. She said looking around the park to him "I missed this park" He too looked around and said "It's very quiet at these times"
They looked at each other. She asked him "have you come here recently?" he answered "I came here many times". After carefully choosing her words, she asked him "your engagement ring is not there"
Looking at his empty finger he said "rings are taken off and promises not kept" indirectly suggesting, she had done the same, she had taken off the ring that she promised she'll never take off. She had promised to stay and love him till the end of her life. She looked down and answered "when a person makes a promise they either trust the person in front of them or they trust themselves more"
He enquired looking at her sharply "what was your answer?" feriha looked at him surprised, he repeated "what was your answer to captain?" she understood it then "you saw us then?"
"Yes I saw you"
"You didn't wait for to hear my answer"
"What game are you trying to play again?"
She realized he yet did not know the entire purport of her relationship with levent, she answered "I was very unjust towards levent for 3 yrs. he was next to me, yet I was always lonely. And look we are in the place where everything began"
"Yes we are at the park"
"This park has witnessed everything. My growing up, my running, my crying and my hiding. As it lived together with us"
"We couldn't live together, but the park lived with us" he said looking around the park, deliberately avoiding her eyes
Tears almost brimming in her eyes "we could not live"
"Loving and loving we couldn't live together"
"Just loving wasn't enough" she said trying to conceal tears.
He looked at her accusingly "one misunderstanding was enough to end us" She couldn't justify his accusations.
"Farewell" Emir said with damp eyes and heavy heart.
He turned his back to her when she called him and said "I said no"
He stopped in his tracks to listen her and she continued "and now you tell me something we are at the same place where everything began Emir" When she called him again, reality of her proposal sank in "Are you with me?" he turned back to face her with enquiring eyes. She looked back at him with definitive eyes, but hesitation persisting 'will you accept me back after all that happened. Can you let go of the past and start afresh with me'
He softly nodded back at her. He couldn't wait more to be with her and ran to hug her. The time that he spent away from her has been the worst days of his life. He wanted to live with her again, feel her again, and live life again. He couldn't believe he was hugging her back again and kept reassuring himself she was back with him. He kissed her hair. He smelled her scent, that he missed everyday of these 3 years.
Feriha felt like she was back to where she belonged. His chest on which her head rested in good and bad times was back again. She closed her eyes and squeezed his shoulder. It was he who made her complete. It was he who was answer to all of her loneliness. She felt peace. She was finally holding her life back.
Their tears streamed down relentlessly.
After all these years of longing and yearning they were finally together
Feriha looked up at Emir and wiped his tears, "Emir". Emir cut her short "don't say anything" and he held out his hand like he always did and feriha slipped her hand into his and smiled holding back her tears. Emir tightened his grip on her hand and pulled it closer to kiss it.
They walked back towards their apartment, While waiting for the lift feriha looked downstairs, emir looked at her with reassuring look ' everything will be fine'.
They went inside the lift and in the mirror they saw themselves, they looked at each other and smiled' they were together again'. The mirror looked familiar.
Emir opened the apartment, he didn't let go of feriha's hand even once. When apartment opened, feriha tightened the grip on emir's hand and started to cry silently. Emir had also come here after 3 long years, after that fateful night. Feriha stepped in it first, emir followed. They looked all around; all the memories came rushing back to them. Feriha caressed the walls, every part of the house had their stories written and she could read them all.Emir turned towards her "you asked me, why was the apartment still alive" Emir had maintained the apartment the way it was after feriha had left even though he never visited it, feriha had discovered this after her return to Istanbul from America after 3 years.
Feriha nodded "now I Know"
"Come sit". They sat on the sofa in their living room.
Emir had once to clear their differences locked him and her in the house for 2 days. In a fit of rage feriha tried to open the door with knife and accidently the knife cut through Emir's wrist. He made feriha stich the wound as he was hell bent he will open the door only after they had resolved their differences. Feriha started searching for the blood stain as she had tried hard to clean it but the stain remained. She found that stain and said "your blood stain"
"That night" said emir with sardonic smile.
She looked around and asked him "did you come here...after..."looking at him enquiringly
"No. This house was for you I couldn't step in it alone"
She leaned on his shoulders. "That anger, that hatred, that feeling of being cheated is all gone. That dilemma I lived with every day is all gone", he listened to her intently, she was mirroring his emotions.
"Every night I tossed on bed searching for you and your smell on the pillow, and in the morning all I had was hatred', his eyes welled up " every day I kept searching for the reason, why did you leave me like that" he choked;
She hugged him tightly "will you be able to forgive me?"
"There is a lot to talk feriha, a lot.."
"Yes"
He leaned back on the sofa, his head tilted on feriha's head and feriha rested her head on emir's shoulder and they closed their eyes, feeling each other's presence.
YOU ARE READING
Emir and feriha - the untold story #Wattys2016
FanfictionFeriha is a story of janitors daughter and a rich playboy Emir. They meet by chance, but as fate had it they fall in love under most unfavourable circumstances. Feriha pretends to be a rich girl to be at par with other school students who come from...