Can Divit : "Erkenci Kus"/Early Bird

Prologue: Who is Sanem Soysal?

Sanem Soysal is a 25 year old incredibly beautiful, extremely kindhearted, angel-like innocent, very sweet, bubbly & brilliant young woman.

She's part of an overbearing & loving family that includes her passionate but a bit-crazy mom Mevkibe, hardworking & quieter-by-comparison dad Nihat and equally beautiful older sister, Leyla. Both the daughters live in a joint family with their parents , and a sign of their closeness is that, they have breakfast and dinner together on most days.

Part of Sanem's extended family are her neighbors, close friends, brother and sister, Osman and Ayhan. Osman & Ayhan are parentless.... and often Mama & Papa Soyasal step-in as surrogate parents. Having grown up together since they were babies, Sanem and Ayhan are best friends and true partners in crime.... oftentimes caught up in silly antics & harmless mischief.

(Left to right: Ayhan & Osman, Leyla & Mevkibe, Nihat & Sanem.... Muzzo)

Sanem's ethos are steeped in the culture and environment of her neighborhood community (Mahalle). In her lively neighborhood, everyone knows everyone, helps everyone, shares their food, is concerned about each others well-being.... and despite being spreaders of innocuous gossip, they bring a sense of comfort & belonging to everyone.

The Soysals are a family of modest means and depend on the family run grocery store for their livelihood. They have been able to provide an education for Leyla but couldn't afford the same for Sanem. Their humble grocery store is leveraged in debt to pay for her education and is slowly eating into their profits and prosperity. Thankfully, Leyla is a financial advisor at a marketing agency and is growing in her career.

Since finishing high school, Sanem has been running her family's grocery store along with her parents. She's a young woman of extraordinary, yet to be discovered, brilliance! She is well-read and fully-versed in philosophy, poetry and literature. She has an eidetic memory that helps her retain 100% of everything she reads, views & experiences....very unique and rare!

She's an aspiring romance novelist in the process of penning her first draft. Adding to all that, is her extraordinary skill in creating homemade creams and perfume.... for her personal use, derived from exotic wild flowers. To say the least, she's a complex, dynamic woman of multifaceted talents....a diamond in the rough, waiting to be found and polished, ready to sparkle & dazzle!

Always the dreamer, Sanem's goals in life are to publish her novel and travel to the Galápagos islands. Keenly, she wishes to see the Albatross birds... having idolized them, she's been fascinated by their character traits & remains in awe & admiration of their majestic nature.

But... Sanem has two real problems in her life. First, she's really concerned about her family's financial well-being. Second, she'd like to extricate herself from a man, Muzzo, who is hopelessly in love with her, towards whom she has only platonic feelings. Is there a solution akin to two birds with one stone?

Sanem, with her lack of exposure to circumstances and opportunities outside of her neighborhood, has never ventured too far from home.... to become independent, gain life experiences or to meet new people. Even in that limited setting, she's terribly uncoordinated, always tripping over things, getting burns, nicks and scratches, bumping her head against objects, you name it... a magnet for trouble or trouble finds her!

For all the romance Sanem has read about and writes in her novel, she has also never been in love....not even close!

So where is life about to take Sanem Soysal? What of her goals & aspirations? Will the right man find her quirks, naivete & talents endearing ? Does she, in fact, meet the man of her dreams?

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Author's Note:  Yes, I know her family name is "Aydin" and she's Sanem Aydin..... just go with it!