Artemis (CanEm Fan-Fiction)

Chapter Twenty Three

Sanem was incredibly overwhelmed by the time she got home from work. Mirroring her first day of work at the Divit office, the Compass Sport campaign had been leaving her considerably tired all the time. She woke up tired and she went home tired; it was a vicious cycle that was thankfully close to drawing to an end.

As soon as she walked through the threshold of her childhood home, Sanem dropped onto the staircase with exhaustion. She slowly pried her sneakers off her feet, the movements causing her great pain. Despite being in comfortable footwear, all the running around had taken its toll on her body and she was starting to feel it.

"Sanem, why are you just sat there? Come on!" Leyla tried to urge her sister to move from the stairs so that she could get down. "We have to get ready."

"No." Sanem groaned, her head hitting the wall in a comedic fashion. "No, no, no." She had completely forgotten about the launch party tonight. It was meant to a night of celebration and winding down but all Sanem could think of was her pyjamas and her bed. Getting all dressed up was the last thing on her mind. "I don't want to go-"

"You need to give your presentation and help Osman tonight as well." Leyla reminded Sanem. As a part of her new job role, she was required to give a little speech before the Compass Sport advertisement was launched. Not only this, because of her involvement with Osman's company as well, she had managed to hire Osman as the caterer. However, this meant that she was required to give him a helping hand behind the scenes also.

"For God's sake!" Sanem cried, her head already hurting at the amount of work she still had to do, despite her official work day being over. "People know I'm only human, right?" She exasperated out loud, her arms flying upwards in a façade of mercy.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, busy, busy, busy, busy." Leyla dismissed Sanem's tiredness as she ushered her up the stairs. "Don't worry, I'll get you ready. You won't even have to lift a finger!" In all honesty, she knew Sanem deserved some rest but simulatenously, Sanem needed a night of celebration. She had worked so hard recently and tonight was about celebrating that. It was an opportunity for Sanem to network and show off her talent, the same applying to Leyla and Osman. Tonight was meant to be a big night for the three children who'd been raised in the lowly suburbs and Leyla was not going to let her sister skip out on it.

So, Leyla busied herself with getting both her and Sanem ready. They hadn't had time to go proper shopping for outfits and Sanem wasn't usually the evening dress kind of type, so Leyla had to let her borrow one of her outfits. However, the two girls were of different stature and everything that Leyla got Sanem to try on just didn't seem to fit right.

"See, it's a sign! I should stay home." Sanem was ready to walk towards the bed before Leyla seized her arm.

"I have an idea!" Using her initiative, Leyla decided to put Sanem in one of her long tops. On Leyla, the silky fabric worked as a blouse that she simply tucked into a pair of trousers. On the contrary, the top, on Sanem, looked like a dress. It was a little black dress with spaghetti straps that dipped into a v at Sanem's neck ... it was shockingly perfect on her small frame. In fact, it was almost sinful paired with some heels and a loose ponytail.

Leyla smirked at her handy work because not only did she appreciate that her sister looked beautiful, she also knew a certain Can Divit would too. From experience, she knew Sanem had the capability of winding Can speechless and that was definitely going to be the case today.

"Isn't this a bit much, abla?" Sanem admired herself in the mirror whilst her mouth slipped into a yawn. The look was much sexier than what she usually went for and she bit her lip in fear of trying too hard.

"No! Tonight's your night, Sanem. You've worked hard on this campaign and you deserve one night to relax and let your hair down." Leyla reassured her sister with a light squeeze to the shoulder and the two headed to the fancy venue with a certain mix of excitement, fatigue and nervousness.

When they arrived, the outdoor venue was covered in fairy lights that twinkled under the darkened sky. With the combination of warm lighting, soft jazz and surrounding greenery, the place looked almost magical. Sanem admired at all of her work in awe, her jaw dropping, before a waiter offered her a glass of champagne, one that she readily took a hold of. If she was going to survive the night without falling asleep on the nearest free seat, she was going to need a little alcohol in her system. However, aware of her responsibilities for the night, Sanem took her sips of the bubbly liquid with caution.

"I'm going to go check on Osman." Sanem told her sister before heading behind the scenes of the opulent party. The catering part of the venue was pretty dingy and dark and Sanem had to squint in order to make her way down the steps and into the kitchen-based basement. "Osman?"

"Sanemcim, welcome." Osman was frantically fretting over the last-minute touches of his starter platters. "Does this all look okay? Does it need anything else? Do you think I should whip together another batch of koftas-"

"Osman!" Sanem placed her hands on his shoulders, looking him dead in the eye. "Calm down! It all looks perfect."

"Are you sure? I'm just really nervous nobody will like it." Osman's hyperventilated breathing calmed down just a tad bit and he looked away from his food to admire Sanem. "You look beautiful, by the way."

"Everything looks great, I promise!" Sanem reassured him after thanking him for his compliment. "Calm down, everyone will love your food. You have no reason to be nervous."

"And what about you? How are your nerves doing?" Osman was referring to the presentation that Sanem was required to give within the hour.

"Truthfully, I am really scared." Sanem admitted. "I've put so much work in and so much is relying on this campaign, I can't afford to mess it up."

"You have done so well so far." Osman gave Sanem a one-armed hug. "You're going to do amazing up there, don't worry." The two smiled at each other amidst their underlying nervousness until Osman shooed Sanem out of his kitchen. In her makeup, heels and dress, she looked completely out of place in the run-down kitchen that came along with the drastically modern venue upstairs. "Now go back up and enjoy yourself. Me and Ayhan can handle the kitchen work tonight, you look too pretty to be getting tomato sauce all over you."

"No, I said I'd help-"

"Get out!" Osman joked, swatting Sanem with a towel in an attempt to chase her out of the kitchen. She let out a little chuckle, desperately trying to avoid the hits and as she ran up the stairs in the dark, Sanem felt herself collide with something hard ... or someone hard. Her head hit the person square in the chest, and she groaned audibly.

"God!" She groaned before she felt somebody's hand fix a strand of her hair that had gone astray. The touch was gentle, and heat filled and even without seeing him, Sanem who it was. There was only one person who fixed her hair like that and touched her so gingerly ... Can.