CanEm One-Shots (English)

Criminal

Plot: Criminal alternate universe, where Sanem is a criminal and Can is the police officer. Contains angst and some adult themes.

Sanem felt betrayed in more ways than one. Her relationship with Can had been a simple one. She'd ran into him at college - literally running into him, as she sprinted towards the lecture that she was already ten minutes late to. He had helped her up and collected her books. It was nothing special, Sanem had barely acknowledged him until she saw him again in the student union. They had coincidental run-ins of a similar fashion until Can finally asked her out on a date.

Coming from a disjointed background, Sanem had little to no faith in relationships or love. The only love she harboured was the love for her adopted siblings, Ayhan and Osman. Ayhan was a little girl, the tender age of ten and oblivious to the struggles of poverty. Osman, however, was Sanem's guardian angel. After suffering from the years of abuse at the hands of her father and her drug-addicted mother, Osman had kindly taken her in without hesitation. So, it was safe to say that Sanem didn't have the most stable of examples to follow.

However, Can spiked an interest in her. He was the first man to ever shower her with love and treat her with kindness. He was a man of firsts. Sanem had begun to hope and that had been her own fault, the reason behind her demise. She had been right to have no faith in love.

Because Can was just like the rest of them – a heartbreaker.

He'd betrayed her, lied to her ... He was the one who turned her into the police, in fact – he was the police.

Realistically, it wasn't feasible for a man two years her senior – Osman – to singlehandedly provide for her, himself and Ayhan. Sanem had spent the majority of her life feeling like a burden and despite Osman telling her otherwise, she didn't want to be an imposition on him. She wanted to pull her weight financially but that was difficult to do whilst she was studying. Nobody wanted to hire a student with no experience and limited flexibility. For ages, Sanem was at a dead end. She spent her days hungry and her nights cold just to help Osman save a few liras.

But then enough was enough. Once Sanem's tuition fees rose and the feeling of hunger in her tummy became painfully raw, she had confided in her last resort – theft.

It had started as petty theft. She'd drop a few loose apples into her bag from the local supermarket or steal a slightly burnt piece of bread from the bakers. But as the job became easier and Sanem became stealthier, she upped her game. With the help of her IT knowledge, Sanem was able to hack into a few online accounts or steal an identity or two to withdraw some cash. It sounded selfish but Sanem never intended it to be. She felt like she owed Osman her life. It was because of him that her body wasn't bruised or battered daily. It was because of him that she didn't have to drop out of school and work tirelessly to pay for her parents' addictions. And all Sanem ever wanted to do was make his quality of life better. He had sacrificed the world for her, and she wanted to do the same for him.

However, Sanem had fallen victim to Can. She had been so blinded by love that she'd failed to recognise that he'd been an undercover cop the whole time. Can's mission had been to gather proof on Sanem, and he'd succeeded.

They'd been in bed together, Sanem cuddled into his bare chest as they watched some random show on TV. They'd just spent hours making love and now, all their bodies wanted was some time to rest and relax. Absentmindedly, Sanem's fingers toyed with the abundance of necklaces Can always wore, her attention shifting between the bird on his neck chain to the albatross tattooed on his peck. She traced it softly, her mind getting lost in the intricacies of his tattoo. But as she spaced out, she was triple the times startled as the front door of Can's apartment was forcefully kicked through.