CanEm One-Shots (English)

Criminal (Part Two)

Plot: Criminal alternate universe, where Sanem is a criminal and Can is the police officer. With Sanem out of prison and a potential stalker following her everywhere, Can is more protective than ever. Contains angst and some adult themes. (Part two)

Sanem had been on a total of three dates - since Can - and her release from prison.

Date one had been with a guy named Levant who was the epitome of the type of guy that Sanem was used to – a sleazebag. He hadn't been subtle when asking Sanem to climb into bed with him and it was safe to say that she had outright refused.

Date two had been slightly more promising, with a guy from her economics class. Sinan was nerdy, curly-haired and unlike the usual guy that Sanem was interested in. He was safe and a tad boring but Sanem had convinced herself that maybe safe and boring was exactly what she needed.

Date three probably was the date that had left the greatest impact on Sanem. Yigit was tall and funny, he shared similar interests with her, and they had spent the evening discussing Sanem's favourite author who, coincidentally, was the same as Yigit's. Yigit was perfect on paper. He hadn't asked about her scars or pushed her to divulge in why she'd taken some time off from college.

But there was something about Yigit that didn't sit right with Osman.

And arguably, he was right.

Ever since Sanem's date with Yigit, she'd been complaining about feeling like she was being watched. She was walking to and from places without her headphones in and making sure she was home before it was dark. At first, Osman had excused it as paranoia but, it wasn't long before he started to feel it too. It had just started with Sanem looking over her shoulder as she walked but soon it became creepy messages through the post and flowers left on their kitchen table with no signs of a break-in. Osman wasn't only fearing of Sanem's life, he was starting to fear for his and Ayhan's too. Ayhan was home by herself most of the time and she was just a little girl, helpless, and Osman desperately needed to protect the little family that he had left.

"This is enough!" Osman dumped with 100 long-stemmed roses into the bin along with the cliché love note addressed to Sanem. "We have to go to the police-"

"No-"

"Sanem, this psycho is following our every move, we need to speak to some-"

"And do you think they'll take me seriously?"

Once finding concrete information that she was being followed, Sanem's first instinct had been to go to the police. It was what the general public was indoctrinated with every day; the police were there to ensure that everyone felt safe. But, Sanem had seen the other side of what the police promoted. She had seen the grit and gruel and had been victim to their gruesome torture. She had lost faith in them as soon as she'd learnt of, he-who-shall-not-be-named's betrayal. Not only this, she was aware that if she walked back into the Istanbul precinct, she'd be ridiculed. They all knew her as the girl who'd been turned in by her fake boyfriend. Rather than helping her, they'd make some inappropriate jokes and push her case to the side. It was hopeless.

"You'll never know until you try-"

"If anything, they'll make it worse!" Sanem brushed past Osman's suggestion. "Promise me, you won't go to the police with this. I'll deal with it myself. I'll move out, I'll do something ... please, don't go to the police-"

"Sanem-" Sanem just looked at Osman with her big doe eyes, her head tilted, and it was inevitable, he couldn't refuse her. "Fine."

But technically, Osman hadn't promised Sanem anything concrete. And as the stalking continued, Osman's patience wore thin. It was getting progressively worse and he was feeling more and more desperate. He knew he needed to speak to someone and that someone so happened to be a man who looked incredibly tired as he answered his front door. Despite it being early evening time, he was dressed minimally in his pyjamas. There were bags around his eyes and his previous stubble had turned into a full-fledged lion's mane now.