CanEm One-Shots (English)

Family Dinner

Plot: Inspired by the episode 35 fragman. Can and Sanem reconvene after a disastrous family dinner.

Unsurprisingly, Sanem couldn't get any sleep when she lay down for bed that night. The more optimistic part of her had hoped that, by some miracle, Huma and her mother would get along. Now that things seemed to be smooth sailing for her and Can, she hoped that everything else would fall into place. However, as Sanem reflected on the night, she realised that her hopes had been childish. Realistically, Sanem hadn't needed a dinner to confirm that the Aydin and Divit families clashed. It was a problem she had subconsciously known from the offset of her rocky relationship with Can. 

But, the clear differences between her working class family and Can's affluent one had been highlighted tonight. Her mother had clumsily dealt with oysters and raw fish (just like she had once done with sushi) and faced the wrath that rightfully came with Huma.  It had been nothing short of a disaster that had ended with Can intervening before fists and fish went flying. 

But the fighting wasn't what Sanem was acutely focused on. Because bickering was something that could be lost with time. Once upon a time, Emre and Sanem used to argue. Memories of her screaming at him in his car were still fresh but, now, strangely, Sanem could consider him her friend, a confidant. So, if it was just arguing between Huma and Mevkebe, Sanem could have handled it.  

But it wasn't just that anymore ... a stubborn Mevkebe had outwardly exclaimed that she would not tolerate Can and Sanem's alliance because of Huma. As a mother, Mevkebe was not comfortable with her daughter settling into a family where the mother-in-law resembled the Wicked Witch of the West. 

"Oof, Mum, oof!" Sanem ran a tired hand over her face, her sinking as her mother's voice played over and over in her head like a bad record - "as long as I live, that woman cannot be the mother-in-law to my daughter!" 

Usually, her mother's stubborn nature wasn't something that Sanem focused on greatly. Ultimately, Mevkebe did everything in her power to make her children happy and Sanem had always had faith in that. But from the tone in her voice and the tears in her eyes, Sanem knew her Mum's beliefs were set in stone. She adored Can but Huma's Cruella-De-Vil type nature was enough for Mevkebe to withdraw her approval of the two lovers' alliance.

On the other hand, Sanem was also angry that Huma had the audacity to insult her parents in such a manner. She had degraded them, insulted them and Sanem was mortified by the levels of disrespect that had been thrown at her lovable parents.  

As Sanem continued to over think about how quickly her and Can's reconciliation had been tarnished, her phone started to shrill with its loud ringtone and she reluctantly picked it up with a sullen tone. 

"Hello?" A tired and restless Sanem elongated her syllables as she spoke.  

"My love, are you okay?" After arguing with his mother and storming off to bed with a glass (and the remaining bottle) of whiskey, Can's first thought had been Sanem. He was curious to know how the scenes had unfolded in the Aydin house following their traumatic dinner that he finally realised shouldn't have taken place. "Sanem?" 

Within seconds of hearing Can's voice, Sanem wasn't sure if she felt more comforted or more upset. A gentle hiccup left her throat and then an onslaught of tears ensued that she hadn't realised she had been keeping in. "Sanem, bebek, what happened?"

"C-Can." Sanem sat up in bed and held the comforter close to her chest. She didn't care if she sounded like a whiny child but there was something about the definiteness in her mother's voice that made her love life seem all the more complicated again. After her and Can's wonderful weekend at the cabin in the woods, Sanem thought they were done with drama, that her and Can could peacefully go back to being them.  It hadn't even been two days before everything had been thrown back up in the air. 

"Are you ... crying?" Can set his drink down and sat forward in his chair, worry settling in the pits of his stomach. "Talk to me, Sanem, what happened?" 

"C-Can ... I-I ... I can't do this anymore." Sanem swiped at her nose with the back of her hand. 

"What do you mean 'I can't do this anymore'?" As soon as the words left her mouth, panic flung itself at Can. He had barely gotten Sanem back in his life and he wasn't prepared to lose her again - he couldn't. When he thought she'd left for Izmir with Yigit, Can felt as if his whole world had stopped. He'd been frustrated, angry and upset at himself for letting her go and he was adamant that he wasn't going to let himself feel like that again. "You're not giving up on us already, are you?" 

"No." With her stream of tears slowing down slightly, Sanem clarified what she had intended to say. "I can't keep trying to please everybody, Can. I'm sick of it." 

Truth be told, Sanem felt like she had spent so long trying to prove something to everybody and she was officially done with it. At first, she'd been trying to please her parents by getting a job, then she was pleasing Can because she'd fallen in love with him, then she was appeasing him after lying to him, then she was proving her worth in comparison to the likes of Ceyda, Gamze and Polen ... enough was enough for Sanem, mentally, she was incapable of fighting for anything else. 

"Sanem, calm down and explain what happened at the house?"

"Mum said she wouldn't be okay with us getting married." 

"What?" Can, who considered Mevkebe like his own mother, was just as saddened by Sanem's news. 

"She said that as long as she's alive, she wouldn't let me become a daughter-in-law to your mother." Again, Sanem hiccuped at the end of her sentence as a sob escaped her. 

"Shh, shh, it's okay, don't cry." Can desperately wanted to comfort her and grabbed his car keys to race towards her mahalle. However, the more rational part of him reminded him that he had been drinking and that he was well over the driving limit. "Look, I know what my Mum is doing and I've spoken to her already. She's been trying to sabotage us since the night started-" 

"Can, my parents were disrespected tonight, I was-"

"I know, I know and I'm so sorry." Can didn't know what else to say for his mother's repulsive actions. "Just ... I'll talk to her again, please don't cry and please remember, that I love you and that's all the matters. " 

"Can you stay on the phone with me? Help me fall asleep?" 

"Of course, my life." Can settled back under the covers and began rambling about the most random of things in order to divert Sanem's attention away from the elephant in the room. 

It was whilst he rambled, and her mood shifted from upset to happiness, that Can set a plan into motion. He had already been planning a little date with Sanem but he knew he needed to lift her spirits drastically after their train-wreck of a dinner and there was only one way he knew how ... an animal sanctuary. 

And much to his delight, Can Divit had been right. 

Once Sanem was in the presence of him and the cute little puppies running around by her feet, all of the worry and sadness from the night before had disappeared.  There was a smile on her face and an excited spring to her step. The sun was shining down on them and that was all that mattered - that they were together and together, they could overcome anything.