Artemis (CanEm Fan-Fiction)

Chapter Forty-Nine

Before Leyla could stride away, Can grabbed her by the arm again. 

"Leyla, what's going on?" He spoke in a hushed tone, aware of the fact that they were still in the office and people were not so subtly glancing at them strangely. "Can you tell me what I did?" Even though Leyla and Can, in the grand scheme of things, didn't know each other that well, she was the sister of his beloved and that meant she was family. If he wanted to settle down with Sanem in the near future, he wanted Leyla to trust him, have undoubted faith that he would take care of his sister.

"You know what you did-"

"What?" He snapped in confusion. "What did I do?" 

"You Divit men think you can do anything, can't you? First Mr. Emre and now you, my sister isn't your puppet. You don't get to play with her and then just leave her when you're bored-"

"What are you talking about? I love Sanem-"

"Oh please, if you really loved her, you'd be with her right now-"

"Is she not at work?" Can's hurt sank. He had been eagerly awaiting his day at work with Sanem. He hadn't seen her in what felt like forever and the slightly more cheeky part of him was excited to steal her away for a kiss or two behind hidden corners. "Is she sick?" 

"Is she sick?" Leyla scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You really are something else, Can Divit." For the first time to his face, Leyla excused the formalities. The man in front of her wasn't her boss, he was the man who had broken Sanem's heart. 

With a final glare at him, Leyla pulled her wrist from his grip and stormed away, leaving Can utterly confused. He didn't understand Leyla's hostility and immediately, he turned to Sanem for answers. He'd gathered she wasn't at work and so he tried her phone. He tried once, twice, thrice ... the number rang continuously before it went to voicemail. He tried one more time and when he was met with an instant dial tone, he realised she had disconnected the call. She was purposefully ignoring him. Worry settled within Can and with work pushed to the back of his mind, he stormed out of the office and towards Sanem's neighbourhood. 

He drove like a maniac, envisioning the worst of situations. His foot pressed down on the accelerator until he was at Sanem's home in record timing. Thankfully, he had taken a route that had enabled him to stealthily glance into the grocers. Both Sanem's parents were at work which meant she was at home by herself. Like he had with her phone, Can pressed the doorbell multiple times, his urgency to see Sanem visible through his frantic actions. 

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" He could hear her voice from inside the house and even with worry etched into him, his heart beat soared. He had missed her. And as she door opened and he saw her face, he couldn't help himself from grinning. She was his beautiful, beautiful Sanem. She was dressed in a cute pair of pyjamas and her hair was tied away from her face. She was so effortlessly gorgeous, it took his breathe away. But the longer he looked at her, he realised something was definitely wrong ... there was something off.  "Hell-oh."

Sanem paused suddenly, her eyes widening as she stared at Can. There was still a part of her that wanted him to comfort her, even when she was so angry and hurt; even when he'd been the one to cause her so much pain. As he looked at her, his eyes showed this kind of gentleness that reminded her of the night she'd lost her virginity. He'd looked at her like she was his world and that only pushed the knives in her heart deeper. 

Cautiously, Can reached out and laid his hand against her shoulder, and instead of being soothed by his touch like she usually was, she flinched.  Aware that they were both exposed in front of all her neighbours, Sanem wordlessly drifted back into the house, Can readily following her with questions desperately hanging from his tongue. 

As they entered her living room, Can was the first to speak but was cut off instantaneously, "Sanem-"

"No." 

"What?"

"What are you doing here?" 

"I've come to see you." Can stepped forward, his fingers gingerly stroking her cheek. Normally, she'd lean into his touch but today, she turned her head and let his hands fall limply by his side. "Sanem ... Canim, what's going on?" 

Again, without saying a word, Sanem moved about. Can watched her curiously as she dug through a handbag. Her movements were cautious and he could see tears welling in her eyes. He was about to question what she was doing before she threw a little plastic wallet at him. Instinctively, he caught the wallet and stared at it. He looked at it over and over, his mind unable to comprehend what he was actually looking at. 

"Is this a ..." Can couldn't bring himself to say it, his eyes bulging open with the immensity of the situation. He had slept around before but he'd never had a situation like this arise.  "A ... a pregnancy test?" 

"Don't worry, it was just a hunch. I'm not pregnant, the test is negative." Sanem  smiled bitterly. "You're free to go live your life with your lover now-" 

"Wait what are you talking about? Sanem-" Before Sanem could run from him, he grabbed her waist and pulled her to him. Their chests collided abruptly and Sanem blinked in surprise. "Why didn't you tell me about this?" Can gestured towards the pregnancy test, a part of him hurt. If she had an inkling that she was pregnant, he would have wanted to know. He couldn't imagine what she must have been feeling whilst dealing with it all on her own. "We could have taken the test together, dealt with it all-"

"Please don't pretend like you care." Sanem stepped out of his hold, putting up this barrier between them both literally and figuratively. 

"Sanem, what has gotten into you?" Can sighed, brushing a hand through his hair in frustration. He didn't understand what was going on but he desperately just wanted to hold her. Even the prospect of having children was a big deal and he honestly couldn't imagine what she was thinking when she'd taken the test. Even though it had already happened, he wanted to hold her hand and reassure her that everything was going to be okay regardless of what the weighted pee stick told them. "Why are you being like this? Pushing me away ... like-" He was going to say like when they'd first met. 

"Like what?" Sanem pushed, her index finger pushing against his chest. "Like what, huh? Like when I lied to you? Newsflash Can, I was stupid and naive and I let your brother manipulate me. You? You pretend like you're some saint but-"

"What about me?" Can threw his arms into the air, his mind flooding with even more unanswered questions. It was like he was watching a movie in a language he didn't understand, nothing was making coherent sense to him. 

"I saw you!" Sanem cried, her voice raising drastically in volume. "With Polen and your Dad. Whilst I sat and listened to your employees call me a slut and a whore, petrified that I was pregnant, you were out playing happy families with your ex-girlfriend-" 

As soon as Sanem mentioned Polen, the pieces started to come together in Can's head. Sanem had seen him put on the charade for his father. This was all just a big misunderstanding. Reminding himself to ask about the people at work at a later point, Can took to defending his misleading actions.  

"No, no, Sanem ... you've gotten it wrong. Nothing is going on between me and Polen, that night was-"

"I don't want to know." Sanem hit away his hand as he tried to reach for her. 

"Bebek, this isn't what it looks like, I promise. Just let me explain-" 

"Even if you do explain, I don't know whether I'd believe you or not." As Sanem spoke, Can felt tears prick at his eyes. "You want to know why I didn't call you when I thought I was pregnant?" Sanem's question was rhetorical, Can staring at her in anguish. This was all a misunderstanding that he had caused. He had tried sparring her feelings by not telling her truth and now it had come back to bite him in the ass. "Because I don't think I can trust you anymore, Can."