A MAN'S SORROW CUTS DEEPER

More than a sister...

Can sat and thought. But he did not sit alone. He sat with Mihriban. Somehow when she was near he always felt more peaceful. More calm. And this time was no different. She found a way to bring him hope, and made him think that all things are possible, if he put his mind in just the right place...

Can had not known Mihriban for long. Neither before nor after his accident. But there was something about her that made him feel safe. It made him feel important, and made him feel like he mattered. And that was a feeling new to his heart. He mattered to Sanem, and mattered to his father and his brother. But he always felt that void that Hüma left behind when she took Emre and left. Somehow Mihriban helped fill in that void, if even by a smile. She was more than a sister to Sanem, she proved to be one kindred spirit in his life as well. Her words to him were always inspired by the kindness of her heart and by the love she felt for Sanem.

After Aziz left, Can felt more alone than he could admit. But because his father trusted Mihriban, he knew he could trust her as well. He understood why Aziz fell in love with her, and why he loved her so much. Though he did not fully understand Aziz's decision to leave, he hoped that one day his father would come back to the love of his life, just as he was hoping to do...

As they sat on the steps of Sanem's house by the light of the stars he used to find refuge in, Can searched deep within his heart and all around him for the strength to keep fighting for Sanem. And he found that strength in Mihriban's kind words. Her words gave him more inspiration than he would have expected. But they began with a question. Was he not a man capable of speaking to Sanem and convincing her to stay by his side? That made him think. And that made him admit that he was scared. Scared to bring down his walls and let her back in. Scared to reach out with his heart for hers. He admitted that to Mihriban. Hearing him say that made her heart hurt for them both, and for them four. She knew how he felt because Aziz felt the same. And she knew how Sanem felt, because she felt her in her own heart. It may have been too late for her and Aziz, but she hoped with all the hope in her heart that it would not mean the end for Can and his Sanem.

She saw the loneliness in his heart. Though she did not know him for long, she knew the way he carried himself. Confident and self-assured. Filled with energy and knowledge that he could accomplish all. But the man that sat beside her was quiet. He was reserved, unsure of himself and so painfully touched by the loneliness that Sanem's leaving caused to his heart. She could not understand how Sanem had not seen how much and how quickly he fell back in love with her. He may not have remembered their love, his heart may not have felt it after the accident, but his soul never forgot it. He may not have remembered their love from before the accident, but his heart was filled to the brim with his new love for Sanem. She looked at Can, and a thought hit her. So he found his home. So the albatross finally found his safe harbor. In its true nature, the albatross in him would stay true to his love and would not seek any other heart to find refuge in. His heart belonged to Sanem. And that is where it would remain.

So she asked him another question. Was he ready to let her go? He wasn't ready to let her back in and confess his love to her. But was he really ready to let go of her hand? Ready for her to let go of his hand and his heart? Which hurt more? The fact that he was too afraid to open up again? Or the fact that once she let go, she would let go forever? And that thought struck the cord in his heart he had not realized existed. Mihriban may have asked a complex question, but she was right in saying the answer to that question was easiest one he ever came up with. No, no above all no. He was not ready. He would never be. All of his heart and all of his soul cried out within him and demanded his action. He should never give up! How could he?!?

The force of all of their love may not have been strong with him at that moment, but how could he deny what his soul already felt and his heart was beginning to understand as an undeniable truth. He was in love. As much now as he was back then. He did not know how he would make her come back to him, but he had no doubt the fight for their love would be well paid off in the end. And once they would hold each other once more, that bond would never be broken again...