If Only

Chapter 4 : The Team Up

It was time for Ayse to present her new project in front of Kerem, Ceyda, Mushin Baba, Samet, and Hulya. She has been working on it day and night and she was exhausted and excited to present it.

She enters the room and she could feel it. Kerem was tense, his gaze was tough and seems heartless. She swallows, she could sense it was going to be war. Ceyda and Kerem were going to destroy all her ideas and arguments, and she would come out of here exhausted and unarmed.

During the whole meeting, Kerem was harsh with his words because every time she presented something she has done with Omer's help, every time Kerem had many critics on it. If it was her idea he was ok with it, but once it was presented under Omer's help, the idea was null, without creativity.
Ayse did not want to take credits for something she hasn't done, it was Omer's work that put into life her ideas and she could not stop to please his artistic ability. Whenever she tried to defend her idea / her project, it seems hopeless because the team Kerem/Ceyda swept away all his proposals with the back of their hand.

Even Mushin had to intervene because they were going nowhere, it was more a kill without tweezers than a professional meeting. Ayse was about to cry, she has to restrain herself to yell because their remarks were more and more hurtful, it was like they were enjoying themselves to be that cruel. She was done, they could go to hell but she decided that she will play along with fake smiles and calm attitudes...

Kerem was looking and listening to her and every time she has only the name Omer in her lips, "he helps me to present that way.. if you don't like it, Omer can change the background color, etc.". This whole attitude rubbed him the wrong way, and it starts to increase the sound of her voice and to denigrate that idea. He could not prevent it, he was doing it not on purpose. He was lucky that Ceyda was also enjoying this moment because otherwise he could have been proven guilty of jealousy.
He met her eyes and he saw it, all his words had an immediate effect on her. She could act like a calm, tough person but her eyes were saying otherwise.
Indeed this pair of hazel eyes are the most expressive parts of their owner but they could not lie... and what he saw inside them broke him immediately, he understood he went too far. She was sad, she was about to break into tears so he had to find a way to stop the meeting right now on a positive note. He needs to find a parade or he will lose her trust forever. Yes, he was stubborn because he could not stand the name of Omer but she was tenacious to bring this caption around him, in his territory.

So Kerem stops the meeting because he had a phone conference with his mentor so he could not miss it. He sends everyone away, even Ceyda who wanted to stay alone with him for a debriefing.
He saw Ayse leaving the conference room without losing any minute, puffing and without looking at him. This whole idea made him dizzy because he wants her to apologize for everything and coming back to him, not sending her away in Omer's arms.

Ayse was furious against Kerem. If he wanted to critic her works without listening or looking at it, he could have done in private. This time he went too far because he criticized all works from Samet and pregnant Hulya. He even forgot that his niece was in the room and he could have caused a premature delivery with all his harsh words!
When she left the room, the first thing she has done was to call him "A bear", and she was nice because even a bear has a heart. So to cool her off, she decided to breathe outside.

Kerem decided he should go on the terrace to calm down because his pulse was high by the simple idea of Omer's embrace. He acrosses the whole company, he is in the middle of the hallway and he hides behind some long clothes because he can hear Ceyda's heels sound from afar. He has always recognized that noise and it was his ability to demask her and to hide before she founds him. He has always done it when he was going out since she entered the company, thanks to her parents' friendship.
He was lucky, one more minute, he would have found himself in front of Ceyda.