TWO BIRDS OF A FEATHER

Second chances...

Life is made up of ups and downs. Victories and failures. Good and bad moments. Likewise, life comes with something not always recognized for its power. And that is the power of second chances. A second chance offers a way of redeeming oneself. It offers a stepping stone toward the future, forgoing the pas regardless of how painful or disappointing the past may have been. But, as powerful as a second chance may prove to be, it first must be offered...

Can was still fuming from the way his day began, when he learned of the way Fabri treated him and the agency. He was still furious at Deren for trusting Aylin the way she did, when Emre called to let him know that Hüma wanted to speak with them. In actuality, she did not ask for it, she demanded it. Like it or not, Can agreed with Emre that if they had not given in to her demand, she would have nagged at them for as long as it took, just to get her way. So, Can shook his head in disbelief and agreed to come home to hear his mother out. He reasoned that the sooner he heard her out, the sooner it would have been over.

When he arrived home, Hüma was already irritated at the fact that he was not home waiting for her first. It was so much like her to show how displeased she was with whatever Can did or did not do. But, this time she did not scold him. At least not much. Instead, she asked both Can and Emre to hear her out. What she told them took them aback. It was not that they reacted in shock. They reacted in disbelief. And Hüma began to slowly believe that she would end up marching out of the room in a victory dance because she ruined Aziz Divit's picture perfect image by announcing that she left him because he had cheated...

But... She over estimated her punchline and overcalculated her position. True, Can and Emre never expected to hear that their father could have been unfaithful. But they also knew all too well that Hüma's side of the story was not only incomplete, it also was only her side of the story. Though Hüma tried to make her case stronger by crying, Can advised Emre that his father's mistake - even if he had made one, did not erase the fact that it was Hüma who chose to leave him behind. That was her choice, and hers alone.

Whatever Hüma chose to say about Aziz, Can knew his father, and he knew his nature. More importantly, he understood Aziz and he saw firsthand how difficult life for his father was when Hüma left with Emre. The way Can saw it, Aziz worked through the sorrow in his heart, whereas Hüma chose to leave with Aziz's money and agency's shares just so she did not have to work a day in her life. And there was no way Can was going to believe Hüma that she left broken hearted and without a dime in her wallet.

Since Hüma realized that her plan to bash Aziz did not work as well as she had hoped it would have, she moved one step further. She warned his sons not to act upon their feelings but make decisions based on logic. She looked at Can and advised him bluntly that just as Emre acted with emotions with regards to Aylin, Can was doing the same thing when it came to Sanem.

That was the last straw for Can. He obliged Hüma and came home to listen to what she had to say. To hear her out. Whether he was going to believe her or not no longer mattered. He would never sit or stand idly when she bashed Sanem - or worse, when she compared Sanem to Aylin. He felt his temper flare and he let it guide his words. He told Hüma that there was no way he would allow her to speak about Sanem that way. Never. That hurt Hüma's pride. So Hüma warned him with more harsh words. She told him that the agency wasn't only his property. And she did not blink twice before pointing out with her Hüma-famous superiority that she was not warning him as his mother, she was warning him as a partner of the agency. She thought she made her point clear, but the only thing she made clear to Can was that he did not matter to her as a son, and he mattered even less to her as a mere employee of the agency. He stormed off without giving her another minute of attention.

On the other side of the city, there was another restless soul that was searching for even a single second of peace in her heart. Deren walked alongside the Bosphorus, knowing that there wasn't a place where she would be able to find solace or refuge. She had nowhere to go and no one to turn to. She was never the type of woman to give up or give in. But this time she was. She devoted her entire life to Fikri Harika, and she single-handedly turned that into ashes. She never would have imagined that the agency's future or reputation could suffer because of her deeds. She sat down on the bench, and watched the waters of Bosphorus clash relentlessly against its concrete shore. She felt the cool breeze on her face. And none of it compared to the painful numbness she felt inside.