Take Me To Your Heart

Victory

I wake up the next morning feeling completely disorientated. After a moment, I realize I am leaning against Ferit's chest, his arm around me, still on the couch in the living room dressed in our wedding attire. I'm thoroughly confused for the brief second before my brain fully wakes up. I guess we never made it upstairs last night.

I allow myself a moment to enjoy the feeling of being in his arms, shamelessly nuzzling into his neck and taking in his wonderful clean, woodsy scent. But I don't let myself linger in the bliss too long, sitting up, groaning as my entire body protests. Ferit is a very comfortable pillow, but the angle my neck was at was not at all pleasant. My groan awakens him and I see him react with confusion as he cracks an eyelid open.

"Good morning." He says, still half under the daze of sleep.

"Morning." I groan again, trying to crack my neck. I pick up my phone to try and get my bearings. Somehow despite our uncomfortable position, we have slept in. It's already nearly 10:30 in the morning. I open my phone to find a barrage of texts and calls from Ozan. I'm still too groggy for human communication, so I swipe the notification away and close my phone to deal with his nonsense later.

I hear Ferit's phone ping and he rises to grab it from the coffee table. "Oh wow." He mumbles. I look over and see he has been inundated with notifications too. What is going on?

"What?" I ask, stretching my back.

He looks at me, suddenly furious. "She's been texting and calling me all morning. She knows about our marriage."

I frown, confused. "What? How?"

"Why don't you tell me!" He roars, turning his body towards me.

I'm startled at his sudden anger. "What?"

"I can't believe you, really I can't." He's stands, shaking his head and gesturing wildly.

My eyes are wide with confusion as my brain scrambles to keep up. "Ferit, I don't understand. I didn't do anything! I didn't tell Deniz anything."

"Really!" He scoffs, throwing his hands up in the air. "Then how would she have found out about this, Sejal. Tell me."

"I have no idea." I look at him, trying to implore him to be calm with my eyes. "But, why are you accusing me?"

"Oh, sure." He bites out, turning away from me. "Like you haven't worked with her in the past."

He might as well have stabbed me.

I sit up, my entire body tense. Cold rage fills me. "You have got to be kidding me." I say, my voice low.

He turns back around, wagging his finger at me. "You talked to her before the hearing. She convinced you to testify against me. And now she just happens to find out our marriage is fake?"

"Ferit!" I yell, beyond furious. "You know how scared I am for Bulut. You know how much I'm giving up to try to protect him." My volume rises with each word. "Why would I jeopardize that? How can you speak to me like this?"

Ferit turns his back to me again, taking a deep breath. Even when he was angry at me before, he never yelled at me. I close my eyes, the pain settling in. He's never going to forgive me, I realize. Never going to trust me again.

What a stubborn, self-righteous ass.

"It wasn't me." I tell him, with an air of finality. This is over for me now, this pining. I'm not going to keep doing this to myself. I leave him to stew in his misplaced anger and head to my room, determined to rip this dress from my body if I have to. I can't bear to wear it any longer.