Chapter 9

'Shut up!'

'Alright, my friend, I didn't say anything much.'

When Serkan saw Ethan's anger, he chose not to push the provocation further and turned to talk to the manager.

As for Meral, she didn't know whether to cry over being stained with dessert or over the scandal she had been subjected to; she had unintentionally disgraced herself and disgraced Ethan along with her. Her clothes were clinging to her and smelling of chocolate from every direction.

She began trying to remove traces of chocolate and cream from her hair, and when she saw a tissue extended before her eyes, she raised her gaze to find the owner of the tissue.

It was the very same woman who had asked her the question at the table. She took the tissue with a word of thanks and began cleaning her clothes.

'I'm truly surprised, actually.'

Because Meral didn't understand the woman's intent, she felt the need to ask, so she turned her body toward her and looked at her with incomprehension.

'I didn't understand?'

'I mean Ethan, how could he possibly marry you?'

Meral smiled with the blissful dullness of a lover at Merv's question, looking at her with a flushed face, failing to catch the sarcastic tone in the woman's voice due to the tension of the moment.

'Everything happened very fast, but we love each other very much.' She said it without being able to stop her smile, or at least that was how she felt, recalling the day of their first wedding and how happy she was on that day.

Merv couldn't help but laugh mockingly at Meral's behavior.

Meanwhile, Meral thought she hadn't said anything funny, and wondered why the woman in front of her was laughing like that.

'I never expected to laugh like this at all, you're truly naive! Until today, I thought the reason Ethan didn't bring you to the business dinner was because he wanted to protect you even from people's gazes, but I see it's not like that.'

'What on earth are you hinting at?!'

Meral tried to control her tone of voice but failed, so her voice came out higher than usual, but that no longer mattered; she had to know what this woman's problem was. She cast a dark, uncomprehending look, for the woman was looking at her as if she were an insect beneath her feet.

'What I'm saying is completely clear, actually, but it seems your comprehension capacity is very low; the real reason Ethan didn't want to bring you along is that he feels ashamed of you—you don't suit him at all!'

'But I'm with him now! And if he didn't want me by his side, he wouldn't have brought me today, right? Which means he sees me as suitable for him!'

Meral smiled joyfully, believing she had silenced the woman; she didn't want to allow this woman to humiliate her, and she had indeed cornered her, or so Meral thought.

'Let me tell you why he brought you along: the manager made it very clear that spouses must attend too, and if he hadn't brought you, he would have disobeyed the manager's order.'

Merv looked with amusement at Meral's shattered face. So what then? Did she really think Ethan had invited her to this dinner of his own free will? What a pathetic woman!

Meral didn't want to cry; she didn't want to cry or appear weak in front of this woman, but she couldn't restrain herself, and her tears betrayed her, falling one after another in silence down her cheeks.

Realizing she could no longer remain here, Meral rushed out of the restroom, feeling as though she couldn't breathe from crying so much. She had taken many harsh words throughout her life, but she had never heard anything quite this cruel. She felt like the ugliest creature on the face of the earth, and whenever she remembered the woman's insulting words and the mocking gazes of the people at the dinner, she sank into fits of sobbing.

As for Ethan, he had begun to feel anxious because Meral still hadn't returned; perhaps she had gotten into a new trouble, and this anxiety was heightened by the fact that Merv hadn't returned either—he never trusted Merv, and her behavior was unpredictable.

Deniz was nowhere to be seen either, and Ethan was so angry that he hadn't noticed his son leaving the table; he had likely gotten absorbed in playing with the children.

He couldn't focus on the conversations going on at the table; his mind was entirely fixed on Meral.

Ethan noticed his child when he came running, pushing his sweat-matted hair back, and Deniz looked somewhat worried, which made Ethan certain that something was amiss.

'What is it, Deniz?' he asked in a calm voice, not wanting to show his anger to his son, even though his hurried state frightened him.

'Daddy, Meral is crying,' Deniz said in a sad voice, and the young man nearly understood what had transpired.

'Deniz, you go to Meral and I'll follow you.'

Deniz nodded in agreement with his father and ran toward Meral, who was huddled near the wall, pulling her legs to her chest and sobbing. What she had experienced today was too heavy for her to bear, and Deniz stood confused, not knowing what to do in front of this sight, so he sat beside her and began patting her back since there was nothing else he could do.

'Don't cry, Meral, I promise I won't call you a panda again.'

As for Merv, she looked mockingly at the girl who had run away crying, believing the truths were too heavy for her to bear, and whispered to herself, 'Poor thing.' Not wanting to occupy her mind with these absurdities any longer, she pulled out her makeup bag and began freshening up her cosmetics. When she noticed the complete absence of any makeup on Meral's face except for the lipstick, she smiled mockingly once more; a woman cares about such a night, even if just a little, but it seemed her stupid brain didn't help her think of that. She couldn't deny that her skin looked beautiful and pure despite wearing no makeup, but what was the effort after she ended up with such massive cheeks...