Deniz and Zara was in their return flight to Paris. Zara didn't utter a word and kept silent during the whole flight. Deniz was also so busy with his online promotion campaign work. So, neither of them had a proper talk until they landed. Then, they directly headed to the Arnualds's mansion to meet their beloved family. And it was Camillie's request for them to stay few weeks with them without going back to their usual life. Since, everyone was shaken with the birthday night, Deniz agreed to her without a nagging. And that was Camillie's only relief. When the car entered through the gate, Peter came running behind to open the car door.
"Madam is waiting for you." He said to Deniz opening the door then started unloading the baggage.
Deniz nodded his head and went in leaving Zara with Peter.
"How is the family, Peter?" Zara asked.
"Madam is sad about something. Others are fine." He responded with a long face.
"How is yours?" Zara asked again.
"Not bad with Arnaulds. They are kind people who care about us." He said following Zara to the main hall.
Alina was writing a book when Zara entered her room. She was surprised to see Zara who had got more prettier in that blue dress.
"Love you." She hugged her with a warm kiss. "I missed you." she further added to her talk.
"Miss you too." Zara said while remaining in that embrace.
"Lying?" Alina replied. "You two were having a good time leaving us here." Her voice was a bit of sad. Zara smiled and sat beside her.
"Had a good time. But we invited you to join. You guys didn't agree."
"Deon didn't want to leave dad here. You know, company is his first priority. I think, I'm in the bottom of his list now." Alina expressed her feelings.
"He loves you Alina. I have seen his love for you. His eyes become bright when you're around."
"Ok then tell me, have you seen Deniz's eyes when you're around?" "No right? His eyes start smiling alone, shining alone, just to see your one glimpse." Alina replied in a rhyming manner. Zara enjoyed her words then both sisters laughed at each other.
"How was the journey?" Alina asked while having an evening tea with Zara.
"Great!" Zara's reply was short. And that was enough for Alina to realize her untold talk.
"Don't say you guys fought on trip. I know Deniz. He's such a sweet boy but with full of arrogance."
"Sweet? No. He's bitter than bitter-gourd. Totally a brat." Zara said.
"Who? Me?" Deniz came to them. Both sisters reacted weirdly seeing his face.
"No Deniz, we were talking about my cousin." Alina responded hurriedly before Zara opened her mouth.
"Ah, he is now in Scotland, right? When did Zara meet her? Even he didn't come to our wedding." Deniz asked back making Alina speechless.
"But I have talked to him when he phoned to Alina. He's publishing Alina's new book." Zara replied without a delay.
"Ok then, Mom called you to lobby. Come soon." Deniz left giving a good bye kiss to Alina. Alina also hugged him patting his shoulder.
"I wish, he believed us. Unless there will be another fight tonight." Zara said while looking at the door. She closed it and relieved a breath.
"I know, we shouldn't talk about him hereafter with open doors. Now, you better to leave." Alina said slowly.
"Ok then"
Zara followed Deniz to the lobby. But there was no one except Deniz's puppy, 'Rex'. Zara sat down and cuddled him for some time. Rex mostly loves to be with Deniz when he's playing guitar. But, ever since, Deniz had changed his habits, Zara was the only person who cared about Rex.
"Zara" Deniz called from his room.
"Coming." Zara went up running.
"Tired or hungry? She asked from his bitter gourd husband sweetly.
"Both. Ask mom to arrange something and find my blue shirt. It's not in the luggage." Deniz was searching it madly. Whole room was full of his shirts and pants.
"Rex is better than you. He knows where to find his missing bones. Look patiently Deniz." Zara gave the shirt taking out from the cupboard.
"You and your logics. Did your patience find this?"
"No, my memory found this. You didn't keep this shirt with you because this was Esmee's last gift. That's why, you didn't bring this to our house." Zara answered in a resigned manner. "But soon after we returned, you remembered Esmee after many days. I don't know what's going on." She was sad and a bit of angry.
"Stop talking rubbish Zara. I just have a function tomorrow that has blue theme."
Zara didn't say a word and walked back to the down stair. She just knew that Deniz's behavior was different.
In the hall she bumped into Deon who was in a hurry.
"Hi! Where's Deniz?" That was Deon's greeting. It was short and bustling. Zara couldn't understand anything and nodded her head with a fake smile. But he didn't wait for Zara's reaction and stepped up quickly like a released arrow. Again, Zara got into her deep negative thoughts thinking about Deniz.
Dining table was full of French dishes, but chairs were empty. Deniz and Deon went out for dinner and Albert was on a business trip. Zara and Alina were sitting without eating, looking into each other's faces. Alina gobbled few bites and put the spoon aside.
"Eat a bit Zara. Brothers will have dinner together."
After some time, David came to them saying, "What are sisters in law talking? About my bad boys?"
Both girls looked at his laughing face and tried to change the atmosphere, there.
"Where's mom, dad?" Zara asked. "She didn't take lunch properly too."
"She needs a rest. Don't worry Zara, I won' let her to sleep hungry." David responded.
"How adorable dad. You love her immensely." Alina said.
"Because she's my lifeline. And I don't know how to live without her."
"I wish, our hubbies followed their dad." When Alina said that, both Zara and David started laughing.
"I think, they love you two, more than I do. But the difference is, they don't show it like I do. My timid brats, always follow their mom."
"Don't stay hungry for them. No matter how much they run away, they'll come back to your bed." He proceeded his talk.
"We're waiting dad." Alina replied smilingly.
David could ease their minds a bit. But Zara was a bit of shaky, having bad dreams.
"Mom is lucky." She said to Alina looking at David, leaving with a food plate.
"What happened to mom Alina? She looked so weak." Zara asked with while pouring milk into her cup.
"Mom shares everything with me. But this time she is quiet. Probably problem is related to her sons."
"Sons? Why do you say so?" Zara was surprised to ask.
"She doesn't like to share the problems of Deon and Deniz. That's her personal zone. We, daughters in law are always out of it." Alina replied having a bite.
"I feel bad for her. I know, how excited she was for Deniz's birthday."
"It's past Zara. We all should forget it and move forward. Even I try to make Deon understand this. But no use.." Alina said leaving a long breath to the air.
Both of them looked tired of their husbands' unexpected behaviors. But kept their feelings inside, thinking about a peaceful marriage life.
'Both brothers have the same issue. Soo impatient. Pray for their wives.'
Julius self-expressed while speeding his car.
He was on the way to club and got several missed calls from Deon repeatedly. Since that time was a busy hour in Paris, it was not easy to reach them on time even though, being close by. But again, he increased the car speed, ignoring Deon's calls and messages.
"Why did you bring me here?" Deniz asked from his brother. "For whom are you waiting? I want to go back home. Zara is waiting for me."
"Isn't Alina waiting for me? She's waiting for me as well. Stop being mom's baby now Deniz. We have a strange talk, be ready for that and…, let's have something strong until the third one comes."
"You have told me that earlier too." Deniz said annoyingly and started watching his new song trailer in 'You tube'.
"How many viewers?" Deon asked peeking into his phone.
"Still 17M. But my last trailer got more than 50M within few hours. I don't know what's happening. My production team is making issues too. I called to Julie but not reachable."
"Don't worry Deniz. I'll talk with dad. He will arrange something for the song release. This is just a trailer." Deon tried to pacify his moody younger brother.
"But Deon, for whom are we waiting? First you said that we're going out for dinner. Then we're waiting for your friend in a club. You're just behaving like grandpa now. Always changing plans."
"Of course. I'm his grandson. But he loves you more. So sad." Deon changed the topic.
"I don't know that. But I'm pretty sure dad loves you more." Deniz responded back.
"He doesn't love me more but he gets angry on you frequently. And you're totally responsible for that Deniz. You never think of family first. You always think of yourself and then your ego comes."
"You mean, I'm selfish? What a good thought." Deniz angrily said.
"Why not? Look at you. Even now also, you're answering prioritizing your ego. Grow up Deniz. You're not mom's little monkey now."
"You know, I think we can never have a chat patiently. I'm going. You wait for your friend." Deniz got up to go throwing his glass onto the floor.
Since the glass made a loud noise while breaking into pieces, all the people around looked at them surprisingly.
"Sorry. It slipped from my hand." Deniz apologized to them and started collecting glass pieces. So, they all turned back to their tables not being able to recognize Deniz under those blue LED lights.
"So, this is how you think of us, right?" Deon whispered to Deniz while joining to him. "If not for the family, at least for you. You're a Rockstar Deniz, don't create news here." He further added in a fume.
"Happy to see you brothers with a broken glass." Julius said being lowered towards them.
Deon got up soon after he saw Julius. But shocked Deniz took some time to stand up.
"Get up young man." Julius extended his left hand to him.
"Thanks." Deniz grabbed his hand and Julius lifted him with no time.
"You're strong." Deniz was amazed with his action. He patted on Julius's sturdy biceps. "So good to be a detective."
"Did you guys call me to admire my body?" Julius asked stroking his hair.
"I called you not Deniz. But for our remaining discussion he should be here." Deon said.
"I thought of going home. Zara is waiting for me." Deniz said while trying to escape from that hard discussion.
"Are you afraid of Zara or Julius?" Deon's words were sharp.
"Oh guys, stop fighting here. I'll start with the final result of my investigation. But I hope, you two stay calm." Julius talked in between.
Deniz quietly sat again beside Julius. Deon didn't talk either. He was eagerly waiting to know the culprit. So, he didn't even open his mouth.
"After finding different evidences, I decided to follow foot prints on that day. Since apart from you two, there wasn't anyone who wears branded shoes on that area, right?" He asked from Deon.
"Ya. Only workers were there and the birthday party was on the other side of the house."
"But Deon, it's where the fire got started. So, I think, the purpose of the fire was not to harm anyone but to destroy the birthday. But unexpectedly, fire spread towards the party because of Kerosene."
Deon was listening mutely. But Deniz didn't concern about his talk and was checking his phone with a drink.
"Foot prints were amazing. There were three shoe types. But after eliminating Deon's, there were two sizes of John Lobb's. One was Deniz's and the other one belongs to a girl."
"Girl of size 11?" Deon was surprised to ask. "Who is that girl? Why did she do that?" He had lots of questions to find answers.
"Oh! Wait Deon. Answer is with Deniz. And he himself answered to me earlier. Right Deniz?" Julius looked at Deniz who was not in the chat for a long time. Deniz raised his head up and looked at his frantic brother who was so keen to know the culprit.
"You said that yesterday too Julius. If Deniz knew her, he would have told me by now. I asked him earlier today too. But he didn't say anything. That's why I arrange this meeting. So, we can openly talk."
"It's Esmee" Deniz said boldly disturbing to Deon's talk. "Now you know her, so relax." He said calmly.
"What?" Deon couldn't believe his words.
"Yes Deon. The footprint I showed you yesterday was Esmee's. After Deniz confirmed that, I checked with the store and that pair was purchased by her a year ago."
"It was my last year birthday gift." Deniz interrupted. "But its size was small. So, she took it back and gifted me another."
Deon angrily drank a glass of water. He was extremely upset and hurt.
"I didn't except this from Esmee. She was a sweet girl. I always adore her as my own sister." He said.
"I think, she still loves me Deon."
"Love you? What a rubbish! She is roaming with Noah." Deon replied harshly.
"He's her business partner. Stop saying nonsense." It was Deniz's reply.
"Deniz, Deon, I think you both should go home. I did my job, now you must deal with it carefully. Specially being together, not fighting with each other." Julius tried to handle the brothers. But neither of them looked listening to him. They both were drinking even without showing their faces to each other.
"Deniz did nothing Deon. He just helped me to find the culprit. Can you understand his feelings right now? He's hurt too." Deon left the place even before Julius finished his last line. Deniz looked at his brother who was leaving without a greeting.
"Sorry for Deon." Deniz said to Julius. "He's struggling with our family business badly. Directors are pressurizing him too. Because of this incident, we have lost few deals lately."
"I know Deniz. I know my friend for years and this is the first time seeing his anger. He's a nice man with a kind heart." Julius responded. "And I'm happy to see your maturity. You're dealing with this really well. But one advice Deniz, don't trust Esmee much. She's not so innocent. Be careful."
"Thanks Julius. You did a great job." Deniz said while hugging him.