Chapter 4

Hande pulled her eyes from the cold greens and forced a smile to her father standing in front of her, took the juice from the table and began to drink it.  Even though he looked the other way, he felt that all eyes were on him.  Wherever those eyes touched, it was freezing!  He felt the coldness on his neck and shoulder right now.  She was distracted when she heard her mother's voice as she shivered.

 "I see you very excited. You surprised me."

 Hande forced a smile at her mother, trying not to look to her side.

 "I am. So excited. It is not easy, even as a team, I have my signature on the discovery of the underground city. This is a proud event. They chose me as a speaker. My excitement will pass soon."

 

 "I'm proud of you. What else does a mother want? Isn't it, Demir?"

 

 Demir pulled his uneasy gaze out of his head and looked at his wife, then at Hande.

 

 "That's right. Whatever a parent wants, we have seen more than enough in our daughter. We are proud of you. You will handle that speech with great success."

 While Hande was throwing her excitement, her eye caught Seza, who was about to melt next to her.  Seza looked at the young man who was staring at her from time to time without blinking her eyes.  He was a complete idiot!  She had not known her friend since she fell in love.

 

 Answering the questions of the press, Hande looked at Kerem out of the corner of her eye while talking to the people who came to her.  Kerem Karahan, a man who holds the glass in his hand and speaks with a serious expression to those around him, who appears before an official celebration and the press without wearing a suit!  With a black trousers and a black shirt and a black sports jacket he was wearing, he was both inconsistent and inconsistent.  He couldn't help but be surprised when he looked at the crowd around him.  A contrary man and the people around him created a contrasting situation.  It was strange that he hadn't heard his name until now.  He had even attended high school outside the province, and it was normal for him not to hear.  It was only Kerem's parents whose name he heard in his family.  His attention was lost when his name was called.

 

 "Hello hand."

 Hande smiled at the caller and extended her hand.

 "Hello prose. How are you?"

 

 "I'm fine, but I'm excited. The real burden is on you, but you're calmer. I've always envied you."

 Hande took the ice-cold water from the tray in the hands of the passer-by and drank a sip, and got a little closer to Nesrin.

 "I'm excited but I don't reflect it. It's like our team has disintegrated. Actually, it will be better if we come together. Then we can hardly get together. It wouldn't be nice if one of us was missing in the photo. Because the effort is all of us."

 Nesrin looked around uneasily and turned back to Hande.

 "Actually, you're right, everyone is on one side. Anyway, now the cine-vision show starts and things calm down a bit. Does watching the first images of the underground city, our first reaction on the screen increase your excitement too? The moon is on my feet. It feels strange to see myself on the screen."

 

 While Nesrin's chirpy speech comforted Hande, it also caused her to laugh.  It was like that when Nesrin was digging.  She was always an excited, talkative girl who approached everyone with the same sincerity.  Although they weren't very friendly with Hande, they weren't official either, she.

 "You're so excited and you surprised me a lot. I hadn't thought of that at all. Calm down, we'll start soon, we'll watch together."

 While Nesrin took deep breaths and suppressed her excitement, everyone looked carefully at the stage as the atmosphere moved and the press focused on the speaker on the stage.

 After the speaker gave a short welcome and a short speech explaining the reason for the meeting, everyone held their breath and watched as the images appeared on the giant screen.

 With the names and images of the Bilkent University archeology team coming to the screen one by one, stirrings began.  Hande moved into the middle of her parents.  He put his hands on their hips and watched with excitement.  When the image of Hande with her backpack and hat on her head appeared on the screen, she was the target of a few curious glances.

 

 When Kerem saw Hande with one hand in his pocket and the other on the glass screen, he turned his gaze to Hande for a moment.  His haughty gaze was present even when he was at work!  No matter how much he laughed and posed beautifully for the screen, he was proud!  Now he was watching himself on the screen, feeling the same upright posture and proud, though unseen, eyes.

 

 After watching the joy, celebration and hugs of the underground city and the archeology team found after the presentation was over, it was time for the historical artifacts to be found.  The screen went black as the historical artifacts were found, examined, and guessed during the excavation.  It was time for the artifacts, which were hidden in glass cemekans, covered with gold-coloured covers.  While the press and guests were invited to see the works, the covers were opened one by one.

 

 While the crowd murmurs among themselves, while the historical artifacts are looking at the historical artifacts, the guests talking with admiration and excitement.  While everyone was examining the works one by one, Hande showed her mother her favorite work.

 "This impressed me a lot. When I first received it, I thought about who it was. Who had it made for whom, how did he feel when he received it. How did the owner feel when he wore it. I am more interested in the spiritual aspect of the work than its material value. First feelings are very important. It is as if the person who wears this necklace I felt your feelings from my heart. How beautiful isn't it?"

 

 While Hande was looking at the necklace they found with admiring eyes, her gaze was pensive, just like her speech.  Her mother forcibly took her eyes off the necklace she was looking at with admiration.

 one

 "Hande, that's beautiful. I never thought about it from your point of view. I wondered how you felt."

 Hande focused her eyes on the necklace as she held her mother's hand lovingly and smiled.

 "Maybe I think it's strange. I don't know. I think that those lifeless works have souls. Spirit, heart, language. As for how I feel, it may sound strange to you, but I felt love. The love of the man who made this necklace and the love of the one he loved when he gifted it to his beloved is the deepest part of my heart. I felt it deep inside."

 

 Handan took his daughter's hand lovingly and looked at him proudly.

 

 "I'm proud of you. You explained it so well. Now my view of this necklace has changed. I was thinking about its financial value while I was looking at it, but now I feel the feelings of the person who wears it, makes it, and got it done."

"Hand!"

 As Hande's attention was diverted by her name being called, she turned to Seza.  His face was red again, and he had some news for sure.  While looking at Seza, behind him was someone who didn't know what he had come for.  He is someone who is not interested in the works and is bored in every way.  Kerem Karahan!  When she looked at this man, her bored inside was in contrast to her previous feelings.  He turned his attention to her as Seza excitedly approached him.

 

 "Ay Hande. Am I dead? Put your hand on my heart."

 

 Hande smiled involuntarily as she looked at him with eyes that did not understand.  Seza's face was a burgundy color and she was out of breath.

 "I don't need to put my hand on your heart. I see that it's beating from here. When you die, it's like your heart will burst out with that palpitation. That's when you can die. What happened, Seza? I think you come to the point."

 After looking back, Seza began to speak in the same excited trembling voice.

 "How can you be so calm even in the most exciting places? I spoke to Erdem. You wouldn't believe what he said to me!"

 

 "I promise I will believe it."

 

 She put her hand over her heart and closed her eyes.  After taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes and moved a little closer to Hande.

 "You dazzled me. You're getting prettier. Ay Hande said I can't believe it. Pinch me and I'm not dreaming. Please."

 

 Hande suppressed the urge to laugh and pressed her lips.  When he caught Erdem's eye, he saw her looking at Seza with admiring eyes, and he was filled with joy.  Erdem's eyes were full of love.  Seza was not mistaken in her feelings, but she had better get out of her stupid state.

 

 "That's right. You look really beautiful. By the way, Erdem is looking at you."

 Seza couldn't believe what she heard and held her heart.

 "Are you serious? Please tell me you're not kidding. Or I'll die seriously."

 This time, Hande couldn't hold back her laughter and put her hand on Seza's shoulder while laughing.

 one

 "Love. Is it sarcastic? Look, he's looking even now. You know what surprises me?"

Seza looked at Hande with incomprehensible eyes.

 "I do not know."

 "I knew it. Now we've drawn the world's attention to our country, to our city. For God's sake, have you looked at what we found?"

 

 "No, I didn't, but I was going to look. I lost my mind when Erdem said that. What did you find?"

 one

 Hande sighed and placed her glass on the table.

 "Everything but your brain. I'm going to the team, you keep dying."

 

 While Hande was walking to her teammates with slow steps, Seza played with the necklace in her throat and closed her eyes.  His heart was beating like crazy.  Thinking about what he had just heard, he didn't even care about the historical artifact.

 

 ***

 "Friends, the attention has exceeded our expectations. I congratulate you all again. You have worked diligently, this success is yours."

 "Thank you, sir. We could not have worked with such determination without your guidance and motivation. I am proud of our country."

 "That's why I chose you as my speaker. You don't need to write first. I like your impromptu speech. You talk and I'll do a short interview."

 "Easy, sir."

 Hande started talking to her teammates while happily looking behind her teacher.  While everyone was dispersing one by one, Hande went to the necklace found again.  He was distracted by the voice he heard as he stared at it without blinking.

"Isn't it beautiful?"

 While she was looking at Hande Nesrin and smiling, her smile faded when she saw the person next to her.  What did Nesrin and this man have to do with it?  He shouldn't have reflected in his voice what he didn't show on the outside.

 

 "It's really beautiful. This necklace impressed me the most. I can't take my eyes off it."

 "I know. You had the same reaction when we found it, and your reaction hasn't changed."

 "Like that."

 "I forgot to introduce you. Kerem Karahan is my cousin. Kerem, this is my friend from the team, Hande. Hande İnanoğlu."

 

 While Hande shuddered with icy eyes, she nodded and tried to smile without extending her hand.  It wasn't like she could afford to meet someone she had never met well, until Kerem reached out her hand.  He looked at the outstretched hand for a moment and was uneasy.  Nesrin's incomprehensible gaze and Hande's not extending her hand. All the while, in a few seconds, Kerem turned his gaze to her.

 one

 "It's customary to say I'm satisfied, but I don't like customs and traditions."

 

 While Hande's dark brown eyes turned black with anger, she tried not to reflect the same anger in her voice.

 "I like customs and traditions, according to their place. You will not be satisfied, if you do not like customs and traditions, you know that shaking hands is one of those traditions. Then there is no need for it."

 

 Kerem took his hand that was left in the air with an unbreakable expression and put it in his pocket.  Hande was still looking at Kerem with a relieved expression, while looking around with desperate hard eyes.  Nesrin looked at the two of them as if she was speechless, trying to figure out what had happened.  She knew Kerem and could more or less predict her movements, but Hande?  Although he did not know Hande very well, he could not make any sense of what he was talking about right now.  While regretting introducing her, Hande gave her attention when her name was mentioned and made a hand gesture with her hand.

 

 "Nesrin, I have to go for the speech. See you."

 Hande looked at Kerem for a moment with the same proud eyes.  He looked into her icy, fiery but contrasting eyes and quickly walked away.

 one

 "I think your friend is mentally ill."

 

 While Nesrin looked at Kerem with confused eyes, she was surprised at what to say.  There was definitely something he didn't know.  His voice was a murmur as he spoke.

 "On the contrary. I'm used to seeing you like this, but this is the first time I've seen Hande like this. It's interesting."

 one

 When the name of Hande was announced, she took the stage with applause.  There was nothing of excitement on him as he picked up the microphone and spoke.  While he was proud of his family and team with his upright stance, that stance was disturbing others...

"I am truly honored to have gathered here tonight. Another work we have done on behalf of our beautiful country has finished with pride. The past of our beautiful Turkey is under the curiosity of many countries around the world. Now we have gathered all the attention again, with the beauties of our history. It is my heart to wish that our country is always full of beauty. Let it be remembered, unfortunately. We worked tirelessly together with our team and introduced the historical artifacts you have just seen. Those who don't have a past have no future. I believe that we will reach beautiful futures by working hard and determined together!"

 

 While Hande ended her speech between flashes of camera shots and applause, the presenter took the microphone and began to speak.

 "We would like to thank Hande İnanoğlu, who made a speech from the archeology team. We would like to thank Kerem Karahan, the owner of Karahan holding, who attracted attention with the investments he made in this field in Turkey and made those investments in Nevşehir, and Hande İnanoğlu on behalf of the Bilkent University archeology team." We invite you to the stage to present the award!”

 

 Hande remained motionless as the applause rose.  Kerem was slowly coming through the crowd with the same cold and serious expression.  The cameras were recording, the flashes were going off, the applause was getting louder.  As the lava scattering from the erupting volcano inside Hande burned all her cells, the person who would receive the award was getting closer and closer.  And while his cold gaze was turning the lava inside him into ice floes, it hurt to take the prize from the hand of the man he hadn't shaken his hand before.

 

 The lava emitted by the volcano that had just erupted inside had turned into ice.  But a small part of smoldering will soon melt and disappear;  He felt that the lava would run through his veins, burning all his cells.  He didn't know why, but he felt that meeting with this man would be more frequent, and while he felt it, he didn't feel that the smoldering part of the lava spewed by that volcano was above his heart, he knew...