As soon as I entered the hall, I saw Demir gripping the pathetic guy by the collar, yelling in his face, while a couple of people tried to pull him away. Before I could even ask what was happening, Demir slammed his fist into the man's face.
I let out an involuntary scream and clapped my hands over my mouth.
When the man collapsed to the floor, Demir lunged at him again. Snapping out of my shock, I panicked and grabbed Demir's arm.
"Demir, that's enough! Calm down!"
When he tried to pull away, I held on tighter.
"Let go, Aylin! Someone needs to teach this bastard a lesson!"
"Stop! Get a grip! You'll get us into serious trouble!"
The look he gave me was so frightening that I nearly let go of his arm.
The man on the ground, groaning in pain with his face covered in blood, didn't help my feelings either. But unfortunately, I was the only one who could stop Demir.
I spoke again, more calmly.
"I don't know what happened, but I'm sure he got the message, Demir. Let's go. He's not worth getting arrested over."
"He's not—but you are!"
Caught off guard by his words, I loosened my grip, and he broke free and grabbed the man by the collar again. Without hesitation, he landed another solid punch square in the middle of his face. Cursing my own stupidity, I grabbed his arm again.
"Demir! You'll kill him! Stop it! Please, let's go. For my sake, let go of this creep."
He raised his hand to strike again, but as soon as I finished speaking, he let out a breath, snapped something angrily at the man, and stood up with me.
"Wait a second."
Before leaving, he walked over to Jamie, who was watching in shock. He said something to him, and Jamie's face turned pale. He tried to stammer a response, but Demir nodded as if satisfied and punched him hard as well.
As the poor guy doubled over, clutching his nose, Demir turned to me.
"Now we can go."
I nodded numbly, unsure what to say, as he grabbed my wrist and led me outside. I followed him in silence until we reached the car, where I finally stopped and pulled my hand free.
"Tell me right now what happened, or I'm not going anywhere, Demir."
He sighed heavily, leaned against the hood, and ran his hands through his hair.
"All the outfits they made you wear during the test shoot were just for show. If you hadn't stopped at that dress, they would've kept giving you smaller and more revealing clothes."
I narrowed my eyes suspiciously.
"What do you mean?"
"They were planning to turn you into an underwear model, Aylin."
I frowned in confusion.
"But that makes no sense. Why start with those outfits then?"
"They probably didn't want to scare you off right away. They thought easing you into it would make it easier to convince you. Besides, those photos were only meant for the other company partner to see. They were going to use them to decide things like the terms and duration of working with you."
"That's even more ridiculous. There are tons of professional models who'd do this willingly. Why go through all this trouble for me? I'm not even a model!"
"I don't know, but that guy seemed pretty obsessed with you."
"I knew there was a reason I didn't like that creep. I don't just dislike people for no reason."
I shook my head angrily.
He placed a hand on my shoulder and spoke again with a forced smile.
"Don't worry. He won't bother you anymore. I made sure they get rid of all your photos. And they know that if they try anything shady, they'll end up in even bigger legal trouble—and that I'm fully aware of it. So relax."
I smiled and nodded, but what really bothered me was something else.
"There's one more thing I'm curious about. Instead of just saying no to the contract and leaving, why did you attack him like that?"
His face tightened again with anger as he answered sharply.
"When you went inside to change, that bastard first asked me to convince you. When I said that was impossible, he suggested I at least keep the truth from you—and then even offered me money for it."
After a brief pause, I turned angrily and would've stormed back into the warehouse if he hadn't grabbed my arm.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?"
I tried to yank my arm free angrily.
"Let go, Demir! I need to kill that piece of shit! Let me go!"
The more I struggled, the tighter he held on. Finally deciding he had no other choice, he wrapped his arms around me from behind, crossed my wrists over my chest, and held them firmly. After struggling a bit longer, I finally stopped. He leaned his head over my shoulder and asked,
"Okay? Have you calmed down?"
I turned my face slightly toward him and glared.
"No, I'm not calm, Demir! I just can't move anymore because the more I struggle, the tighter you squeeze—like a damn python!"
He laughed and rested his head on my shoulder.
"You look more like Jigglypuff than ever right now."
I huffed and wriggled again.
"Let go already! You're going to break my bones!"
Ignoring me, he rested his chin on top of my head and murmured calmly,
"I'm sorry the day ended like this, Jigglypuff. After all that effort, I didn't want it to end this way."
"Forget it. I'm not upset at all. I've already chosen the profession I want to do."
"I think you made the right choice. I have no doubt you'll be an amazing engineer."
My cheeks started to warm at his compliment, and I finally decided to address the thing that had been bothering me for minutes.
"I was unfair to you about the dress back there. I'm sorry. I honestly hadn't paid attention while getting dressed, and I only understood why you were so against it when I went back to the room to change."
"It's not important. Just remember this—whatever Nil is to me, Duru, Feyza and you are the same. I'd do anything for you without hesitation, just like I would for them."
He kissed my hair from above, let me go, and stepped back. I turned to him with a smile.
"Thank you for everything you did today."
He smiled back.
"Don't mention it, partner. What are friends for if they're not there when you need them?"
Once we were both in the car, I remembered one last thing and glanced at him sideways.
"Okay, I get punching the creep—but why did you hit Jamie?"
He started the car and turned to me with a satisfied grin.
"I didn't like the guy. If I hadn't hit him, it would've eaten at me."
I shook my head disapprovingly.
"You're seriously hopeless."