Life is shaped by your actions, not your intentions. That’s the truth, but are you really ready for the truth? Alime was surprised to hear these words. How ready was she to hear the truth? For the first time in a long time, what she was hearing affected her. She had come to the seminar at Zeynep’s invitation after her relationship had ended. Someone was talking, and she was being affected by what they were saying. She felt a little hurt when she heard what was being said. But at the same time, she wanted to hear more. “Everything has its truth,” they said, but what was the truth? Alime thought, “What is the truth, really?”

What was the truth about the relationship she had been in?

Sadness covered her face at that moment. Yet everything had started so beautifully. So what happened that made everything go wrong?

Alime was the youngest in her family. She was a child whose every word was obeyed. Everyone kept saying how beautiful she was. She was pleased to hear this, but at the same time, she was bored by it. She didn’t have many friends as a child. Just a few close friends. When they got together, they always talked about her beauty or her troubles. She didn’t understand it, but the conversation always came back to Alime and her problems. It was as if she was the only person in the world with problems. Alime, who had always gotten whatever she wanted as a child, had become the center of attention among her friends as an adult. But she was still unhappy. She would occasionally think to herself, “There’s something strange about this,” but then she would continue living her life filled with compliments.

Until she met Selim…

They met the year they graduated from university and started working. He caught Alime’s attention because he was the only one who didn’t pay attention to her. “He’s so arrogant, what’s the big deal?” she would say every time she saw him…

Selim was a manager in a different department. He was a quiet man, focused solely on his work, often staying until midnight. He spent all his time at the office, eager to advance in his career. That’s why he hadn’t even noticed Alime.

Alime, however, was intrigued by this man. Up until then, he was the only one who had never said “welcome” to her. This was an unfamiliar style for her. She wondered why he wasn’t interested in her.

Because what was hidden was attractive…

“Then I’ll find an excuse to meet him,” she said.

She had to make him notice her. He was someone worth noticing.

That day, she gathered all her courage and approached Selim to ask him a work-related question. Selim answered her question sincerely and went back to his work.

All men were strange to her. She was always the center of attention for men. People were always proposing to her, and she kept rejecting them. But when she saw Selim, she thought he was different.

She didn’t like those who were crazy about her. Selim didn’t even look at her, but Alime was crazy about him.

Was that really the case?

Every day, she would go to Selim’s office under some pretext, ask him something, and leave. Selim had actually noticed the situation. On the one hand, he liked the attention.

Selim had just come out of a long relationship. Saying, “I’m not good at relationships,” he had decided to devote his life to his work. This was the right thing for Selim, in his opinion.

So what was the truth?

In every situation, people actually know the truth, but why can’t they act on it? Sometimes they give in to their desires to avoid pain.

To get that job, that house, that man, or that woman, they live however they feel like.

Just like Alime, who devoted her whole life to that man, or Selim, who devoted his life to that job.

“You have to fulfill your needs in a relationship,” they said at the seminar.

“What do you mean?” Alime asked.

“What need to fulfill?” she thought to herself. “He should fulfill my needs first!” she said to herself.

She didn’t yet know the truth that those who fulfill needs will have their needs fulfilled.

She also noted the sentence, “If you can’t do this, you can’t form a relationship.”

She couldn’t decide whether to listen or write for a moment.

What were these people saying? She had never done that before. Since childhood, she had wanted things, and those around her had done them. Everyone around her had to make her happy.

Weren’t they in a relationship then?

She did the same in her relationship with Selim. At first, she had always said, “He should make me happy.” But she wasn’t getting the same attention from him as she had before. He was treating her better than he had anyone else, trying to do everything she wanted. Their relationship had started six months ago, but Selim still hadn’t proposed. In fact, whenever the topic came up, he found a way to avoid it.

What had she done for Selim? “I met all his needs, but it didn’t work out,” she thought to herself.

She thought that if she did everything he wanted and kept reaching out to him, the relationship would improve.

But it didn’t. The more Alime pursued him, the more Selim distanced himself. He used his busy work schedule as an excuse to avoid her.

What she did was right in Alime’s eyes, but the truth was unfolding.

“You’re suffocating me now,” Selim said.

Alime couldn’t believe her ears.

“I did everything for you. Is this what I deserve?”

“Did I ask you to do these things?” Selim said.

Hearing these words hurt Alime deeply.

“I don’t want to see you again,” she said as she left the workplace.

“I can’t go back to that workplace anymore,” she said.

Just then, her phone rang. It was her childhood friend Zeynep calling. She was crying.