Nedžla protected Emin's solitude as an important family agreement. Once a month, he went to the cottage, with no calls unless urgent. He said he needed quiet after working with people. She understood because she ran a noisy salon herself. During those weekends, she covered his obligations, from shopping to visiting his father, believing she supported the way the man she loved stayed well.
At the market, she met the owner of the neighboring cottage. The woman cheerfully said she was glad Emin came with Jasna again because the two always made a good barbecue. Nedžla asked whether she meant his former partner. The woman realized her mistake mid-answer and tried saying she might not have seen properly. Nedžla thanked her and left, without asking a stranger to resolve what had just opened.
Emin returned on Sunday with a story about a novel he read. Nedžla asked him to stop before giving its title. She said she knew he hadn't been alone and asked whether he was involved with Jasna. He didn't answer immediately. Then he admitted meeting for several months. He said they merely talked easily because of their shared past. Nedžla asked why that conversation required a lie about silence.
Only then did he admit the rest of the relationship. She could no longer listen to "merely," which he placed before everything he wanted to diminish. She said she didn't object to a person sometimes wanting solitude. She objected to his turning her support into a schedule for another relationship. The cottage wasn't a problem solved by selling it. The problem was that she had sincerely protected the space in which he deceived her.
Nedžla took several days for herself but clearly said where she would be and when they could talk. She didn't want to repeat his behavior under another name. Emin stayed home, handled shopping, and visited his father, realizing for the first time how much work supported his supposed solitude. When they sat together, he didn't offer never to travel again. He admitted choosing a comfortable double life and not knowing whether he wanted their marriage enough to rebuild it.
That honesty came late but helped Nedžla decide to separate. Several months later, she took a short holiday alone. On the first morning, she didn't know what someone needed by nobody did. She made coffee, opened a book, and read the same page three times. There was no miraculous peace. Still, the time belonged to her, without a hidden schedule or any need to earn it through someone else's absence.