She took one step closer. Her knees were shaking, but her voice stayed even. “I understand Turkish. I always have. You just didn’t know that,” she said.
Then, to make her point unmistakably clear, she repeated the next sentence in Turkish. “I simply never told you,” she said fluently. For several long seconds, he just stared at her, as if trying to hear something else hidden between the lines.
“So…” he said slowly. “You heard all of it? Tonight? And at the café?” There was real horror in his voice now. “Everything,” Joanna said quietly but firmly. “Tonight and yesterday.”
“I heard every single word said about me by people who thought I couldn’t understand them.” He rubbed a hand over his face, as if trying to wipe away the obvious fact of his own failure. “Joanna,” he began quickly, “Mom and Aunt Felis—they just don’t know you yet.”
“They need more time to… to get used to the idea,” he said weakly. “To stop talking about me like I’m some item they’re returning to the store?” she cut in sharply. He flinched. “To understand that you’re a good person,” he said.
“They think I’m a gold digger,” Joanna said. “They think my very presence is an embarrassment to your family.”
“They think I’m not even good enough to sit at the same table with them.” Her voice trembled for a second, but she steadied it. “And all of that happened right in front of you, Kasim. You heard it. And you still said nothing.”
He opened his mouth, but the words seemed to stick. “I… I just didn’t want to make things worse,” he said at last. “You know my mother. If I push back, she gets angry.”
“And if I say one word in my own defense, I’m the rude one?” Joanna shot back. “Yes,” he said quietly, dropping his eyes. “I was trying to keep the peace. Eventually she would have accepted my choice.”
“But you let them humiliate me,” Joanna said. He stood up abruptly. “Joanna, listen, I love you.”
“Isn’t that enough for us to build a life together?” he asked, sounding desperate. “No,” she answered calmly. “It isn’t.”
At that exact moment, the office door opened. Nevin Hanım stood in the doorway. She looked mildly surprised, but there was that same cold interest in her eyes—the look of someone used to standing above everyone else.
“What is going on in here?” she asked sharply. Kasim turned so fast it was almost guilty. “Mom, it’s fine. We’re just talking,” he said quickly.
But Joanna smiled then, and it was a calm, steady smile. She knew this was the moment. “Nevin Hanım,” she said in clear Turkish, “I speak quite well.”
“I understand everything. Including Turkish.” Nevin’s face changed instantly, as if a mask had slipped. Her eyes narrowed, and her fingers tightened into fists…
