And the winner is...

Chapter 2

Leyla's head lolled sharply over the seat headrest and she shot upright, only held down by the seatbelt. Her gaze focused on the road ahead of her, took in passing landscapes and then she finally spoke:

- How long was I asleep? Did I miss anything?

Emre smiled and nodded:

- You sure did miss about forty minutes of the first-class suburban landscapes, four passing cars with big dogs on the back seats, twenty-seven cars colored something other than black/white/silver, one truck carrying cages with geese and something I think was a tricycle – but we'd passed too fast so I can't be sure.

Leyla chuckled and stroke Emre's forearm:

- You poor thing, you were bored out of your mind! You should've woken me up to keep you company!

Emre shook his head, caught Leyla's hand atop of his arm and squeezed it reassuringly:

- I thought you needed to sleep. You'd mentioned not sleeping at all this night.

Leyla turned to face the road, letting the repetitive landscape to further calm her nerves over today's event. Her mild panic attack – and Leyla was fairly certain that was it – and an hour of sleep did help to relief some tension that accumulated in her body in the last few days. Leyla wasn't completely sure if she was tensed about what has happened already – or what was about to happen soon enough. For the first time for them. And for the first time for her.

Emre had noticed his wife getting very quiet and chewing on her lower lip – sign of extreme concentration and problem-solving mode. He tried to carefully bring her out of it by changing the subject:

- While you were asleep, I called Can and told him that we are fine and will be back in five days. I wanted to leave for the whole week, but I don't think Can and Sanem would be able to contain our parents for longer than that.

Leyla asked in a small voice:

- Do you think they'll forgive us?

Emre raised an eyebrow, not comprehending the question:

- Can and Sanem? Why would they...

Leyla interjected:

- Our parents, Emre!

- Oh... Yeah, I think they will. We're not eloping teenagers who'd decided to live in sin – we are two adults who love each other very much and our biggest problem with them should be about not inviting them to the festivities...

- Not that there were many of those...

- What?

- Nothing!

Leyla hoped he didn't hear that hushed comment, but he absolutely did. And in the haste of today's events it never dawned on Emre that Leyla might have wanted that whole traditional wedding thing – with proper visit to her parents, henna night and all that... And she didn't get any of those things.

Instead she'd called him twenty hours ago, asking 'Do you still want to marry me?', and when he immediately responded 'Yes!', Leyla instructed him to meet her in court house with his documents. And the rest was history...

Emre thought Leyla wanted this. Just to be married already. But looking back to her nervousness during the ceremony, her words... Emre realized she wasn't only running towards him... but also from something else. And Leyla had to shed some weight to get there faster, including her girl dreams of being a bride. Leyla had to skip being a bride for the sake of being his wife.