Leela was having unsettled dreams of late, it was 2am in her one bedroom city flat. As she jolted awake, she accidentally roused her fiancée in the process. Dylan was not a fan of these disturbed nights, they both had work in the morning; plus lately the stress was piling on with the upcoming nuptials that they had to accept and prepare for. Leela didn’t want a traditional Indian wedding, yet she respected her father’s wishes as she knew the loss of their eldest son meant that everything she did had to be extravagant in the place of her parent’s loss.
The next morning, Dylan was setting breakfast on the stained oak dining table in the tiny flat where Leela was just entering the kitchen nook. “Oh Dylan, you’re amazing! Thank you for making my favourites for breakfast - thank you for all of this effort!” Leela exclaimed. Dylan was very thoughtful and said, “Well, I know you have to take care of yourself, especially since you’re not sleeping so well lately.. It must be wedding stress right? I must admit I have a few pressures with that too, I’ve still got to get my suit tailored a little bit more so it fits better.”
Munching down on her pancakes, with sweet ripened strawberries and maple syrup, Leela was half in a daze but also felt pangs of guilt, although she didn’t know why. As her mind drifted towards what was going on inside her, Dylan chimed up again, “oh, and love, I’ll pick up your dry cleaning from the supermarket later. Don’t worry about doing a thing. Just focus on your beauty appointments after work.”
It was one and a half weeks until the wedding, and Leela was having an auburn hair tint to her luscious brown locks to uplift her natural beauty for her special day. It was on her mum’s insistence really, Leela would have preferred not to have been placed at the centre of mass attention at a big wedding. She was naturally a quiet person and quite self-conscious, not that anyone else could tell.
After an exhausting day at the office, Leela was about ready for a rest, but she knew she had to rush off to her hair appointment at the salon. Multicoloured umbrella wide open, Leela darted through the bustling city centre streets and blocked out all of the loud commotion around her. She was in no mood for navigating city life anymore, she could tell that the busyness and lack of sleep was making her unhappy.
As she reached the salon, a gust of late Spring stormy weather turned her umbrella inside out and Leela braced herself before seeking shelter inside. With a deep sigh, and a yawn that escaped her, Leela settled down for her 2 hour hair tint, idly flicking through the latest celebrity gossip magazines. Then, not too long after, being bored with them, she sat for a while thinking about how lovely Dylan was to her; assuring herself that everything was well, that he’d make a great father and husband, and how he had a surprise trip planned for their honeymoon which Leela was excited for; she really needed a break from here. Downing a lukewarm hot chocolate, Leela began to feel her eyelids becoming heavy and before she knew it she had nodded off to sleep, hair steamer keeping her head in an upright position.
In her dream, Leela heard multiple motorcycle revs resound all around her before the scene turned into an intimate wedding ceremony at her grandfather’s old mansion. The marble bal-US-trade in front of them, decorated with bunches of ribbons tying together bouquets of marigolds, and a beautiful wooden arch above them. Leela was impressed with the set up, but could not for the life of her see who the shadowy figure reciting vows beside her was.
Being nudged awake from her dream by her hair stylist, Leela was disappointed to come back into this reality, with her hair near completed and to have to go back home and still sort out some dinner before Dylan returned home.
Later that evening, a dinner of bbq’d jackfruit burgers had been demolished and both Dylan and Leela were on the two-seater sofa chilled out together, Dylan being attentive and giving Leela a shoulder rub whilst asking about her day, and mentioning how he’d completed all of the tasks for her that he said he would. In feeling so comfortably supported and relaxed, Leela was able to catch up with more sleep and returned to the same dream as earlier.
This time, although she did not see her bridegroom, Leela did notice that her granddad (who had now passed on) was there at that small ceremony, and telling her to always do what makes her happy.Â
At 11pm, Leela was roused by Dylan shifting from under her and switching off the TV, where an old Marlon Brando film was just about beginning that was named The Wild One. In that very moment, it dawned on Leela what her dream was about. The marigolds, the endless motorcycle revs; of course, her ex-boyfriend from college, Jack, who had promised her a road trip on his bike, and who given Leela her first ever bouquet of flowers on a date. She had always pined after Jack for years, after he moved away for university. He was always exciting, took her to places in the countryside where they roamed wild and free during summer holidays.
Dylan carried Leela off to bed, who he assumed was still half asleep. But for the rest of the night, Leela was stunned by what her dream had revealed to her, and wide awake, she longed to know what had become of Jack. Silently scrolling through her social media feed, and uploading her pre-wedding preparation pictures that night, Leela got the urge to look up Jack to see what he was now doing. She eagerly sent him a friend request and urgently messaged him with a cheerful smile growing upon her face. Of course, it was the middle of the night, he wouldn’t see the message any time soon. With that in mind, and an excited heart, Leela peacefully drifted off once more.
The next week or so passed in a flash, Leela had been so absorbed in last minute wedding preparations, and hosting her younger sister in the flat before her big day that she had forgotten to check her messages on social media and even put Jack right out of her mind, she was sleeping much better and had no time for being a dreamer when things needed to get checked off her long list.
The wedding went off in a flurry of excitement, there were people she’d not seen in years attending, and Leela wished she was somewhere else. Sat on a stage under a canopy, Dylan waited in anticipation for his elegantly dressed wife-to-be.
The nuptials would take some time, Indian weddings had so many parts to their ceremony after all. The ceremonial fire in between them made Leela feel swelteringly hot, and that combined with all of the chatter of excited long forgotten relatives, and feeling like a spectacle on show clashed with Leela’s reserved nature, and her longing for some peace and quiet. She felt like the only one in the entire room who might not actually be happy about this wedding.
In a room abuzz with other people’s dreams, Leela could faintly make out a rev of a motorcycle and perked up. “It can’t be, can it?” She thought to herself, and in a split second, without thought, Leela gathered her long and heavy Indian dress and rushed out to the car park of the building in which the wedding was taking place.
There, in all his leather clad motorcycle glory, Jack was waiting for her. Leela could feel harsh stares being cast upon her by her family, but thought better than to glance back behind her. She jumped on the back of Jack’s bike in a carefree manner, and knew with the certainty of her grandfather’s words, that she was choosing a life that would make her happy. “Where to?” Leela’s first words to Jack as they sped away. “I promised you a road trip a long time ago, and I intend to keep my word. Wherever you’d like, maybe the nearest national park?” Jack replied. And with that wonderful idea, Leela allowed Jack to lead her to a new and adventure filled life in the countryside.
