Part 6
Vinay couldn't believe it. She had them all eating out of her hands. He slurped his drink as he walked towards them, when one of the girls turned to him and sighed. Actually sighed.
He looked at his wife warily as he sat down across from her. "What's this group meeting about?"
She smiled sweetly, "Oh nothing. Just catching your friends up on...things."
He looked at her, startled, "Things? What things?"
She continued smiling, "Oh. You didn't want them to know about the...?" plan..
She was interrupted by one of Vinay's friends, "Actually, she was just about to tell us about your honeymoon."
He spit the orange juice on his desk. Bindiya, ever prepared, removed a napkin out of her purse and shoved it at him. He cleared his throat and looked at her, "Our...honeymoon?"
She frowned, "Well, that was next on the list. We had just finished talking about the courtship and marriage..."
His jaw dropped open, "The what-ship and marriage?"
Bindiya grabbed his juice away from him, before he could spill the rest of it. She smiled through gritted teeth, "Our courtship. Keep up, Vinay."
He nodded, "Right. So where were we?"
Everyone said together, "The honeymoon."
Bindiya closed her eyes. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. Her eyes popped open when she heard Vinay clear his throat. She saw him lean back in his chair with a lazy smile, "I want to hear this. Go ahead, Bindiya. You tell them. You're very good at telling stories, aren't you? True stories, of course."
His friends' gazes traveled back and forth between them before they landed on Bindiya, enraptured.
It was her turn to clear her throat. "I guess I'll start. We went to G.."
"Switzerland," he cut in.
"Right." She had been about to say Goa, but she could do with Switzerland. "We went to Switzerland. There were many, many beautiful monuments in Switzerland..."
"But we didn't see them, did we, darling?" he interrupted again, looking at her pointedly. Her eyes widened.
Everyone turned to look at him. He smiled shyly, "We were a little busy."
Her jaw dropped open and she replied archly, "We were not. In fact, we went skydiving. And your friend here was too scared. He.."
"Oh is that what we are telling everyone? That we went 'skydiving'?" He followed the last bit with air quotes.
She looked around pleadingly, "We went skydiving. We did." Everyone looked at her, unsure. Their expressions started to turn wary, instead of the gleeful, worshiping looks they had given her earlier. She bit the inside of her lip. This wasn't how it was supposed to go.