Betrothed

18 \ Better lubrication, i say

"Do I want to know the story behind this?" Vikram asked squinting briefly to take a closer look at the photograph. 

It was 3pm on a particularly hot Thursday. Karan was in town after having flown to India for some work. Hence, he had dropped by her (and Vikram's) office with cupcakes from her favourite place in Jaisalmer. Naturally, she was ecstatic at the surprise.

Divya looked at her sheepishly and pulled the photograph away from her husband. Her best friend had decided to embarrass her by bringing with him a picture of a very drunk Divya at a college party. A guy stood next to her holding a glass in his hand while his other hand was looped around her waist.

"This was minutes before my Dad walked in and caught me making out with this guy against the wall." she said shaking her head.

Her father had flown down to England to surprise his daughter. He was however on the receiving end of the surprise when he did not find her in her apartment. When he did get her phone traced and reached the location, he was in for a bigger surprise.

Divya explained the same to Vikram briefly. "He wanted me to return to India that very moment for I was being 'unfaithful' to you."

"We weren't married, barely betrothed." he reasoned.

"Exactly my point." she said placing her hand in his that he had forwarded.

Karan noticed the increased ease and comfort between the two of them. Perhaps things were moving forward with them. He really hoped that that was the case. Divya deserved all the love in the world. He sent up a quick prayer for hoping that the little spark grew.

-

Vikram sat discussing the working of their other office in Bangalore that Kabir had been overseeing. Divya added her inputs every now and then whenever they had questions about her chain of hotels. It had only been a couple of months since the merger. Hence, things were fairly new.

"Enough with the business talks. Tell us how are you two doing?" Maharaja Pratham, Vikram's father asked looking between the two of them.

Divya's eyes held an expression of puzzlement meeting Vikram's. This was a strange question. How were they doing? What was the right answer to that?

Vikram held her gaze for a second before turning to his father, "We are doing well."

Maharaja Pratham nodded, "Achhi baat hai. Given the circumstances of your marriage, I wasn't very sure."

"You two have been so busy with work. You haven't taken any vacations since the wedding. It has been almost five months. You should take a break." Maharani Gayatri commented.

Divya smiled politely at the woman. She had the utmost respect for her. She knew that she took her role in the family very seriously. And she had done it rather successfully. However, she wanted to be left alone when it came to their relationship.

"We haven't thought about anything, Mummy." she replied.

"But you should. You could not go for your honeymoon given the business that needed immediate supervision. But things are fine now." the Maharani said.

Vikram smiled nodding at his mother. He did not want to say anything before discussing it with Divya. If they as much as dropped an excited smile to her about the topic, he knew that she would thrust in his hand, a well planned trip to some exotic location. They had to talk first.

-

"Should we take a trip, what do you think?" Divya asked on their way back to their quarters.

"We could. There isn't much load, work wise either."

"Where do you want to go though?"

"It needs to be somewhere quiet. The last thing we need is an overexcited media trailing us."

The princess nodded. She was so annoyed by the media coverage of their wedding. But she understood why it was important. However, this was a private holiday. There was no way she was going to let anything slip.

"Novembers call for beaches." Vikram said after a moment of thought.

Divya who was walking one step ahead of him twirled around, held his forearm and said, "Ah yes, French Polynesia?"

He was amused to see her this excited all of a sudden. Perhaps a trip together would actually do them good. He slid his arm across her waist and walked towards their room. "We can, I have never been to the place. It's low key, a little unconventional, privacy will be guaranteed i feel."

Letting her enter first, he shut the door of their bedroom behind him. Oh he was already imagining the fun they would have together. Divya clasped her hands together and said, "It is going to be such fun. I can finally put my beach bod to use."

Vikram chuckled leaning against the shut door. Clearly they were excited and very much looking forward to it. 

"When do you want to go?" he asked.

"I don't know. We can leave soon. There's not much to do at work at the moment and I would really want us to be back before anything important springs up." She replied mentally calculating her menstrual cycle dates. 

She quickly brought her phone out and opened the calendar. The last thing she wanted was to be on her period during the vacation. 

"How long will we be staying there?" she asked looking up.

"A week?" Vikram asked confusedly. How long would be enough.

"Okay, so a week and if we manage to leave by June 7, we will be fine." she said calculating her cycle phases mentally.

"You are checking with your cycle." he deadpanned.

"Yes, of course." she said rolling her eyes at him.

"Every single woman i have gone on a holiday with has the same first reaction." He mused shaking his head.

"That is important, okay." she said airily.

"It isn't. I am telling you. Guys do not mind. It is just a little blood. Better lubrication, i say." he shrugged.

Divya narrowed her eyes at her husband at the statement. Whatever did men think of themselves. "Women don't care if guys mind it or not. We just don't want waves of cramps on vacations. Don't give yourself so much importance."

Vikram rubbed his neck at this. He had found the perfect match for him. She knew how to keep him in line. It was going to be a great trip. 

"Let's leave day after tomorrow, yes? I will need an entire day to shop." she concluded.

"Yep, works for me." he confirmed looking at the calendar on his phone.

"We are going to have such fun." she said clapping her hands together for the second time this evening. Vikram pulled her by the fabric of her kurta, letting his palm rest on the curve of her hip. 

"Oh we are. You better pack lots of lingerie." he winked making her chuckle.

"You bet I am."

-

Okay so, they are off for their honeymoon. I am so excited. 

Please feel free to drop any particular scenes/subplots that you have for the trip. You can leave them here in the comments or in my private messages. 

See you. 

xoxo