THE HEIST

Our Final Day?

By the time I went back to Karan after having something to eat, he was already talking to the ship's head-of-staff meticulously planning as to how the next three days are to be executed to perfection, doing which will leave the staff really tried, albeit with a fatter pocket at the end of it.

After which, he came back to my room and debriefed me about the plans and how he would fit into them, with his plus ones'. Although getting a date to act like a girlfriend would not have been a hard thing to do for Karan, it was the speed at which he was able to do it this time which startled me. "Just ten minutes with her, Ghade." he said, "That's all it took to get her to agree to be my 'girlfriend' for the next three days"

"Bhai tere paas paisa hai. Tu rehene de."
(You're a rich guy, bro, let it go) he smirked, knowing very well the real meaning of my statement.

I and Karan got dressed and ready in a matter of ten minutes. Skydiving into the sea, apparently. That was his idea of beginning this madness. We had done it already back in Puducherry a few years ago, so it wasn't as big a deal for me but I did expect it to be a big deal for the girls. 

Knocking on Arya's door, I waited as Karan went to fetch Linda.

As we head to the common hall, Karan and Linda joined us. Damn. He always managed to get the hot ones. I wondered how he did it with the girl who evaded him in the entire course of MBA but knew better than to ask in front of Arya.

"Hey! I'm Linda." She introduced herself, stretching her arm out for a handshake. "Wait for a second!" Arya cut in between, with her now trademark cutting-in-between style.

"Ahem... Introductions?" She now was looking at me, with her eyebrows up. "I'm so sorry. Arya, this is Karan. We've been best buddies from our college days and he's been my go-to guy for all my problems and so have I been for him." then gesturing towards Linda, I said, "and this is Linda, our Batchmate back in college and Karan's..." I acted like didn't know what to say. Therefore Karan pitched in. "Girlfriend, she's my girlfriend."
Linda, visibly shocked, blushed.

Arya looked at the both of us suspiciously and then gave a courteous smile to Linda, who smiled back equally courteously.

Gesturing towards Arya, I said "And this is Arya, my..." I was stuck again, but this time because I genuinely didn't know what to say. "Girlfriend, I'm his Girlfriend" It was my turn to be shocked, and boy did I suck at acting. I turned pink all over, much to Karan's amusement.

Trying to change the topic, Arya asked "Why do you remind me of our waiter from the other night?" looking intently at Karan. 

"Waiter? What waiter?" Karan was undoubtedly better at acting than I was. In fact, even I got confused for a second there.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Arya, though now that introductions are over, let's head out soon or we'll miss the fun!" I said, nudging Karan to move. "I'm sorry? What are you talking about, Angad?" Arya retorted. "You're in for a big surprise, Arya!" said Karan.

Without further ado, I somehow managed to get everyone to the lifeboat area, where we could see the seaplane which was waiting for us. I then proceeded to give everyone their kits and that's when Arya realised that we were about to go skydiving. We got down from the cruiser with the help of lifeboats and made our way to the plane.

"I've never skydived before Angad..." Arya whispered to me, visibly frightened, even shivering "and I'm very afraid of heights" "Aww that's alright, Arya. I'm right here" I reassured her.

After the regular set of instructions on how to open the parachute and how to manoeuvre while in the air, we waited for the plane to reach an altitude high enough to jump.

My mouth had already dried up and I was a little tense, even though I'd done it before. Linda and Karan seemed unusually composed, however, much to my disdain. Arya was holding my hand the entire time, scared to bits. Karan jumped first and Linda followed him. As I got ready to jump behind her, I noticed how pale Arya had gotten. I hugged her and said "Hey. You've got this. Let's go." I got her to jump and jumped right after.

The adrenaline rush gotten through free falling like that can be replicated only by a select few activities. It's not every day that you fall freely through the sky, with such huge cruise liners looking like toy boats from all the way up there.

I made my way to Arya, who was screaming her lungs out! Holding her hands and setting her from her belly up position to how it should be, I screamed too! The wind hitting us as we tore through it was amazingly cold.

We caught up with Karan and Linda, and all four of us held hands and spun around. Linda even began to take selfies with us while we glided through the air! After a few minutes, though, our watches started to beep. The lifeboats which were waiting for us got coordinated with the GPS on our watches, so as to pick us up once we land in the ocean. It was time to pull out our parachutes and end this madness.

And That's when I realised...

We had none.