They were in the middle of greeting the guests when Andre saw Aarna and Naina coming towards his and Laura's direction. He suddenly pulled her closer to him by her waist and he shot the incoming duo a sharp glare, he didn't want anyone to take his wife away from him again.
Naina saw what he did and immediately started laughing. Aarna also saw what he did and she chuckled. "Hey we won't abduct your wife, we were going somewhere else." They said and left almost immediately.
Laura turned to him and frowned " Can you stop trying to monopolize me?"
"What?, so they can monopolize you and I can't?" He asked as he leaned in to her with one of his eyebrows raised up. Laura decided to shut her mouth, Andre was never one to lose an argument. After a few minutes he pulled her hand and led her outside the house.
"Where are you taking me?" She asked him but he didn't reply. They kept walking till the reached the estate's vast garden. He sat down on the grass and told her to sit down as well.
"Give me your hand, the one with your ring" He commanded after she also sat on the grass. Laura didn't disobey or ask him any questions. He placed her hand on the grass and he also put his hand beside hers. He then brought out his phone and took a picture of their hands only.
"What are you going to do with a picture of our hands?."
"Our wedding rings are on those hands. I want people to know that I'm married now even if I don't want my wife's identity disclosed."
He then posted the picture on his social media account and then he added the caption "10/10/20XX ❤️👩❤️👨💍"
The internet went into a frenzy as soon as he posted, lots of comments were popping in.
"Oh my God, my future husband is married!😭"
"Won't you show us the lucky woman's face?"
"This is unbelievable"
"He didn't mention anything about being married in his last interview a few weeks ago."
Andre set his phone to silent mode so that he wouldn't be disturbed by any notifications and then he went inside with Laura since the engagement was about to begin.
A few minutes after Andre posted, Prem also posted the four pictures he took of the couple. He tagged Andre and added the caption "My favourite couple❤️👍"
The internet flooded his post with comments as well
"Why won't anyone show her face?"
"Even though the pictures were captured when they were unaware, it is obvious that Mr.Davis is a doting husband."
"He's looking at her so lovingly."
*******
The engagement ceremony went well and in no time, Ishani and her groom were an engaged couple. The guests were dining and Andre had finally let go of Laura so she could greet the guests even though he made sure she wasn't far away. Laura was conversing with one of the guests when she heard someone's high pitched voice "Vinash!!!"
She turned around to see who was calling her husband. It was a tall and thin lady, she had brown short hair and heavy makeup was on her face. She was wearing big jewelry on her neck, ears hands and fingers, she was also wearing a lengha but it was in fiery red colour. She looked extravagant.... just too extravagant. Laura frowned after seeing her rushing to hug Andre.
'Who is she? why did she create a special nickname for him?' someone was getting jealous.
"Vinash I've missed you so much!" she kept rambling on even though Andre didn't respond to her.
"Hi Kiara, how have you been?" Andre finally answered her.
"I've not been good" she pouted " You didn't even call me once you ask how I was faring"
"I'm sorry, I was very busy."
"It's been almost eight years." She looked up to him. There was something about the way he looked at Andre that finally made Laura snap and she walked gracefully to Andre's side. When Andre saw Laura coming over he had his full gaze on her.
"Darling it seems like you have a special guest. I'm going with Naina....." Andre was surprised that Laura called him using the endearment but he held in his excitement.
Kiara scrunched her face 'Who is she calling darling?' she thought.
He suddenly caught her words short as he locked their hands together "You're not going anywhere" he turned back to face Kiara who had recomposed herself.
"Kiara, this is my wife Laura. Laura, meet Sameer's friend Kiara." Kiara's face suddenly turned pale with shock, turns out she hadn't seen neither Prem's not Andre's post.
"Hi, I'm Laura" Laura then extended her hand out for a shake but Kiara didn't acknowledge her.
"Wife?!!!" she exclaimed not able to contain herself. "When did you get married?"
"Kiara you know it's rude to ignore people." Andre told her with a frown on his face. Kiara looked at Laura from her head down to her toes and concluded that she was a simple girl and a gold digger. She returned her handshake but she let their hands lock only for a few seconds before she hurriedly withdrew her hand, she then used her skirt to clean her hand thoroughly. This action didn't go unnoticed by Laura but she still kept the smile on her face.
"Vinash, can we talk..... alone?" she started her eyes towards Laura as if indicating that she was unwanted.
"Whatever you want to say, say it here.... And why are you suddenly calling me Vinash?" Andre asked her. Laura almost burst out laughing but she held it in. ' So it wasn't a special nickname that they both agreed on.... she just made it up.' she couldn't wait to tell Aarons and Ishani about this.
"But I really need to talk to you in private." she retorted.
"If you can't say it her in front of my wife then I'm sorry we have nothing to talk about. Excuse me." He then left with Laura. Laura turned her to look at Kiara one more time but Kiara shot a an angry and disgusted look. She didn't react or say anything, she only returned her head to its normal position and continued walking away.
Not long after, the guests were gone and the people remaining in the hall were the Lal family members.
"So darling huh?" Andre winked at her.
"What?" she frowned at how he was looking at her "I was only marking my territory... I don't like the way she was staring at you." She decided to come clean.
" How was she staring at me?"
" She was staring at you like you're her lover or something. Are you guys special friends or what?"
He chuckled " Of course not. We only went to high school and university together. She was in the same major as me and Sameer and she always clung to Sameer back then so I wasn't surprised to see her here. I can't even say she was my friend because we've never had a true conversation before. Are all your doubts cleared now?"
Laura widened her eyes in realization. She had understood everything but she wanted to trouble Andre more so she asked "And what's with the Vinash nickname?"
" I don't know where she got the idea from, She had never given me a nickname before. We have never even interacted to that extent." "Why are you so jealous?" He raised his hand to pat her head but she flared at him and swatted his hand away.
"I'm not jealous."
"Okay fine...."
They talked about a few more things before Prem went to where they were.
"Laura, I have to take your husband away for a while if you don't mind."
"Oh I don't mind." She didn't wait for Andre to give his opinion before she left. She was already looking for an opportunity to go to Aarna and others, she wanted to tell them about what transpired earlier.