Mohini rubbed her eyes as she adjusted to the bright light pouring in leaps and bounds into her room. Kicking off the duvet, she forced herself out of the bed and into the bathroom. Twenty minutes later, she walked into the kitchen to prepare her breakfast. She groaned as she took the first bite of the sandwich - Mohini was frustrated, and how.
The past few days had been a living disaster. She'd finished all her presentations and assignments in advance to be available for her birthday celebrations, but now it seemed like there was no one she needed to keep herself free for. All her friends were getting their assignments done last minute and thus unavailable. The fact that none of them bothered to make plans for her birthday was sad, a tad bit but less hurting when she looked at her family.
Apparently it had slipped all of their minds that it's her birthday tomorrow. Hence she decided she was not cooking for them for the entire month - served them right! Her family was all prepped up for this party instead that they were having on the Christmas Eve. She'd sneaked around wondering if this was a surprise birthday party for her, but had turned up empty handed and heartbroken when she realized it was going to be a Christmas party indeed.
The day passed off quickly, with people ignoring her sulking face and forlorn eyes. Any hopes she'd had of people ignoring her to surprise her had done down the hill when her parents announced that they were visiting a family friend and wouldn't be back until the next day. Her brother had an important submission the following day and had decided to crash at his friend's place itself.
*tick* *tock* *tick* *tock*
It'd been thirty minutes since the clock had struck twelve and lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, Mohini had silently wished herself. It was the worst birthday ever, she'd decided.
ppssshhh pppssshhh pppssshhh
Mohini jumped out of and under her bed. She came out a few seconds later, the badminton racket gracing her hand in all glory. She'd realized that there were thieves in her house and the realization didn't do anything to lessen the shivers running down her body. She tip-toe to her door and was about to close the gap sneakily, when the whispers made way to her ears.
"I'm telling you she's gonna bury you alive, and that too on her birthday!"
It was this word that had her interest piqued and had her hooked to the conversation.
"One thing - she was supposed to do just one thing and that too she has screwed up."
The tension of the voice was familiar to Mohini but she couldn't place it exactly.
"I told you beforehand Gun, there was no way she was gonna get this done!" Mohini could recognize that voice anywhere in the world. She sighed as she left her room and hid behind the pillar to get a clearer view.
A very angry Gunia was pacing up and down in the hall while Ritchelle held her head in her hands.
"I'm all out of the last thread of patience that I had. I'm going out to find her..." Gun rushed towards the door when it opened and in walked Pooja, licking the ice-cream cone in one hand as she balanced a box in the other.
"Hey guys, you're pretty early nai?"
She placed the box on the table and turned to face them, but jumped back startled as the duo hovered inches close to her face.
"Gosh! What is wrong with you two? You literally gave me a heart attack." She placed her free hand on the heart as she took a long breath.
Gunia looked at Ritchelle and facepalmed.
"Pooja! We have been waiting for you since the past one hour. You were supposed to arrive at 11 pm so that we could decorate the hall for the party." Ritchelle used up the last bits of patience that she had as she saw Pooja's face go red.
"Erm actually, I kinda fell asleep on my way here and..."
"Let it be Ritch. Let's just decorate however much possible and get the party started..." Gun exited the front door to bring the decorative stuff from Pooja's car. Ritchelle who'd followed her banged into Gun's still figure. She took a step sideways instead and was met by an enchanting site.
The garden was filled up with fairy lights hanging down, encircling the trees and lying on the floor. In the center was a table which held the cake along with lots of glittery streamers. The whole garden floor was filled up with huge colourful balloons. Ritchelle was about to speak up when a sudden soft scream filled the place. They all looked back to see Mohini gaping at the arrangements.
"You did this all alone? Why didn't you call us both?" Gunia was more dumbfounded than anyone present there.
"Nope, Mo's school and college friends helped. Actually we came here at 9 pm and decorated the place as those guys wanted to do something for her too. After everything was done at around 10:30, we decided to take a small nap in our cars until you guys came. But that short nap turned into a little something else and I lost track of time and now am here. The others will be here in a few minutes. And I didn't wanna bother you two cuz I had everything under control" She gave a toothy smile.
Gun and Ritchelle were too much in the awe of the place to say anything else. Few minutes later, everyone gathered around the table as Mohini cut the cake and they sang around and had fun. They all told her how they'd persuaded her family to keep themselves busy for the night.
"I feel bad we couldn't help with the decorations and you were the only one these people had for help."Ritch said to Pooja when everything was almost wrapping up.
"WHAT? Help and her? We're just she dozed off in the car as soon as we got to work because all she did was ruin our hardwork." One of Mohini''s friends exclaimed and Ritchelle turned n shock, only to see Pooja hiding behind Mohini as the birthday girl doubled up with laughter. Gunia saw her chance and came right behind Pooja, filling her face with the moist soil of the garden. Pooja stood rooted for a few seconds, before she retaliated with some soil and that led to the best mud fight these all had ever had.
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