"Happy birthday to you...happy birthday to you...happy birthday dear Mally! Happy birthday to you!" The birthday team members sang as Mally cut the cake."Thank you so much guys. I thought that you people will forget my birthday given the workload", Mally sighed. "Ah! Though I am a year older now, it feels special. Birthdays are really awesome!" she said, giggling."Yep! And to make it more special we brought gifts", Said Yuvika as she picked up the huge gift box that she had brought."And there are more!" Ramya, Maliha, Megha, Sidra, Har, Debo and Sam gave the gifts that they brought for her. "Open them, but first mine", Debo gestured towards the gift packed in sparkly red gift wrap.Excited and eager Mally picked up the gift and began unwrapping it but soon all the initial excitement died as she stared at the gift that Debo gave her. "This?" she gave Debo a questioning look."Did you like it? You know it's the latest model and the best one of its kind", Debo smiled."A juicer?" asked Mally, smiling forcibly."Yes. You see I am actually very concerned about your health. All that junk food, bad eating habits and not enough exercise, you need something healthy. That's why I gave you this juicer so you can make fresh juices daily and easily like this", explained Debo clicking her fingers twice."Nice", Mally gritted her teeth and placed the juicer aside. "Open mine now. Please!" Ramya picked up a box and gave it to Mally who with a sweet smile on her face began unwrapping the gift."Bed. Sheets." The emphasis on both the words was equal."Pack of 5. I brought the pack that had the best looking ones you know these are made of the finest material. Aren't they pretty?" Ramya showed the bed sheets to everybody gaining nods and words of approval while Mally threw away the gift wrap in annoyance.
She randomly picked up the next gift and was then greeted by grinning faces of Sam, Har and Sidra, "This is from you guys?" The trio nodded positively.This time Mally decided to tone down her excitement a little and that's why she didn't feel utterly annoyed looking at the set of shampoo and conditioner, 6 each. "Woww. Me likey." Sam, Har and Sidra grinned widely at Mally's response.Because of the initial experience with the gifts Mally decided that expecting a good gift from the birthday team members was useless. So when she received a set of different board games from Yuvika, few cushions along with covers from Megha that she had coordinated with Ramya's gift, Mally didn't show her annoyance and kept smiling."So Maliha, where's your gift?" Mally asked.Maliha tried, she tried hard but couldn't stop herself from laughing out loud. "Can we stop all this here, now? She looks as if she wants to kill us all." Maliha's laughter was contagious; it made others crack up as well."What? What's going on?" Mally was perplexed.Debo came forward and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, hugging Mally sideways, "Nothing other than a harmless prank", she quipped."We just wanted to have some fun as it would have been boring if we had given you your birthday gift earlier", Megha took out an envelope from her purse and handed it to Mally."This is your actual birthday gift", Mally opened the seal and was about to take out the contents of the envelope when Yuvika spoke up, "And yeah these things that we gifted you just now, they are yours as well. We aren't going to take them away so don't worry", she laughed earning a glare from Mally."See." Mally smiled and took out the contents of the envelope and her smile faltered and then a shriek pierced through the air, "AAAHHH!!!"Everybody covered their ears and cringed, "Manik's concert. OMG!!! Manik singing live. OMG!!! I will get to see FAB5 perform live!""OMG!!!" Yuvika, Ramya, Maliha, Har, Sam, Sidra and Megha yelled in unison adding to Mally's rant."Now go get ready, you have only an hour. The concert will be starting in an hour and half", told Debo."Oh! Okay!" Mally ran inside her room."I wonder how she'll react when the next surprise hits her", said Sam."I wish I could be there to see her reaction. I am sure it would be fun", Har added."And that is exactly why I bought these", Yuvika said waving 8 concert passes in front of her fellow mates. "Pro and Zaara will meet us there.""Then let's get ready", Sam stood up and clapped her hands in glee. "You people go, me not interested", Megha said."What? Why?" Sidra asked."What why? I need rest, my precious sleep that I couldn't get because of exams. So I am gonna rest and eat this delicious chocolate cake and all those snacks that we bought", Megha said picking up a samosa."Bukkhad!""Whatever."
9