The first rays of the sun struck Sharon and she woke up keeping in mind what date it was. She hated it.
"Happy birthday Sharon" Kriya wished her as she got up.
"Thanks Kriya." she said with a pale face. She had just woken up from sleep and she was not in a mood to talk to anyone. She went to the washroom and brushed her teeth.
Around half an hour later, the whole Rai Prakash family was down on the dining table. Sharon's parents wished her too.
"Happy birthday dear." They said and handed her a gift.
"Thanks mom and dad. But you know I can't take this gift. Sorry"
"Sharon, you should forget the past and move on. Whatever happened that day was not your fault sweety." Her mom said as she stuffed a bite of aloo paratha in her mouth.
"No mom...Please I request you..."
Sharon's mom didn't take the gift back. Instead she asked her what her plans for the day were.
"Mom even after knowing that I hate birthday parties, you are asking this. I am not celebrating my birthday as always mamma. Getting late for office..I'll meet you all in the evening..Take care. Bye."
Saying this, she thrust the half eaten paratha in her mouth and got up from the dining table.
"Whaaat? Why didn't you tell me before mom??"
"Swayam it is not such a big deal. Its only her birthday."
"Then why didn't you let me wish her?" Swayam asked.
"You don't know her well. Do you?"
"Mom but..." He tried to say something.
"Oh ho Swayam. Wish her in the office okay?"
"That's what I'll have to do. I gotta go mom. Getting late. Bye. Love you!" Swayam said and in a hurry left his house. A brilliant thought struck him.
Sharon entered the
office in a grumpy way. She was sad. She wished for the day to end
soon. She hated this day, unlike Kriya who literally went wild on her
birthday once. Gosh! That was a tough time!
Sharon was surprised to see that there was no one else in the office. Had she come too early? She wondered. Plus, it was dark throughout. And she didn't like it. She searched for the switchboard and
finally found it. She switched on the lights and as if she was some spectacular being, all the employees at once exclaimed "Surprise!!Happy birthday Sharon!!!"
Leading those hooligans was Swayam. The way they exclaimed made Sharon feel that all of them were crazy. She didn't display her feelings though.
"Happy Birthday Sharon!" All of them spoke in unison. All except Swayam. The office was decorated with balloons and the ambiance was just like that of a typical birthday party. And this is what Sharon hated. Now she couldn't say that in front of everyone else. Hence she decided to play along. She didn't display her insecurities. Nor did she let them feel that she was already upset.
Swayam came close to her and she looked at him. She knew that he had done it. It was evident in the way he looked at her
"Liked it?" he asked.
"You did it right?" Sharon asked.
"Partly yes. Partly no. I was the one who suggested this idea. But all of them helped me a lot to decorate the office." He said.
"Thanks" she turned to other employees and thanked them.
Swayam was a bit disappointed as she didn't thank him but he decided to leave it up to her.
"Sharon, it's time to cut the cake." Swayam said after some time.
Cake? Now what? How could she enjoy such a party? And how could she say no to all the amazing staff members out there? Their gesture was so sweet.
"Cake?" she sported a fake smile when Swayam came from somewhere carrying a box of ribbons and balloons. He kept the box on a table and opened it. He had the knife with him. A ribbon was tied around the knife which added more to Sharon's gloomy nature that day. It reminded her of the past.
"Sharon are you okay?" Swayam asked as he handed her the knife to cut the cake.
"Yeah." Sharon said. She took the knife from him and started cutting the cake. It was chocolate truffle cake which was one of her favorites.
Everyone sang the birthday song. Sharon hated all of it. The birthday song, she hadn't heard anyone singing it for her since the past 16 years. And now all of a sudden, her office employees began singing the same for her.
It was her natural instinct which compelled her to feed the cake to the person adjacent to her. She turned to see that it was Swayam and the first bite of cake went right into his mouth. She fed him.
"Yum!" he said. He was looking like a kid and Sharon smiled lightly on seeing that.
Swayam fed the remaining piece of cake to Sharon. She didn't want to eat it but she ate it, for him.
After the cake was distributed among rest of the employees Sharon said that she had to make a call, so she made her way straight towards her cabin but was horrified when she saw it. Swayam was following her because he wanted to see her reaction.
Her cabin was decorated with flowers, some balloons were there, a design made of crape paper was stuck on the wall and on her table was a small gift.
She walked into her cabin, horrified. She turned back to look and saw Swayam there. She had an incredulous expression on and Swayam seemed to notice that.
"You didn't like it?" he asked.
She couldn't say no to him.
"I did. I suppose
you did this."
"Yeah. This time only me."
Sharon smiled when she heard that. But there was something else which was disturbing her,
"Why did you do this Swayam?" she asked him.
"Sorry?" Swayam seemed to divert his mind from her to the balloons that were scattered throughout the room.
"Why did you do this for me?" she repeated.
"It's just a token of friendship." he smiled.
Sharon was so disturbed that she didn't realize that he had used the word friendship to describe the relation between them. In reality, he was only her acquaintance.
Sharon walked towards the table where the gift was kept. She slowly tore the wrapping paper and saw the gift that was kept in it. It was a branded perfume.
"Swayam" she said.
"Yes?"
"You did this for me?Thanks a lot. But it was not required."
"You need not say thanks Sharon. Its your birthday after all."
She wanted to cry there but she didn't. Though her eyes were getting teary, she somehow controlled them. Then gathering some amount of courage, she spoke
"I need to go home. Can I?"
"Yeah sure Sharon. You can do anything you want today."
"Thanks. Bye." she said and without taking her gift, she made her way towards the exit.
Swayam noticed her peculiar behavior. She doesn't behave this way. He thought. He was going to talk to her about it.
Sharon entered her house in a hurry. Silent tears started trickling down her cheeks. Her mom noticed that and asked her what was wrong but she didn't pay any heed and walked straight towards her room. Kriya was not there so she locked the door from inside and switched off her mobile. She wept and wept. Her past came to haunt her and all the past memories started flashing in front of her eyes. She wished it hadn't happened...
comment:
p_commentcount