Once Upon A Mr. Goody Two Shoes

Chapter 22

"Happy birthday beta," my parents said in unison as soon as I opened the door of my apartment at 1 AM. Sometimes you are really happy to see someone, like I was to see my parents but it's just that the timing's a bit off.

Ok, scratch that. I was totally screwed. I could hear my heart beat in my ear as I tried to act ecstatic and ushered them inside.

"See, I told you she will be alone. Who will surprise her like this? It's best we did it," my mother grinned at me, landing a loud kiss on my cheeks. I smiled weakly at her as she went on telling my father all the reasons why she was right, not missing an opportunity to prove to my father that in their thirty years of marriage this was perhaps the thirty millionth time that she was right about things and how he should just listen to her.

My father, wise man that he was, kept his mouth tightly shut. But this wasn't my concern. My concern were them, standing in the hallway of my cozy apartment, having surprised me on my birthday by travelling late night in the flight all the way from Mumbai.

Surprised? No, shocked me to the core. You see, they hated every thing associated with "late nights". To think they had taken up the journey to surprise me at midnight was a thing I would have never expected of them. EVER.

"What were you doing? And I hope it wasn't office work again. That boss of hers is a bona fide idiot, overworking his employees," my father scoffed and plumped down on the sofa, his eyes threatening to close down. Guilt instantly filled me as I thought of their loving gesture towards me - travelling so late at night just to wish me, when they hate to do so. Was I self-centered?

The thought fled out of my mind at my mother's next words.

"The mess your hair are! Don't you comb them? Look how shabby they have become," my mother's indignant voice fell in my ears and all guilt was replaced by a roaring anxiousness. If only she knew why they were so shabby, she wouldn't mind dragging me out of the house by holding those same hair. I sighed and closed the door behind me.

"Beta, you should have called us if you were feeling so alone and lonely. Why, you bought a cake for your own self," my father's contrite filled voice made me almost jump out of my skin as my insides filled with panic.

Their razor sharp eyes had landed on the cake. It was only a matter of minutes before they would start questioning about the other 'things' in the room, thus inviting my impending doom.

As for alone, yes, that I was if you decide to ignore the man currently hiding in my room's bathroom.

It started an hour ago. Midnight. 12 AM. The man I mentioned earlier was then standing in my doorway with a cake, balloons and a pretty little gift box. But the most salient part of him was the quaint olive shirt he had donned that I absolutely loved on his broad, lean body. I stared at him while chewing my thumb's nail seductively.

"What are you doing here?" I had asked, leaning against the door frame, a mischievous glint in my eyes, which was shared by the man before me.

He raised his thick eyebrows before replying in the same teasing tone I had used earlier. "Oh, I have a delivery from your boyfriend."

I pouted, my body taking a thoughtful mien. "But I like you better than the things you're holding," I said, sounding completely different than my usual self. I wasn't a seductress per say, but dammit if I wouldn't capitalize on the situation, especially with the completely male person before me.

His full lips turned upwards in a smirk as his brown eyes glittered with mirth and laughter. He gave me an intense look which had me quivering at my knees. "Then perhaps you could hold me instead," he whispered, making me want to giggle giddily.