Strings Of Love

Chapter 5

"Jaldi kar yaar!" Bindu was pacing around in the kitchen and asking her friend to hurry up with the icing or her boss would scold them.

"Kar rahi hu na, tu sar pe mat khade ho abhi. 10 minute me sab ho jayega bas tu chup kar ja." Shehnaaz replied, giving her undivided attention to her job.

"Mai Vicky ko bula ke lati hu." Bindu exited the kitchen with that. 'Sprinkles' had received a huge order to prepare 40 cupcakes for a birthday party along with the birthday cake itself, since the order was huge Mary and Vicky were going to deliver it.

"Hmmm, done! Tadaa!" Shehnaaz exclaimed and bowed down to her own imaginary spectators.

"Ek photo click karna toh banta hai!" She thought to herself and pulled her phone out from the cupboard.

"Aye ladki! Tujhe mana kiya hai na kitchen me phone use karne se?!" Mary showed up unexpectedly.

"Uh, aunty mai toh photo le rahi thi, dekho!" She replied.

"Ha! Thik hai, thik hai. Pack kar sabko ache se, jaldi." Mary told her and walked out to get the car ready to go.

"Yeh lo." Shehnaaz and Bindu walked out of the kitchen with the boxes and kept them properly in the car.

"Sunna, kal bakery ki shopping karne jayenge uske baad apni bhi kar lenge na?" Bindu asked her friend, while walking back to the kitchen.

"Nahi, aise hi month end me halat patli hai. Ruk ja, aunty next week hi salary de dengi." Shehnaaz replied.

She was thankful to God that she earned enough to manage herself throughout the month but she had learnt to save herself a little amount every month just to help herself in case of any emergency. Initially, she used to run multiple jobs to earn a decent amount and walk down the city to save as much as she could. These were one of those hard day's, she knew the almighty was testing her and explained the same to herself every time she would break down and succumb to her misery.

At times apologizing to her family to take her back seemed easier than struggling for a livelihood in this unknown city. But she didn't, she didn't do that even though she wanted to and gave her best to be that independent woman she always wanted to be. It took time to come across a good employer like Mary who taught her the mannerisms of a workplace and helped her out in getting an apartment rented apart from being a strict boss. All in all, it wouldn't have been easy for her in the past few months to settle in and accept this new city if she didn't love changes. As much as she had heard from wise people, change was the only constant and Shehnaaz accepted them to make her existence recognisable to people. But a little part of her heart always wished to know if her family missed her and like she did.

"Oye, Aaj date kya hai?" She asked randomly.

"26th." Bindu replied.

"Tujhe pata aaj meri behen ka birthday hai! Haaye, mai toh bhool hi gayi thi! Ghar jate hi call lagaungi." She almost jumped in excitement on realizing that it was her little sister's day. The day her uncle and aunt had brought her to the world and then she had someone to play with, spend time with and grow up with.

Shehnaaz couldn't contain her eagerness and dialed the landline number to connect to her home back in Punjab but to her disappointment, the number was no longer in use. Her family might have changed it, she thought and dialed her aunt's number nervously.

"Hello?" A feminine voice answered and she recognised her aunt.

"H-hello aunty ji, Amrit hai? Mai uski friend bol rahi hu, college se." She lied so that they let her talk to Amrit and to her luck, the phone was handed to her cousin soon.