My Birthday Promise (Editing)

The big surprise

I had never jumped a traffic signal before in my life. I glanced in the rear-view mirror to make sure no one was following me. I checked my shirt; the red blot below my shirt pocket was quite bigger than it was when I got into the car. "Damn it," I said to myself. I knew I had to make it in time or else it will be too late. I pulled over the car when I reached the building.

Malvika was waiting outside for me. "OMG! YOU ALRIGHT?" she shouted in panic.

I checked the blot and said, "Don't worry. It's just icing of the cake".

"Don't just stand there now...pick the cake. It is on the back seat," I shouted, as we were late.

She gave me nasty looks. "I'll kill you for this."

"You can do whatever you want to once we pull this off as planned," I said as I picked balloons and other glittery stuff, and went straight into the lift.

We had been planning for Rutt's surprise birthday party for over a week. Apart from our group I had invited all her friends & colleagues. Malvika was of great help in planning out the party. We took half day off from our work to arrange for everything. We sneaked in the apartment with Malvika's key. Malvika has decorated the room with whatever she could find and had made one beautiful- HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUTT- collage with pictures of Rutt and all of us. It looked so wonderful and was so creative that I couldn't have thanked her enough for it. I decorated the room with glitters and balloon. She went through her mental checklist to make sure we didn't forget anything. "I think we missed something," she said rubbing her chin.

"What is it? Is it champagne or wine? Or is it chicken?" I asked. My eyes widened when I realized about the food. "Did you get Chinese from her favourite restaurant?"

"Not me, stupid. You missed the candles for the cake!" She corrected.

"May be you left it in my car?" I said, scratching my head.

"No, there weren't any candles," she assured.

"Okay, then I will go and get candles."

"But you can't leave now. Rutt is going to come any minute," Malvika said, worrying.

"It's okay. Don't freak out. I will do something."

I called Aman and asked him to get candles and come down as soon as possible. Meanwhile I told Malvika to call Rutt's colleague to check if she has left or not. Aman was luckily on the way and assured me to pick candles and reach there in 10 minutes.

"No worries. Everything is under control," I told her. I placed the cake on the centre table in front of the champagne bottle. We were almost done and I was very excited. I checked the room. Everything looked so perfect. "Candles will come any time now and then we are done," I said, smiling.

"Yes, I think so," she replied.

"Thanks for everything," I said to Malvika and hugged her.

"Now will you at least tell me what you got for her?" asked curious looking Malvika.

"No, I can't. And please don't get started again!" I replied.

I wished it was Aman when we got first knock on the door. We turned off the lights just in case it was Rutt. "You get the door," I whispered to Malvika. Malvika opened the door and it was Dinesh and Neeti.

"Why it is all dark out here?" asked curious looking Dinesh.

I turned on the light and thanked them for showing up. Neeti was all praise for the decoration done by Malvika. Malvika called Rutt's colleague again to check on her. She told she was driving right behind Rutt and given the traffic, it will take her another 20 minutes to get back there.