My Birthday Promise (Editing)

Birthday party-1

Alisha

Everyone was here, except for Mohit.

It was my birthday and we were all gathered in my apartment for the birthday celebration. While every one at the party was waiting for me to cut the cake, I was waiting for Mohit to come.

Initially Aman had planned to celebrate my birthday at a fancy restaurant, but, at the last moment, I decided against it, and urged Aman to keep it a low profile thing rather than an extravagant affair. So, we invited my close friends, family members, and colleagues to my apartment for a small get together.

Still I had just over eighty guests.

At first I made a list of only fifteen guests. Dinesh was the 16th most important person on the list. Aman wanted him to come as he was his good friend and also he was a part of the group. I somehow managed to convince Aman that we cannot invite Dinesh. To be honest I was never fond of him. But yesterday when I decided to invite more guests, Dinesh made it to the top of our second cut off list.

Although I forget to invite him, I wasn't surprised to see him at the party. I was under the impression may be Aman invited him anyway, but, later on, when Malvika introduced me to her date, I realized why Dinesh was here. Malvika had asked me to bring her date to the party to which I happily agreed as I had decided to invite more people to the party.

Aman, who took the responsibility of managing the guests, was nowhere to be found. Thankfully, Malvika and Dinesh came to my rescue. I was surprised to see Dinesh helping me out by taking care of the guests but it was not more surprising than to know that Malvika was dating Dinesh.

Everything was going fine, everyone was having a good time, but still absence of Mohit was having an unnerving effect on me. I redialed Mohit's number but the call went unanswered again.

Mohit, where the hell are you?

******

Mohit

I arrived in a rush, full of apologies for being late for the birthday celebration.

"What took you so long?" Aman asked.

"Sorry guys...I was caught up in some work."

Everyone focused back on the birthday girl, Alisha, who was standing next to the cake. She looked at me with questioning eyes. I apologized to her making an I-am-sorry face to which she twisted her nose as she feigned anger, then she turned away, and smiled secretly. It was amusing.

The wait was over. Alisha leaned in and blew the candles. Everybody sang "happy birthday to you" in unison as she cut the cake. Alisha picked up a piece of cake and turned slightly to her right, where Aman was standing, but then turned to her left and stuffed the cake in my mouth, much to Aman's dismay. I cupped my mouth with my hand as I chewed the excess cake; I could see Aman hiding his disappointment behind his fake smile.

After cake it was time for the drinks. Alisha's colleagues, family, and friends surrounded her, so I slipped away to the bar. I sipped my drink as I looked at Alisha. She was busy talking to people around but still she was throwing frequent glances at me. I was watching her when I felt an arm around my neck.

"Why are you drinking alone here?"

I turned to see the towering figure of Aman standing next to me.

"Nothing...just like that." I replied.

"Everybody looked busy so I ..."

"Busy?" he cut me mid-sentence as he settled on the bar stool next to me. "I am never busy for you."