WRAPPED WITH LOVE

chapter 28

In the cab:

Abhi: varun and priya must have been here. I miss them very badly.

Rahul: close your eyes and imagine them. They will be infront of you!

Abhi: aww Rahul, i am not a kid!!

Arvind: Abhi, sorry yar i forgot to buy you lollipops. I will get them in the airport.

Abhi frowning: shut up!!

She asked the driver to put on some music. She relaxed as she listened to the classic melodies .

Abhi's mom: Abhi,eat properly. If possible , 4 times a day! Don't ever skip your food. Eat something time to time.

Abhi : mom mom please. Not now! Let me just relax!

Karthik,not knowing how to please her in front of everyone,kept silent.

At the airport:
As soon as Abhi got down the car, someone hugged her tightly. It was priya. Both were so happy to see each other.

Abhi: priya, how come you are here? where is varun?

Priya: woh,he has to submit an assignment. So he could not come. I came nah On his behalf too!

Abhi: well ,thanks yar.

As Abhi entered in, she saw varun holding a teddy . She ran to him and grabbed the teddy.

varun laughed and said
" its our Abhi going abroad and how can we not come to give her send off?"

Abhi looking at nithu and rahul: you knew it?? Idiots!
Anyways,thank you guys. You made my day!

Abhi was talking to arvind when a small girl came to her and asked to forward her hands closing her eyes. Abhi was shocked. But she could not help it. She was curious. She closed her eyes and forwarded her hands knowing that its the secret admirer again.

After a minute, She opened her eyes and found a box wrapped with the same silver sheet with the name tag 'secret admirer'.
Arvind and karthik were starring at the box with great surprise.

Abhi carefully unwrapped the box and was happy to see dark chocolates,
A bunch of purple roses and a watch !!
She took out the watch carefully and observed it closely. It had a picture of abhi,arvind and their parents on its dial. Abhi kept looking at the watch.

Nithu: abhi,this is awesome. How did he know that you love to carry dark chocolate during journeys? And those
roses, how did he know that you love that colour? And the watch, i am speechless abhi. Even we didnt think of gifting you something this sensible!!!!!

Rahul: He should have been following you abhi.

Arvind and Karthik were clueless of what was happening. They could sense something unusual. But, no one has time to explain the story!

Its time for Abhi to check in. She was about to leave when karthik stopped her to give her a big bar of dark chocolate.

Abhi: why??

Karthik: because you love to have it during journeys.!!

Since her parents and her brother were beside her, she didn't want to make a scene out of it and took the chocolate.

She hugged each one of her friends while trying hard to conceal her tears.

Nithu came close to her and whispered: everything is gonna be just fine! You have a great future ahead abhi. Start a fresh tomorrow darling!

And abhi nodded at nithu. When she was about to drag her luggage, her mother got hold of Abhi's hand and asked with a great surprise
:"Abhi! This ring? It looks similar to the one you lost. Where did you get this"

Abhi didn't want to tell her parents about the secret admirer.If she reveals , they would warn her for every little thing.

Abhi:woh mom, a close friend of mine gifted this. And ya,it looks similar. But didn't have my name carved on it.

Her mom: but, who can be your Bestie other than these people?

Abhi: Mom ,please stop questioning everything. She is my school friend. I got to meet her in chennai. She likes me a lot. As a token of our friendship, she gave this.

Abhi took a deep breath as if She just escaped a warfare. Arvind and karthik too didn't notice her ring.

Arvind took her aside and asked:
'Are you lying to mom? I can sense something fishy. What is it Abhi?'

Arvind's phone rings.
Its his boss . He walks away to answer his call..

Karthik: Abhi are you really lying to your mom and your brother?

Abhi: tho kya sach bathadoon? Even i don't have answers for any question regarding my life! How can you expect me to answer my mom's questions?

Karthik: who is that abhi? I saw the name tag. Secret admirer? You know him?

Abhi: I don't know him. But, who knows, he might be the one for me. He knows every single thing about me. I just love the way he is expressing his love for me.

Abhi took karthik's hand and placed the chocolate he gave her . She felt so courageous to have done that. Without even turning back, she went to her friends.

On the other hand, karthik was dejected. He felt something was going terribly wrong . He wanted to fix everything.

Karthik comes close to abhi while she is busy talking to her friends. He stands behind her.On noticing Karthik trying to speak to Abhi, her friends moved a few steps back.

Abhi was facing her friends and didn't understand why they stepped back. She gave a hand gesture asking what happened.

Karthik held her hand and she turned back.
They had an eyelock.

Karthik: Abhi, you don't even know his identity. How can you like him? You don't know what kind of a person he is! This decides your life abhi. Well,please let us know if anything troubles you there. Be careful. Take care.

Abhi was about to answer back when arvind arrived . Her parents urged her to check in. She waved to everyone . She walked to the immigration counter looking at the 'hanky' she still retrieved. She wiped her tears with it.

Some things never change!!!

Precap: secret admirer saves Abhi's future in London.......................................