Mehwish's P.O.V.
Ma was impressed upon seeing the balloons, flowers, cake, and diamond bracelet.
"Hmm, Mehwish, your special someone seems to like you a lot." She teased after yelling at me for not returning the diamond bracelet to Zahid.
I smiled shyly.
"How come he didn't come inside?" She asked.
"He wanted to meet you during the day. He thought maybe you would think poorly of him for coming so late."
"Zara taught her children well, I must say. Anyway, I think highly of anyone that brings a smile on my baby's face." Ma grinned as she put my flowers in her vase.
After putting the cakes away, we began getting ready for bed, and that's when the doorbell rang again.
Who could it be this time?
I answered the door to find Ayaara, Javed, and Sahir standing there, holding a tray of brownies, ice cream cake, and a gift bag, respectively.
"Happy birthday, Mehwish!" The three of them exclaimed simultaneously.
"Omg! You guys! Thank you so much! You really didn't have to! What is all of this?!"
"Are you kidding? We wanted to, Mehwish!" Ayaara beamed.
"I'm so glad you're still awake. Sorry for being late. I wanted to arrive earlier, but these two said they wanted to come as well. Ayaara began baking brownies from scratch and then this one fell asleep and wouldn't answer his phone." Javed said, tilting his head at Sahir.
"Mahira Apa and I got you these gift cards!" Sahir handed me the bag.
"Oh my goodness! Thank you! I'll call Apa later. And Ayaara, thank you for putting in so much effort and baking these for me." I took their gifts and set them aside on the nearest table.
"Won't you guys come in?" I asked.
"No, it's late. We don't want to bother Noureen Aunty. Here," he pulled out a lighter from his pocket and lit the candles on the cake.
They all began to sing as I blew out the candles. Javed told Ayaara to record and take pictures with his phone as I fed them each pieces of the cake after they fed me some.
Never had any of my birthdays been so special. Although they made me feel no less than family, I couldn't wait to officially be able to call them my family.
The following evening, Zahid took all of us out for dinner to celebrate my birthday. After the dinner, we decided to go to that arcade again that Farhan, Ayaara, and Javed went to while Zahid and I were at the beach a few months ago. This time Sahir was with us as well, but Mahira Apa couldn't come since her wedding was days away.
The arcade wasn't just video game machines, it had laser tag, go-karts, mini-golf, a bowling alley, a ball-pit, and so much more. We began with laser tag. The teams were of twos, so it was Zahid and I, Farhan and Ayaara, and Javed and Sahir. Javed and Sahir lost first and began playing a different game because Farhan shot them, which meant Ayaara and Farhan were after Zahid and I.
When I saw Farhan getting ready to shoot me, Zahid spun me around to protect me by picking me up with one arm around my waist. This got an, "Oye hoye!" from Farhan. We looked at him with big eyes, scared that Ayaara heard, but she was nowhere in sight.
A few seconds later, Zahid and Farhan had both disappeared and I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Ayaara getting ready to tag me out.
"Any last words?" She asked mischieviously.
I then heard Farhan from behind me, "Hah! You're surrounded, Mehwish!"
YOU ARE READING
Love Means Sacrifice
RomanceGrowing up as the eldest brother and without his mother, the serious and reserved workaholic Zahid Saeed has always given up things if it makes others happy, but for the first time, when he falls in love, will he give that up as well? When the love...