It Had To Be You

Chapter 17

Aashika opened the door to the cafe only to be greeted with the huge bang of party poppers, accompanied by the noise of the party horns and the squeals of animals.

Correction. Squeals of aliens.

'Cause that's what the four people disguised in the masks of the old man looked. Oddly, one old man was wearing a hijab. Another's white hair was clearly peeping out of the mask making the black hair drawn over it, seeming unjustified.

The four masked people standing right into Aashika's face caused her to shriek in shock.

The waves of laughter that followed by, made her open her eyes and look at them from head to toe. Realisation dawned upon her and she slapped the arm of the old man wearing the hijab.

"I get that it's Halloween today but what's with you all trying to scare me? I almost saw my life flash right infront of my eyes. And Uncle Joe, you too?" Aashika glared at the old man with actual white hair.

They all laughed and removed their masks, revealing Arhaan, Inaya, Joe, and Nishant behind the masks.

Aashika gasped looking at him. "Nishant, from when did you join their party?" Aashika placed both her hands on her hips.

"I-I didn't." Nishant stuttered. "It was his plan." He pointed at Arhaan out of nowhere, making Arhaan's eyes pop out from his sockets.

"I can't believe you. Did you just put the blame on me? And can you tell me what justifies you bringing the old man mask here?" Arhaan scoffed.

"You-" Nishant extended while taking a moment to think. "Yo- your idea lured me to give in. So-" he shrugged innocently.

Both Aashika and Arhaan scoffed in sync while the other two spectators were struggling to hold back their laughter.

"But what are you guys doing here? And Uncle Joe, you have a counter to manage." Aashika more like stated as she folded her arms to her chest.

"Ah- you don't worry about that. That's taken care of. Right now it's celebration time." Uncle Joe squealed in excitement, his eyes crinkling as he smiled.

"What celebration?" Aashika raised a brow.

And soon infront of her eyes came four big bouquets, each person handling one. Nishant gave the countdown before everyone screamed in sync 'Congratulations.'

The noise made Aashika place her hands over her ears, but smile a big smile at the surprise.

"For what?" She giggled.

"For doing your best in the exhibition and gaining a huge success." Nishant said, forwarding the bouquet in his hand.

"For fulfilling the dream to see your favourite singer perform on the stage." Joe forwarded his bouquet.

"For getting featured on Armaan Malik's Instagram story and getting your efforts acknowledged by him." Inaya forwarded her bouquet.

"For finally getting your marriage fixed." Arhaan smiled, forwarding the bouquet to her.

Aashika's heart warmed up seeing each one of them forwarding the bouquets with an appropriate reason to congratulate her which unknown to her, felt surreal to her.

But her eyes widened in surprise when she heard Arhaan say the words that she had least expected to come from him.

"What?" Arhaan questioned when he noticed her gaze not wavering away from him.

The ringing of the counterbell made her blink before coming back to earth and giving her attention to the intruder.

"Sir, they need to exit." A boy who was sitting on the counter indirectly asked them to move away from the entrance.