Ummeedein

After One Month

The home was decorated with lights, there were some extra lights to create a party mood, a music system was set with its speaker connected, the starters and main course were set in the dining area and some eye-catching bottles of varieties of liquor with glasses in the corner table. Guests started coming gradually and it was near to 12am now. All were preparing for the decorations, candles and cake for the birthday boy.

 At the knock of 12am in the wall clock, all started singing loudly, "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear Abhishek, Happy Birthday to you." Some were clapping, some were recording videos, some were clicking pictures. Ambica took the small piece of cake and fed it to Abhishek while he also took a small piece and fed it to her. The ritual of feeding the cake to everyone continued for a while.

Ambica and Abhishek had invited their friends and also the ones from the industry but who are now friends too, for the party. After some time, all started settling down in places, some with food, some with glass of liquor. They were enjoying a beautiful music session of old songs as one of the guests was playing guitar, accompanied by some in singing. It was a peaceful and soothing environment as all had the nostalgia of old bollywood songs.

Randeep had come very early, to help with party preparations. He was accompanied by Abhilash and Zain* who were also now friends with Sexena's because of Randeep. When guests had started coming, every time he had an enthusiastic look at the door to see who had come. Today, he was being restless, which even himself wasn't sure why, as today he was waiting for someone maybe desperately.

He had heard some friendly voices, rather laughter coming in through the door, when he and Abhilash were so much engrossed with the music system and its speakers. When he had turned to see, he saw Ashi, Madhu and Kristina coming but was immediately jerked by a loud music sound as Abhilash was finally able to connect the speakers to the system. He had barely got a chance to exchange a smile with them as he again was pulled by Abhilash for something else.

As the rounds of songs were going on, he saw Ashi sitting on an armrest of a big couch. They had just shared a 'Hi. How are you?' with each other when there was some time for the celebration. They didn't talk about anything after that. Whenever he saw her, she was either talking with Madhu and Kristina, or she was constantly into her phone. He noticed that she wasn't even paying much attention to the songs. Even the presence of the Mittal's didn't bother her much. He felt disappointed and busied himself in talking to Sanah.

After the music session, some of the guests asked for leaving as it was late. But Abhishek asked for a group photo with all, so that no-one is missed in the photo. Randeep moved forward and took Abhishek's phone saying he'll take the picture. While the main reason being he was not at all in any mood.

When only some close friends stayed there, mostly all of them were in a mood to dance and spend some good time with the host couple. Randeep took his glass and made his way to the balcony. He took one sip and rested his arms on the railing behind, which was of a height upto his back. He folded his one leg a bit resting behind, and was just watching people dancing there through the big glass partition. Zain and Abhilash also took their glasses with an ice bucket and headed to the balcony. Zain kept the ice bucket on a small stool there, had two pieces of ice into his glass, offered one to Abhilash and looked at Randeep to ask him about the same. Before he could speak, he noticed that his friend was so busy in getting himself entertained by watching people dancing. He looked through the glass partition and saw girls and some of their friends dancing. He nudged Abhilash and pointed at Randeep through his eyes to make him look at Randeep.

Zain smirked, dragged Abhilash a little to the corner, "Bhaisahab ko dekho kaise ladkiyon ko tadd rahe hai" and laughed a little.

Abhilash looked at the direction Randeep was still looking, who was still unaffected by the presence of his friends beside him. He got to know what it was and turned to Zain, lowering his voice, "ladkiyon ko tadd nahi raha, sirf ek hi ladki ko nihaar raha hai bass. Dhyan se dekh."