"I still cannot believe this." Sheena whispered, as she ran fingers over her engagement ring. She caressed it with utmost care.
"Badi pyari hai." Shehnaaz smiled, admiring the ring as well while she and her best friend were comfortably snuggled up in their bed. The two used to stay at Sheena's place in Rohini Nagar, Delhi.
"Haina? 4 saal Shehnaaz, soch 4 saal ke baad finally ye ring hai mere pass." Sheena said.
"4 saal of non stop chaos! Kaise jhela maine tum dono ko itne saal!" Shehnaaz sighed dramatically.
"Chal bhag! Kutti! Tune kya jhela?" Sheena frowned.
"Shehnaaz, dekh na Guru baat nahi kar raha hai yaar mujhse! Dekhna, mere mana karne ke baad bhi uss Aditi ki bacchi ko Hi bola usne! Yaar, Guru ne aj sirf good morning bola, na babe na pookie na heart emojis? Naraz kyu hai ye mere se?!" Shehnaaz mimicked her friend's patent dialogues that she had been listening to for the past 4 years. But nevertheless she was so happy for her friend and her fiance, both were her closest people since college. She had always rooted for the two of them.
"Chup kar." Sheena's cheeks turned pink in embarrassment. Indeed spending 4 years in aa relationship was a long time and it wasn't easy at all, she and her fiance were completely different people who liked each other. They had to tune, adjust and go through a lot of arguments to make it worth marriage.
Shehnaaz laughed, hugging her friend and kissing her cheek loudly as the two continued to talk about the initial days of Sheena's relationship with Gurjot, her former fiance. The trio were in the college together where Sheena and Shehnaaz were classmates but Gurjot was their senior and all of them were a part of a cultural club in their college.
Like every relationship, Gurjot and Sheena began to hangout more often in their college canteen, sports ground and library and similarly like every best friend Shehnaaz was the third wheel in most of their dates. She used to gate keep her friend's relationship, cover for Sheena every time she went out with Gurjot and used to help them resolve their fights as well.
As of now, the two besties were enjoying their weekend at their home. They made themselves comfortable in bed, under the quilt along with their laptop with Netflix on screen, watching 'Thank you for coming'.
"Mickey! Sana! Khana khane ke time ho gaya! Chalo aao!" Anju, Sheena's mother, called them down.
"Aai Ma!" Sheena replied and the girls unwillingly climbed out of the bed. It was pretty cold in Delhi in the month of December, the temperature had actually dropped down to 3-4°c during the nights. All of them wore layers of thermal wear to bear with this winter.
"Aaj Montu ka birthday hai, wish kiya tune?" Anju asked.
"Text kiya tha subha, mote ka reply 4 ghante baad aaya." Sheena muttered, taking her seat at the end of the table.
"Beta, kyuki wo kaam pe jata hai. Busy raha hoga. Abhi call karte hai usey, wish karenge." Her father, Rajiv, replied.
"Usne toh mere birthday pe call nahi kiya tha." Sheena stated, eyeing her father.
"Montu kaam se bahar gaya tha, teri Rita aunty ne toh kiya tha na! Aise nahi karte beta, call laga." Anju replied, insisting that they should make the call.
"Namaste uncle." The guy they had been talking about, picked up the call.
"Namaste bete, happy birthday!" Rajiv wished him.
"Happy Birthday Montu, kaise ho beta?" Anju was quick to follow.
"Thank you so much. Mai badhiya hu. Abhi mom se baat ki, aap logo ko yaad kar rahe the hum." Montu replied, he sounded happy.
While Shehnaaz sat there, all ears to their conversation about this guy. She heard about him often, Shukla family, how the two families were neighbours once and shared a pretty good bonding before Rajiv retired and moved to Delhi.
"Happy Birthday Mote! Cake thoos liya?" Sheena overtook the conversation.
"Thanks Mickey. Ghar pe hu yaar, bas kuch friends ko treat dene jaunga." He replied.
"Full party sharty ka plan hai na? Pubs, booze and all!" She asked in front of her parents purposely. Oh how she loved to embarrass him.
"You wish! Tere Delhi wale pubs jaisa kuch nahi hai yaha. By the way, what was that place you went to last week? It looked nice." He asked her back. As a consequence, Sheena almost choked on her food while Shehnaaz's face went white because Anju and Rajiv were challengingly looking at the girls.
"Mai? Arey mai toh- woh umm- cafe gayi thi. Cafe hai, naya khula hai." Sheena covered up somehow. She hated this guy's guts! For now, she looked at her friend for help.
"Aunty! Ye um- ye Montu wohi hai na. Jisko ye, Mickey rakhi bandh-ti thi?" Shehnaaz asked Anju, in order to change the topic.
"Ha Sana. Abhi bhi rakhi bhejti hai Mickey usko. Bachapan me jab ek baar hum iske Mama ke ghar nahi ja paye the, tabse isne Montu ko rakhi bandhna chalu kiya." Anju replied, reminiscing those days.
With that and a few more things to talk about the dinner was carried on. Shehnaaz had settled well with this family after living with them for almost two years now. After she completed her post graduation in Delhi with her best friend, she began to work there and stayed with them, much to their request.
"Abey! Tere bhai ne aaj marwa dena tha!!" She slapped her friend's arm for the mishap that could have happened down there.
"Mai kya karti? Yeh Montu ka baccha hai hi aisa! Chugal khor hai ek number ka!" Sheena replied, rubbing her arm.
"Toh tune kyu chheda usko pehle!? Aise pange mat liya kar, uncle aunty se maar pad jayegi kisi din!" Shehnaaz warned her. As much as she liked this brother sister duo, she was amazed how they functioned.
A few days later, Shehnaaz walked into a cafe to meet up with a friend.
"Hello ji, ki haal chaal aye?!" She greeted him.
"Badi khush lag rahi hai aaj tu?" Gurjot replied. He looked up at her and smiled, amused that she spoke to him so nicely
"Bestfriend ki shaadi ho rahi hai, dusre bestfriend se. Khush nahi hona chahiye?" She asked him.
"Oh, mai tera bestfriend kab ban gaya oye?!!" He chuckled, wondering what she was up to now.
"Guru, tujhe pata nahi hai. Lekin tu hai." She replied quite confidently.
"Kaam bol." He said, knowing she was up to something. She definitely was, he had known her for a good time now.
"Kaisi baatein kar-" she tried to cover up.
"Kaam bolna, Sana!" He chuckled, knowing his fiance's best friend a little too well. She had been his good friend as well since they were in college.
"Sheena ko bachelorette party dene wali hu uske birthday pe. Toh tu kuch plan mat karna." She sighed, revealing her plan.
"Yaar?! Kyu? Birthday ka hi din mila tha tujhe?" He frowned, he had made plans for his fiance's birthday. He was in fact just about to plan something, a private dinner most probably.
"Please yaar, shaadi ke baad toh sare birthday usne tere sath manane hai. Yeh wala mujhe karne de. Guru, please na." She requested.
"No, this is not done Sana. It is supposed to be our last birthday before we get married." He argued.
"Aaj tak itne surprises diye tune, mujhe karna hai iss bari. Dekh, aise bhi tu kuch zyada kar nahi sakta. Uski Agrawal family Randhawe se shaadi ke liye maan gayi, itna hi kafi hai. Shaadi ke baad tere pass mauke hu mauke honge, meko karne de ye party." She stated her points. She knew her best friend's story, the hardship she and her boyfriend had to go through to convince their religious parents for an intercaste wedding. The Agrawals were pretty strict, reluctant and conservative to let a funky rich Punjabi intrude their family tree.
"Toh Sheena ke birthday pe tum saare party karoge aur mai ghar pe baitha rahu?! No Sana!" He just wouldn't agree.
"Ab se tum dono ne humesha sath hi toh rehna hai, bas festivals pe ya birthdays pe hi mil payenge hum." She asked again. She didn't need his permission though, but she wanted him to be fine with her plan as well.
"Chal, chal. Delhi me hi rahenge sare, kabhi bhi aa sakti hai tu. Dramme na kar Sana." He shook his head, all that melodrama for one bachelorette party. But gave in nevertheless.
She smiled, beginning to plan her best friend's grand bachelorette.
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Hello people! So here's a quick intro of the people that are going to share screen with Sidharth and Shehnaaz!
How's it?!