Chap 30 Surprise !!!!

As she entered the house, Ghazal was treated with a hoot of  laughter, that too a familiar one. She could never fail to recognise her best friend’s voice. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Mihir laughing away at some joke, Arun must have cracked. She stopped in her tracks, unable to utter even a single word. It was Mihir who saw her first and rushed towards her and Vrinda, hugging Vrinda and planting a kiss on her forehead, who hugged him in return, recognising him as her favourite ‘Bunny Uncle’ from the innumerable video chats, they had shared.  She stood still,  feeling her eyes moisten with too many emotions flooding her heart.  Her eyes went to Arun who was smiling and simply nodded at her. Mihir hugged her too and gave her a fond smile. She saw that he had not changed much during last ten years, he had been away, except looking a bit tired. “Surprise !!!!…… how’s that??”, he gave her that familiar teasing look.
                “Stupid !! I’m going to kill you for this. You literally gave me a heart-attack …”, she said laughing with tears threatening to come out from her moist eyes.
She hugged him back and smiled, both of them coming to sit with Arun. After that they just lost track of time, while Mihir shared all the wonderful moments of his life and those of his family- his wife and three kids, two cute girls and the youngest boy. Arun could see the genuine happiness on his wife’s face which had come to life with a radiance that made her look even prettier. His heart filled with regret at his foolishness, when out of baseless envy, he had come in between two best friends, who were childhood buddies and shared innocent affection for each other. Mihir had brought lots of gifts for them, Vrinda was on cloud nine, her hands full with packets containing chocolates, a huge Barbie doll, lovely dresses and all sorts of girlie accessories, which must have been picked up by Mihir’s wife, Mishti. Ghazal then enquired about Mishti and their kids, to which Mihir explained that they were all recovering from jetlag and fatigue from the long journey and would see them the next day at the party. Mihir’s dad was throwing a party to welcome his son’s home-coming.
               Then Mihir took her hand and made her sit with Arun, handing them their gift wrapped in a silver paper. It was a beautiful photo frame in crystal, with their wedding photographs in it, arranged in a beautiful collage. “ Jiju please take good care of my little doll, that’s my only wish and my request to you. You are the anchor of her turbulent life …promise me, you’ll never ever leave her alone. She needs you and your love more than anyone or anything….”   he said in an emotional voice, full of concern for his best friend. Arun smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder, bringing her closer to him.