The Birthday Surprise

The moonlight streamed through the curtains as Arman lay awake on his bed in Paris. He turned to look at the moon as he still felt her presence He could still smell the flowery perfume that she used to always wear, the jingle of the bangles that he used to find so irritating. Everything felt the same except that she was missing, Haya was missing…. She was near yet so far. He remembered those moonlit walks by the beach about five years ago when they were in college. Walking barefoot on the sand, so many unuttered vows, unending conversations, stolen moments…. All of them now just felt like a thing of the distant past. Things were so different now, he thought. There were so many things to think about now… The house, cars, EMIs, his parents, their two and a half year old son Pal and the list went on and on. Life was passing by in the name of maturity.

Constantly on the move, Arman lived his life in and out of suitcases without a dull moment in his life, while Haya took a backseat to take care of his home and everything connected with it. And she did such a great job of it that his connection with home, parents actually seemed lost in his world of business meetings, conferences, travel schedules.

Haya, on the other hand, without complaining would continue her daily ritual without as a much as a sigh. Waking up his mom and dad for the yoga class, preparing breakfast, getting Pal ready for his kindergarten, getting lunch ready, picking up Pal from his class. Sacrificing a blossoming career to do what she was doing had never been an easy choice. She often thought if things would have been any different had she not given up working. And the thought would be abandoned immediately without any further attention because of all the things she had and above all Arman who loved and respected her for all that! Or so she thought! Arman very well knew that she was better than him in most respects and in all probabilities could have overtaken him in the career segment too.

Here he was in Paris looking at the moon and reminiscing of the earlier moments which actually made his life which came to haunt his sleep. He could have chosen to call up Haya but the time zones made it so difficult and calling through the day was just not feasible with office chores demanding his attention. He kept thinking she had changed and that too drastically. From the slim, charming lady, she had most certainly put on oodles of weight. It was hard not to notice the prominent fine lines on her face. From the giggly, lovely lady who kept putting him at his wit’s end with her sense of humour, she had transformed into a serious adult. There was no laughter in her life, only responsibilities. She had crumbled under those and the conversations had vanished between them. Or maybe the priorities in her life had changed? He was not the only thing in her life now; a stark contrast to the times when she had eyes only for him. There was no sparkling wit left, no conversation, no concern… Or was it?

It was a pity that he was in the city of romance without his partner. As he saw couples strolling hand in hand under the moonlight, he wondered what changed and what made his marriage loveless, their marriage loveless…

Yes, she could have tried. She maybe even should have tried… But she is not the only one responsible, Arman thought. He too, had changed with the added responsibilities at work. Apart from his thinning hair and his slightly expanding waistline, he realised he too had started distancing himself from conflict. Resolving conflict even before it arose was what attributed to this success but at home, it was quite a different story!

Haya was the same woman who used to get him lunch every day to office to spend some quality time. Those were the days when he waited for the lunch break to begin. But as each day passed, the number of meetings increased and so did Haya’s waiting time. Without any complaints or resistance, she kept coming each day with that big, bright smile that was now missing and that big bag of goodies till the day when he asked her to keep the bag with his secretary and not disturb him. The number of visits started decreasing in line with Arman’s dwindling patience.

The flowers that she kept sending him every time he bagged a project, whether big or small. These flowers also stopped coming when the recipient of the flowers turned out to be his secretary, since he was always busy and in the middle of something that he could not collect the flowers himself.

The surprise getaways that he used to love which she planned also stopped when he would have sudden travel plans. The parties that she organised also started dwindling when he could not make it in time for his own birthday party. He turned up after the guests had already left. The cake had still not been cut and what a showdown there was after that! After which, he had heartlessly bellowed that he had no time for such nonsense. After all, it was just a birthday! She stopped going to the airport to pick him up after his travel from the time when he had hailed a cab for office without even bothering to wait for her.

So when he actually sat to think, Arman felt that maybe Haya was not all that wrong after all. Hindsight, had he been in Haya’s place, he may have considered walking out on her. And yes, how could he forget the time when his father got a heart attack and he was in a conference in Rome and was unable to leave. If not for Haya, things could have been ugly. Thinking about leave, he could not take leave even when Haya was expecting their first child. She had still forgiven him for that. Of course, he did have his secretary send flowers, who sent a bouquet of red roses instead of pink orchids that she so loved. In an instant, it was so clear that Arman had not taken out time to send those flowers. He still could not forget that look in her eyes.
She had always been the quiet, supportive but forsaken partner without even letting him know of any discomforts other than a couple of occasions. Remembering all this made Arman so morose that he decided to make a quick call to Haya. To hell with the time zones, he thought… He called on her mobile a little after 12 am. She sounded concerned when she picked the call. Arman inquired why and immediately realised he shouldn’t have… He couldn’t himself recollect when he had called her just to say hi. All his phone calls either were because he had to suddenly travel or because he had to go for a sudden business dinner. When he told her that call was to tell her that he missed her presence in his life, there was a long eerie silence at the other end. Arman wondered if the line got disconnected when Haya finally managed to whisper “I miss you too”. This was too much for Arman who quickly hung up after that. It felt very odd that they lived in the same house but hardly met each other. In fact, it was amazing that she took full onus of his parents, Pal… He was an absent child and an absent parent with Haya always covering up for him… And this was what he did to her… When was the last time he took Haya out for dinner? In fact he even forgot her birthdays…

Thinking of birthdays, he realised that it was 19th of June that day and 21st June would be Haya’s birthday but his flight tickets were booked for the 22nd of June. He made a mental note to prepone his travel and surprise her after ages… Or atleast it felt like ages! After completing half his schedule on the next day Arman rushed to the airport to take his flight.

As he returned home from the airport, he realised it was truly his homecoming. He stopped on his way to pick up a long stemmed red rose and the same elaborate arrangement of pink orchids that he had taken when he had proposed to her years back. He doubted if she would recall but he most certainly did! It was about 5 minutes to 12 when he reached home. He opened the door and quietly sneaked into his bedroom and was dismayed to see Haya sleeping soundly with her mother by her side, where he should have lain… Her mother dropped in since Haya did not want to be alone on her birthday with Pal since Arman’s parents had gone for a religious trip. Her mother whisked him out of the room and told him that Haya had a terrible headache and had gone to sleep half an hour back.

Headaches… Arman knew what had happened! Haya was sad and hurt because she thought he forgot her birthday yet again. She would have been upset that he didn’t remember her birthday and still had a travel schedule planned. Of course, she was not supposed to know that her sweetheart was arranging a special surprise for her… and he was the surprise.

He went into his bedroom and placed his luggage in a corner and the long stemmed red rose by her bedside. He tiptoed to the kitchen to place the pink orchids’ bouquet and went to the guest room to complete his sleep.

When Haya awoke the next morning, she was shocked to see the red rose by her bedside. She felt it may have been Arman and quickly turned around only to find her mom sleeping next to her. She discarded the thought swiftly and walked out of the room absently. As she walked to the kitchen, she thought mom may have kept it for her since it was her birthday. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the same pink orchids’ bouquet that she had received when….. Only Arman knew she loved pink orchids!

She practically ran to her room again to find her mom sleeping. But she managed to see the luggage and knew he was back. She rushed to his parents’ room to find it empty and then hurried to the guest room where she found her sweetheart. He awoke to her squeals of delight and she practically threw herself in his arms and started sobbing, “I though you forgot about me yet again”. He assured her now that he was her and forever! Being the guy he was, he could not bring himself to admit that he had been wrong on various occasions but had mentally made up his mind that he would more than make up for his mistakes. He was going to bring back the love, the fun, the excitement…

These were women, Arman thought! Strong yet so fragile, firm yet so flexible, nurturing, caring, comforting, melting at the slightest of the things… Forgiving and forgetting was an area where woman still scored over man, Arman thought as he pulled Haya closer to never let go. Tonight would be different, he whispered as Haya blushed… But he smiled inwardly and thought every night after this would be different. This was one opportunity to correct his follies and he would grab it with both hands. He was happy he did get his college sweetheart back after all!

Falling in love again with her was so easy, he realised… Just an “I miss you” call, few flowers did the trick. Love never fades but the expression of love certainly could!! Haya had forgiven him with the very fact that he had thought of her. It didn’t take him expensive gifts but just the thought counted. He vowed that history would never repeat himself. It is with great difficulty that we find the people that we love and squandering that love was most certainly a sin, he thought as he kissed Haya wishing her a happy birthday… This was one birthday that neither of them would forget.