A Few Surprises

Komal opened the front door of her house. She had been studying at the library all day. Her mind felt exhausted from thinking about business continuity plans.

She was just ready to come home and decompress from her college coursework. The house was empty because her family had left for a vacation.

The lights flicked on before she could turn them on.

“Surprise!!”

Yelled Maryam, Sk and Jesse.

“Happy birthday!” 🎉

Jesse sat at the piano in the living room and started playing the happy birthday song. The three of them sang to Komal who had almost forgotten it was her own birthday.

“Oh wow!”

She was incredibly surprised.

Maryam had on a glittery party hat. Excitedly, she pulled out a beautiful cake that had decorative letters that said happy birthday Komal on it.

“We baked you a chocolate cake!”

Sk lit the candles quickly. They sang the happy birthday song a second time.

Komal tried to blow the candles out but they were trick candles and they didn’t blow out easily.

Her three friends laughed with her and then helped her blow the candles out finally.

They lit a fire in the fireplace and ate the chocolate cake in the living room. The firelight glinted off the edges of the book spines.

“Present time!”

Sk had a handsome smile on his face. He led Komal over to the other side of the couch to where there was a large gift wrapped up with a fluffy neon bow on top.

“Oh my gosh! You guys didn’t have to do all this!”

Komal’s cheeks blushed a little.

“Open it up already!”

Jesse blurted out.

Komal started unwrapping the gift.

“Oh wow, it’s a wooden treasure chest!”

Sk nodded, saying,

“We made it! We learned how to sand the wood and stain it just right.”

“Feel how smooth the wood is!”

Maryam encouraged.

“Open the lid and see what’s inside the chest!”

Jesse put his arms around Sk and Maryam’s shoulders. Komal was kneeling down and opened the lid of the chest.

“No wayyy! My name is etched inside! Woahhhh!!!”

Komal smiled and got up to hug her three happy friends.

“I like the hugs but there’s more in the chest… keep going!”

Maryam shooed her back to the chest. In the box there was a handmade gem necklace that Maryam had made. There was a stack of leather bound classic books, and last, but not least, there was a novel that she’d never seen before.

“We got it published!”

The three friends cried in climactic excitement.

“What?”

Komal’s jaw dropped in disbelief.

“What on earth? Our book?”

She looked at the bottom of the book cover and saw their four names there. Sure enough, it was the novel that the four of them had worked on so diligently. It had been published by the Harper Collins Publishing company. The title was radiantly raised with golden letters.

“This is the best birthday party ever! I’m in shock at all that you guys have done! And here I almost forgot what day it even was!”

“We love you lots and lots!”

Maryam declared and the guys nodded in agreement.

“I just can’t believe it all! This is all so incredibly beautiful.”

“Come on, Komal, we’ve got more cake to eat!”

“I volunteer to read the first chapter aloud of our book while you guys do some damage to that cake!”

Jesse loved reading aloud.

“Okay, and I’ll read chapter two.”

Sk said as he nestled into a large cloth chair with a plate of scrumptious cake.

The fire was stunning and warmed their hearts more and more each moment. The night was full of sweet laughter and it was indeed an intimate birthday party that none of them would ever forget! In fact, many years later she still had the chest at the foot of her bed and she always remembered those very special birthday memories.