Love Beyond Love

Chapter 22

EDITED

"Did you get the flowers?" Tara had called Sonia to ask her.

"Yes, they are beautiful." Sonia said as she admired the gorgeous bouquet of assorted flowers sitting on her bed.

"And the cake?" She asked again.

"Not yet. But why did you go through so much trouble?" Sonia mumbled while trying to count all the flowers.

"It's your birthday! And I am not there so I have to compensate somehow." Tara replied in a sad tone.

"It really wasn't necessary. I have enough cakes and gifts already, thanks to my family. They all decided to send me a cake separately, so now I have three of them. And my desk is overflowing with unnecessary gifts. My sister sent me a set of three teddy bears, I don't know why? I don't even like teddy bears that much. And a travel sized bag with weird stuff I don't need? I think she's trying to increase my baggage; oh my God she knows I hate paying for extra baggage!" Sonia gasped as she looked at the gifts and sighed loudly.

"That's why I've always liked her." Tara chuckled. "Anyways, I am going to sleep now, have to wake up early so I can reach ten minutes earlier than my students and finish a cup of coffee in peace."

"Okay goodnight." Sonia smiled as she put away the bouquets on a chair and lay down. It was one am and suddenly, she felt too tired to wake up five hours later and go to work.

Although she loved her work but she was human too. Everyday, from seven am to eleven pm, she was out of her house, working hard. Obviously she had no control over the speed of the construction but she had to make sure everything was going by the prepared schedule, had to go through the concerned documents again and again so they don't miss any loopholes which may create problems in the future, preparing new documents as their needs arose and all this without anyone's help. Normally, she always had Tara with her but this particular trip was going without her friend's presence. Her team was currently working on a previous project in another country and she didn't want to call them here without finishing that.

She was also feeling a little homesick. It had been a while since she was all alone on her birthday and her eyes burned and chest hurt a bit when she slept and dreamt about her family back home.

--

"So, she didn't come at all today?" Drago frowned as the worker shook his head. "Why not?"

"I don't know Sir. I think I saw her in the morning but she was gone when I came back from changing." He said and Drago nodded.

Walking out of the gate, he wondered why Sonia wasn't at the site today. It didn't feel like her to take a holiday from work but then, how much did he really know about her if anything at all.

Why was he here to meet her, two weeks after they had met at the market, was also something he wondered but had no answer for. After that shopping trip and dinner, his mind had been suspiciously occupied with her for the last fourteen days. Occupied enough that his parents had to ask why was he not answering them when they talked to him or Tisha had to call him twice before he listened to her.

And then, to want to see her today, out of the blue, was definitely something to think about so he was here but she wasn't, so he decided to wait. After ten minutes, he realized it was already seven pm and she was not probably coming to the site today after all.

He then wondered if he should go and see her at her place. Would that be weird? He avoided wondering that as he told the driver to take him to her apartment building.

--

Sonia frowned as the door bell rang twice.

"Is it one more gift again?" She grumbled as she looked up from a file and looked at her floor littered with balloons and flowers and gifts her friends and family had sent throughout the day. When she had gotten back from the meeting she had, her door handle was covered with the balloon strings and the building's guard had his small table filled with her presents.

"How am I ever going to take these back home?" She said as she counted the twenty-seven gifts covering her small space.

The bell rang again as she quickly got up and put on her robe. Tip-toeing towards her door, so as to not burst or slip on a balloon, she opened it with a frown on her face. But it was soon wiped off as she looked straight into Drago's eyes.

"Hi." He said slowly as she peeped from her door.

"Hey, hi." She mumbled.

"I don't know why I am here." He said to himself and shook his head.

"What?" She asked, unable to hear him clearly.

"I...had gone to the site to see you...meet you." He said quickly and cleared his throat. "You weren't there so I- are you alright?" He asked suddenly as he realized she was still holding tightly to the door and looking at him all confused.

"Yes, yes, I am fine." She nodded and felt her face burn.

"Have I disturbed you at the wrong time?" He asked as he looked at her red face.

"No! No, not at all." She said, realizing how rude she was being. She opened the door and stood with a smile. "Please come in."

"Oh. Thanks." Drago said and nodded. She walked in and he followed, looking around. His leg hit a few balloons and he looked down to see the gifts and the bouquets.

"You have a lot more admirers than I could have thought." He said vaguely.

"Oh." She chuckled. "That's not it."

"It's your birthday?" He asked as he saw the gifts and cards saying Happy Birthday.

"No." She said but then, looking at his confused face, bit her lip. "Yes."

"Happy birthday, Ali?" He said and she looked at him in shock.

"What?" She whispered.

"Why do these gifts say Happy Birthday Ali?" He asked, looking at a gift box.

--

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