To me, my birthday has kind of lost its importance to me. When I was young, I would scream about having a huge birthday bash, with fatty pizza and a sugar loaf with even more sugary cream on top of it.

Now, it's like somebody decided to come up to me as I was shopping for a nice dress, slap me across the face, and yell at me, "YOU'RE ONE YEAR CLOSER TO YOUR DEATH." Before I knew it, I was going to be old, greying, and complaining about back problems. Because when you're from an Indian family like me, then your family's health history isn't your best friend.

Even though my birthday is the most annoying reminder of how I'm getting old, there was one thing that I appreciated about it more than anything. It was the fact that my family and friends did everything in their power to make me feel as joyous as a woman on her wedding day, waiting to be married to the love of her life.

My parents would always cook my favorite foods, regardless of how much Ananth complained, and Jen would always make me a card, give me something, take me out, or do all three, depending on how much time she had.

Even despite all the happiness surrounding my 22nd birthday, there was one problem this year. He would be leaving for Seattle the very next day. That's what added a sorrowful element to a typically special day. All I wanted to do was cherish my last few hours with Manish before he was to go.

Whether it be through texting or hanging out in person, I wanted this day to be special with my favorite people right by my side. I didn't care what we were going to do. I just wanted a lasting memory to cherish before the chances that we could have that much fun were squashed into bite sized pieces.

"Happy birthday, Ashwini!" my parents greeted, as I walked down the steps to the smell of food cooking in the kitchen.

I gave them a smile, and then Ananth exited the kitchen. "Happy birthday, Jaya," he said, in a tone that wasn't meant to mock or insult me, for once. He gave me a loose, one armed hug, as if I hadn't bathed in weeks and he didn't want to get too close to me. I gave him a slightly annoyed smile, and hugged him back.

"Thanks, bro," I told him, as I followed the scent of food like a dog following the scent of hidden cocaine. My mom handed me a plate of dosa and aloo, which made me smile. The smell was so familiarly nostalgic of the days when my grandmother would make it in our house back in Chennai, and she'd put it next to a tumbler filled with South Indian filter kaapi.

I took it, thanked my parents, and then sat down at the table so that I could enjoy a plate of pure nostalgia. I tore off a piece of the crisp pancake and picked up some of the gently spiced potato with it. I inhaled it, relaxing with nostalgia over the soft potato, the gentle spice, and the delicious crispiness of the dosa.

Today was already off to a decent start, with a healthy dose of positive nostalgia. There was nothing wrong with that. The one thing that I hoped was that somebody wouldn't ruin my special day today.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DUDE!" Jen screamed, as she pulled me into the tightest, most rib-crushing hug in the history of such.

I hugged her back, while trying not to die of suffocation, and choked out, "Thanks, dude!" Jen then realized that I was probably going to fall unconscious any moment now due to the lack of oxygen, so she let me go to breathe. I took a deep breath, and then felt my ribs to make sure there wasn't anything broken or that my lungs hadn't been crumpled into a little ball.

She gave me a slight smile, and then brought out a little bag that she had been holding during the attempted murder. "Sorry for nearly crushing you to death. I got some things to celebrate the fact that you're getting older, if that makes anything better?"

I chuckled, took the bag, and then looked inside to see the contents. Surely enough, there were little gifts that she knew that I'd definitely enjoy. A beautiful new blue dress that would hug all my curves so that men would lay their eyes on me, a bottle of perfume, and a bag of gumdrops.

A smile crept up on my face as I admired the dress, its sexy element, and how she had gotten the right size for me to slip it on and go out looking like I was headed to the Academy Awards. I took a whiff of the perfume, and the first thing that came to mind was me standing in the middle of a field of freshly bloomed flowers. It was amazing, but not strong enough to burn my nostrils off if I tried to put it on.

I put everything back in the bag, and then gave Jen a huge smile. "Thank you, Jannat. I love all of them," I said, and then leaned in to give her a hug. She smiled, and then hugged me back, as I just appreciated how good of a friend Jen was, and still is, to me.

That was one good thing about that day. I wasn't expecting to lose her anytime soon, and I knew that she was always going to be there for me. After hugging it out, Jen let go of me, and then motioned at my phone. "Has Manish texted you about tonight? I wanted you guys to have a little night together because it IS his last day here before he goes to Seattle. He should've texted you," she informed me.

I remembered two things at that point; one, I hadn't checked my phone in a while, and two, Manish had probably sent me a 'Happy Birthday!!' text with as many exclamation points as he could possibly fit into one single text. I whipped out my phone and checked it to see if there were any texts that I had missed from Manish.

Surely enough, there were 3 or 4 texts, and the smile that was on my face from greeting Jen came back, probably even stronger than it had been when I was talking with Jen. "Happy birthday, Jaya! I can't wait to spend time with you today. Are you free today at 7? I've got some surprises planned."

"Thank you, Sunny. I can't wait for tonight. And yes, I'm free." I slid my phone back into my pocket, and then looked back at Jen.

She had a big fat smirk on her face, like a 3rd grader who just saw a couple kissing in a rom com. "He's gonna surprise you tonight, huh?" she asked, while wiggling her eyebrows at me.

I gave her a smile, that was accompanied by a chuckle, and said, "Yep. He said to be ready at 7. Blame me for being excited, but you know how Manish is."

I knew that Manish had something exciting up his sleeve when he said that it was going to be a surprise. People who were 10000x more salty than I was would argue that, "Surprises can be both good and bad. How do you know that he's not going to murder you, cut up your body, and bury it in a sinkhole?"

Manish himself was a pleasant surprise in my life, and his choices definitely reflected that.

****************

"Meet me in the little park across the street. I'll be there at 7 sharp," Manish texted at 6, with a smiley face to accompany it. At 6:30, I was looking through my closet to find something that didn't make me look like I had crawled straight out of Satan's dumpster.

With that thought in mind, I picked out a dark green top and black capris that would go with it beautifully. As I tugged it on, I made sure not to trip on my own feet and fall face first onto the face. The last thing that I needed was to be admitted to the hospital on my birthday with my beautiful face disfigured.

When I finally got my clothes on, I made sure my hair looked like it was actually decent, then grabbed my phone and keys so that I could finally go to meet Manish. While walking out of the door, I had an unusual new determination. To make this as enjoyable in my power as I possibly could.

*****

7 sharp. That was the time that was displayed on my phone. It was show time. It was the time that I'd been looking forward to all day. It was time for Manish and I to start spending whatever little time we had left together.

Not even 10 seconds later, I heard crunching in the background, like someone decided to start eating almonds 10 feet away from me. The crunching eventually came closer to the back of my ear, and instinctively, I turned around to see if it was anyone that had seen me alone at night and decided to drag me somewhere and kill me.

Thankfully, it was no one other than Sunny, who just had a big smile on his face and a huge bag in his hand. "I always keep my promises, Jaya. Showed up right on time, huh?" he asked, as I scooted to make some room for him to sit. He sat down, and after putting the bag down on the ground, rather gently, he leaned in and then snaked his arms around me.

With a smile on my face, and a warm, tingly feeling filling me up in every crevice of my body, I hugged him back, tightly. "Happy birthday, Jaya. I still can't believe how old you're getting, and how close I am for my relatives to start nagging me with the shaadi talk."

I chuckled, and then he let go of me to reach down into the bag. "I don't know if you've had your cake yet, but YOLO. I got your favorite," he announced, while taking out a little plastic to -go container from the bag. He handed it to me, and I saw that it was my favorite kind of cake.

A light, gently spiced carrot cake with a layer of cream cheese frosting smothered on top. I looked at it while trying to prevent my mouth watering, because I could anticipate the cake's moist  texture, along with the frosting's velvety feel. He handed me a fork, and then I opened the box and started to devour it. Manish definitely knew my favorites, and it was a good start to what was going to be a memorable night.

I shoved a forkful of cake in my mouth, as I looked at Manish nibbling on a piece of strawberry cheesecake. Interested, I wanted to cut the tension a little bit. "Manish?"

"Hm?"

"Are you scared?"

Manish stopped chewing on his cake, and then looked at me, with a bit of a dejected look on his face. Fearing that I had offended him, I went back to nibbling on whatever was left on my fork. Thankfully, he cut the awkwardness with his response. "Of course I am. It's a new part of the country, new job, new people. It's kind of weird, because almost everything is new. But, I'm up for a challenge, and I can always take a better offer back here in due time."

I smiled a bit to myself, thinking how awesome it would be if he was to transfer back here before I moved on with life. It would've meant the world to me, and I'd be forever grateful to the person who decided to move him back here. After a while, we finished our cakes, and then Manish brought the bag up on the edge of the bench.

"Jaya, I know that I'm leaving tomorrow, but I'm going to be extra cringey and say that I'm always here for you. I wanted to make this special because it is a special day," he announces, and with that, he brings out a little velvet case.

With my hopes up, he opened the case, and with that, a new kind of shock fell upon me. Inside the case, a locket rested, and right next to it, a charm bracelet lay gleaming in the summer night. The locket was in the shape of a sun, with its golden color reflecting in the miniscule amount of moonlight that night.

My jaw fell open in pure shock, and then I looked up at Manish, who had a pridefully hopeful look on his face. "Manish.. I- it's beautiful!" was all that I could squeal at that moment. Manish's smile grew even wider, and then he placed the case on his lap.

He took the necklace out, and then unfastened the clasp. "Turn around, Jaya," he calmly instructed, to which I gladly obeyed. I pushed my hair to the front, and then he gently draped the necklace around my neck, fastening it at the back. He gently pulled my hair back in a way that it naturally fell and complimented the look a little more.

I turned around, and then he looked at me with the purest smile that I had seen in a while. I gave a smile as well, as he said, "It looks amazing on you, Ashwini." He took the bracelet, and expectantly, I held my left hand out for him to fasten it. He fastened the clasp on there, and then turned it around so that I could see each individual charm.

With his finger, he pointed out every little charm. "That one right there is the Hinduism charm, because when we used to go to the temple together, I'd always put the kumkum on your forehead. This one is a dancing woman, because you'd always dance to my guitar covers of songs, and we'd just have so much fun with it. This one is a little ice cream cone, because we would always have the best conversations and heart to hearts over a scoop of ice cream, even if the weather outside was one degree away from giving us hypothermia," he started, as I just reminisced on the many memories that were reflected on these charms.

All the smiles, laughter, and just joyous memories that resonated from these charms gave me a lot of hope for the future, and made me smile even wider than I thought I could ever do. He pointed to the next charm on my wrist, which was a little film camera. "This one represents how many films we have watched together with a bowl of popcorn right next to us. Whether it be films in which we squealed over Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan's chemistry, or you comforting me as I started sobbing within the first ten minutes of Badlapur, we've always enjoyed each other's company when it came to movies. This one is a video game console because we played so many video games together and then would always scream at each other playfully when we defeated or killed each other."

Then, he put his finger underneath the last charm, and I looked back up at him. This time, there was a little smile in his eyes, as if this charm meant something extra special to him. "This one is something that's special to me. It's a flower charm. Because you're my blooming flower, Ashwini. You're my blooming flower, because you have beautiful petals, with a strong stem, but with a few thorns here and there."

I gave him a little chuckle, and then his hand flew up to the locket that he had fastened around my neck. "Since you're my blooming flower, and I'm your 'Sunny,' then this locket represents that. The locket is in the shape of a sun, because a sun is vital for a flower to grow. Although I may be moving away, it's a symbol that I'm still going to be here even after I'm gone. And depending on how you take that, that could either be really sweet or just really creepy." '

I chuckled a little bit more, as I threw my arms around him in an extremely tight hug. It was a hug that I believed to be tighter than the one that Jen gave me earlier today. I could feel Manish hold me in a way that was so gentle and caring, which made me melt into his embrace a little bit more.

"Thank you so much, Sunny. I love all the gifts," I said, as he hugged me tight.

I could feel him smile, and he said, "Anything for you." I didn't want to let go at that moment. It felt so good to hug him after such a touching moment. And I got exactly what I was hoping for. A memory to cherish for years to come.

We then let go of each other, and then it was at that moment when I saw the bright glow on his face that was the result of the joy that we had been feeling from that moment. The joy that fueled that glow fueled my own as well. "Also, as per tradition, I got you something else," he said, while reaching into the bag one more time.

I perked up a little bit, because I already knew what it was going to be, because it was pretty much tradition. The next thing I knew, he whipped out a rather large bouquet of fresh, beautiful roses, and handed them to me. "Roses for you," he announced, like he was proposing to the love of his life right then and there.

I smiled, took them, and got a whiff of their refreshing smell. I gave a smile, and then hugged the flowers, being careful not to poke myself anywhere on my arms, chest, or neck. I felt Manish's arm snake around my backside, and I saw him scoot in a little bit. I rested my head against his shoulder, while he rested his head against mine.

I smiled a little bit to myself, and then looked up at him. His smile was refreshing, like a cool wave washing over me on a hot day. I kept on looking at him, and then said, "Manish?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you. You made this birthday extra special."

Manish looked at me with another grateful smile, and then hugged me a little bit tighter. I gladly accepted that as a 'you're welcome.'