He was looking at me for quite sometime now. I didn’t know what to do. Did he want to ask me something? Did he want to talk to me? After all, this was not the first time that he was looking at me. Should I go up to him and ask if he wants something or not? He was new so maybe he needed something.

He smiled.

Did he really? I thought he did.

He smiled again.

I smiled back.

He got up from his seat and started walking towards me. He is surely going to ask me my name. Or does he already know?

“Hi”.

“Hi”.

“May I sit here?”

“Yes”

“Didn’t you bring your tiffin?”

“I did. And it’s finished.”

“Belated Happy Birthday”.

I was taken aback.

“Thanks. But that was last week.”

“Yes, I know. I saw you in your new frock. I am new in class and I don’t know you well. I couldn’t say anything that day.”

“Thank you very much.”

“Here.”

He pulled out a package from his pocket. I opened it. Inside were seven candles.

“You are seven years old now, aren’t you? I heard your mom telling our painting ma’am that day. Mom had put eleven candles on my cake two months back. But I didn’t have enough pocket money to buy the cake. Will you be my friend? I’ll give you candles every year.”

Yesterday, he gave me seventy-six candles.