At last, it was his birthday.
Even though he pretended to the world that he could not care less for his birthday, he secretly didn't mind all the attention lavished on him for that one day.
There were a million phone calls to attend to.
While attending to the phone calls, a letter was slipped through the door.
While talking on the phone, Jay walked towards the door.
"Thank you so much!" He said. He said thanks again, as he didn't know what to say after his over-enthusiastic friend wished him and told him to have a good day. Of course he would have a good day, why wouldn't he?
The phone rang again, and he opened the letter.
"Thanks, Diya!" He said cheerfully and disconnected the phone abruptly.
The letter was written in old yellow paper. It gave him a delightful feeling of "parchment".
He recognized the handwriting so well.
He lightly touched the paper and smiled to himself at the way she had dotted her i's and curled her r's. It was a birthday wish, as usual.
She had never forgotten to wish him for his birthday, even though he purposely forgot to wish her for hers.
It was the tenth letter she had written to him since they had stopped being friends. Her letters were becoming rare now. He didn't suppose why. He hadn't replied to a single one, and yet he read the letter each night.
For the most part, her letters were cheery and he could sometimes hear her voice which rang through it. Sometimes they were accusing and hurt at the complete lack of response from him. But after a while she had stopped that as well.
He read the letter again. This time she had simply said happy birthday, and wished him all the best for the future.
She had never said that before.
Was it the last letter? He wondered, rather nervously. 

Even if it was, he didn't care. That's what he told himself resolutely. 

He had tried holding on to the last bit of anger which had prevented him from writing back. He found that the bitterness he had cherished against her, had long gone. He had never been able to stay angry with her for long, and he missed their friendship as much as she did.
But he couldn't admit it to himself, and least of all to her.
He read the letter again.
Dearest Jay, 
Happy birthday!
I hope you have a wonderful day. You deserve it. There are a million more wonderful days to come and you deserve each and every one of them.
All the very very best for the future. 
Lots of love,
Liya.
It was short, unlike her usual long epistles.

He was going to write back, finally. 
He took out the letter pad and the fountain pen. He sat down. The nib scratched the paper, ready to write 'Dear'.

 But then he forcefully remembered their feud.

He remembered the bitter words that she had spoken.

He tried to relive the bitterness again. But it was pointless. He threw the pen aside. The ink blots spread across the sheets. He picked up her letter instantly before it got blotted. 
And he put her letter with the other ten letters.
"I hope you're happy too Liya. Happy birthday." he whispered.