Away from all the noise and fun, Naina was sitting in her balcony sipping the sparkling champagne that was brought by her friends who were busy dancing and enjoying the night. The September night was humid with a tinge of the cold breeze that blew every now n then just to give you chills all over your body in order to remind you of the approaching winter. September had been a month of mixed feelings for her. When the month started, she was all happy and excited about it but when it approached its end, she just wanted it to pass as soon as it could, especially this day. It was a special night, it was her 22nd Birthday. But she didn’t feel special tonight.

She took a sip from her glass, looked at her friends who were too drunk by now to notice her absence and then again started looking at the moon above. She remembered the time when she was a kid and her father asked her to make a wish on her birthday night as whatever we would wish for on this special night, would be granted. She always spoke out loudly whatever she wanted and by the next evening it would magically appear in her room. She always knew it wasn’t magical but her father’s act. Even as a kid, she was mature enough to understand that there was nothing magical in it. So she never made a birthday wish. But tonight, she wanted to think like an innocent kid who believed in the birthday wishes. She desperately needed some magic in her life; so she wanted to make a wish.

She poured some more champagne in the glass and made a toast to herself, Happy Birthday to me, let’s make a wish. She gulped the entire drink in one go and stood up. Holding the railing tightly as she was a little tipsy, she looked up at the shining sky and with a deep breath closed her eyes. Her lips curved a smile as she made her birthday wish but soon she fell down losing her balance and started laughing at the idea of being insane and making a wish.

‘How stupid of you Naina!’ She said to herself.

‘Making a wish is not a stupid thing my child.’ Her middle-aged neighbor who was silently watching her finally spoke from across the balcony.

‘Mr. Sen. I.. I was just….’ Naina hurriedly hid her glass behind her back.

‘So what did you wish for, dear?’

‘Nothing Mr. Sen, I don’t believe in birthday wishes.’

Sometimes when nothing else works out for you, you even try doing those things that you have no faith in. You would do anything that anyone would ask you to, just as to make it happen. She had no faith in wishes but to help her scarred heart somehow, she was ready to do anything, be it calling everyone from the office for her birthday party to making a wish.

She stood there in her pretty black dress with drunken eyes that shone radiantly. Her lips were shut but her eyes were speaking out loud of her desires. But there was not even a single person in the room who could read them. The only person, who could have done that, who meant the world to her had left her scarring her heart. As she was about to blow the candles, someone from behind asked her to make her the birthday wish.
‘Naina, wish for something that you want.’

Tears trickled down her cheeks when she closed her eyes because all that her heart wished was him to come back into her life and never leave again.