New-Year-ology!

 “Did you know the year 2025 is a mathematical wonder?”, his partner asks, and begins to read from a WhatsApp forward while gently rocking the chair they’re sitting on. 

“I have received it too. I don’t know what difference it will make to common people”, he sneers, as he sets up the breakfast table. He doesn’t want to confess that he too has read it with great glee, as someone very fond of math himself. 

“Even on a special day would you want to bring in your cynicism?” Annoyance drips through every word uttered by the partner, thoroughly irked by his nonchalance. 

He realises the conversation can go down the slippery slope very quickly. He walks towards the partner - now gone stiff on the easy chair - and says, “When you are around me, every day feels special to me”, and plants a gentle kiss on the forehead. 

Not mollified fully but nowhere as bristling as before, the partner says, “Don’t try to play to my ego”. 

“Did you know the year’s digits add up to 9, and that’s your birth and our lucky number? I’m so looking forward to the year ahead. Happy New Year to us!” 

“Why press all the wrong buttons then?”

“So, I can press the right ones after”. 

Peace reigns.