One year and three months flew by. Adam was already 11 and about to turn 12. However, the boy's birthdays always felt quite empty, as he had no one to celebrate them with.

Adam hadn't seen his father in almost 2 years, and he had no desire to visit him. Yet, the boy always hoped that his father would one day regret leaving him and come looking for him in the cave of the sightless old man. But that day never came.

Adam's schoolmates celebrated their birthdays and his following the librarian's tradition: a brief greeting and farewell.

Adam couldn't understand why his friends saw this as normal. For the boy, who had grown up with an eccentric father isolated from society, birthdays should be celebrated with a little more joy and excitement.

Fortunately, Professor Aquiles gave Adam a birthday cake, and the sightless old man delivered a heroic speech, while his godfather wrote a birthday song for him in his biography, though with a hint of irony that didn't provide much comfort to Adam.

Nonetheless, all of that didn't change the fact that this had been the worst birthday of Adam's life.

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As every day, Adam was waiting by the stairway door while he studied. However, it seemed that this passive strategy of waiting for a bookshelf to come to him rather than seeking it out was not working. It had been a long time, and Adam had never encountered a little book that wanted to talk to him. He did see a few of them moving around on the floor, but they didn't seem to be seeking him out.

Despite all this, today was a very special day for Adam, as he had just celebrated reading 60 pages. The celebration was a gift from his teacher, along with some words of encouragement to reach 80 pages, which was the young hero's next major goal.

Unfortunately, the gift didn't last long, as it was an edible book with chocolate-flavored pages, a cover tasting of a fruit Adam used to buy at the market, and a spine that tasted like paper. It seemed like that part wasn't meant to be eaten, but the boy didn't realize it.

Adam studied for a while, and as his waiting time was running out, it was time to return to the cave. But to his surprise, someone he knew was coming up the stairs, and it was Franco.

Adam was surprised to see his friend ascending the stairs, as Franco lived on the upper floor and didn't have many reasons to come down except to curiously explore the bookshelves, which wouldn't be too unusual for Franco.

Franco looked at Adam curiously at the encounter and approached to greet him:

—What are you doing waiting by the stairway door? Does your dad pick you up around here?

—Uh, yes...—Adam answered a bit nervously. Fortunately, his friend had given him a good excuse.