"Could we meet after the class?" Salahuddin asked Sushi before they entered the class.

She looked at a confused Shahma whose eyes darted among the other three. Sushi would have laughed if the situation was different.

Sushi then looked at a baffled Thomas.

" He can be with you during our conversation, " Salahuddin said and chuckled nervously. 

Sushi and Thomas looked at him. They shared a few blinks with him.

"I can understand it if you feel uncomfortable with letting your girlfriend having a private conversation with the new sir" he smiled awkwardly as he scratched his eyebrow " especially when your new Professor looks like Shahrukh Khan"

He chuckled again as three pairs of eyes stared at him.

His chuckles dies down with a few awkward coughs . He said " it was a joke, was n't it?"

All the three tried to act like they were chuckling.

"Can we get inside the class, sir?" Thomas asked as he yearned for an awkwardless atmosphere.

"Ah, yes, yes ..... I am sorry" Salahuddin moved aside as his students got in.

Sushi thanked god for two of Salahuddin's qualities. His voice was calm and soft. He did not mind his students being in relationship. If he did not posses these qualities, she and Thomas would have been the hot topic for the gossipers during the lunch break.

The class passed by in a whoosh with an uncomfortable Sushi and an enthusiastic new professor.

The ringing of the bell seemed like a call to heaven for Sushi. She took her books and papers without letting her eyes move away from Professor Salahuddin who was reading something from a thick book, his arms prisoning the book on the table in between. Her left foot was almost...almost outside the door when she heard her name.

"Sushi..." Shahma's tensed voice called.

Shahma was always slow and Sushi was never this fast. She was surprised to not find her best friend beside her when she was ready. Sushi was not a patient person. However she used to wait for Shahma , even if Shahma's ears had to suffer from the nagging.

Shahma had fastened her steps but when her pencil fell down, she knew that she had to call Sushi. Sushi did not look at her best friend when she turned. Her widened eyes fell on their Professor.

Shahma's fateful pencil rolled its way to the fateful destination, it's ticking sound was not triumphant over the bustling students. It halted once it was between two feet wearing white shoes. Shahma looked at the person who had his gaze directed to the floor.

Thomas did not know what to do. Shahma's pencil was in between his feet. Being a gentleman, he should have taken it and given it to her but he could not simply move. His heart started beating faster when he saw her approaching him, her eyes on the rolling pencil. His breath became uneven and throat became dry as her the sound of her foot steps grew.

When her big eyes, curtained by thick eyelashes and perfected in shape, left the pencil to look at him...he lost it. He could not even move his eyes from the ground.

This was the effect that Shahma always had on him. He thought the beautiful ordeal would be over with the higher secondary school days but god had a different plans with him. Shahma became his classmate, again.

He had hundreds of female friends and he was known for his buttery words and flirtatious ways but Shahma could evaporate his coolness with just a look with the doe like eyes. She could melt him away with one dazzling smile. She could vaporize everything around them with that melodic laugh that he had only heard a few times in his life.

So there was only one thing he could do to help himself, staying away from her.

Shahma bent down to take the pencil and he immediately took a step back. He could feel hot air passing through his ears. Shahma looked at him and frowned. She took the pencil slowly without losing the eye contact. Thomas knew that his heart could simply pop out at anytime.

"Sorry." He managed to say. "I...I...you" He sighed and then tried to smile at her.

"It's okay, I guess" She said with a raised eyebrow. " I never knew about this though" She pointed at an impatient Sushi with her eyes.

"Well, we never talked much." He said softly . Why am I acting like a teenage girl who is speaking to her long time crush, man up, Tommy, man up. You have got this, keep it cool. Breath, breath. Be charming. Be smooth.

Shahma chuckled a little and all his pep talk flowed away with the chuckle. He could not help but chuckle with her even if there was nothing funny.

I should be charming...this is not charming...boys laugh with girls when they are friends...men smile with giggling girls, that is smooth, this is not!

He stopped chuckling abruptly and exhibited his drool worthy smile, to which Shahma responded with a confused frown.

"Well, not any more, brother in law. We should keep in touch." Shahma said.

"Brother in law?" This time Thomas was a little loud.

Thomas did not get his answer since Professor Salahuddin decided to interrupt them.

Sushi had taken the ten steps to Shahma before Professor Salahuddin had taken even a step to her. She would have tapped on Shahma's shoulder if she did not notice the expression on Thomas's face. He looked way too nervous and the way he spoke was not his style. Shahma was her usual self , well , the usual self she had when she was having a conversation with someone for the first time.

"Excuse me," all the three looked at the intruder, Professor Salahuddin "I have a class after this break so ...Sushmitha?"

Sushmitha looked at her watch, "Only ten minutes left." She shrugged.

" I think that is enough for now," Salahuddin looked at Thomas, "would you like to accompany us?"

"Oh no! She is all yours, Professor " Thomas said gleefully.

"Yeah right, how can a love story challenge time without the foundation of trust," he took a small notepad from his pocket and wrote something as he turned and started walking. He stopped when he realized that Sushmitha was not following him. He looked behind to see her throwing daggers at her boy friend with her eyes. He wrote something more in his notepad before calling her.

Shahma looked at the retreating figures of her best friend and the new professor. She already felt a little annoyed that Sushi did not say her about Thomas. What was her deal with the new professor?

Shahma looked beside her to find Thomas leaving the class through the other door. She felt a little awkward to be all alone in an empty classroom but it would be more awkward to be alone in a big crowd of bustling students. She sat there and waited for Sushi.

Sushi did not know what he was going to ask about. Perfect lies need perfect preparations with a tinge of truth. This time, she was truly afraid of being caught. She was not afraid of Salahuddin or Amar knowing the truth, she was terrified of her parents knowing about it.

Her parents wanted to marry her off to a good family and they wanted to do it with a big function that would be like a slap on her sister's face.

Shamna eloped with her class mate when she was a final year medical student. Sushi's parents disowned her on the same day. She had been living in her husband's house ever since. The house was not very far from their own so Sushi did not find it very hard to meet her two-years-old niece every once in a while.

She felt guilty for saddening her parents by repelling all the proposals but she knew that she would be more saddened if she accepted them.

She knew that her parents would know about one or the other lie she made up, but until then she wanted to wait patiently for Shahma.

"Have you not felt attracted to any other boy after meeting Thomas?" Professor Salahuddin asked. They were in the open corridor. It was a combination of fresh air ,the view of the ground with the mango tree and many other trees, busy students walking to their destinations and lovers whispering in public with sly and shy smiles.

"Umm...yes?" She leaned onto the wall beside her.

"Does Thomas know about this?"

"Yes, yes, of course"

He wrote something in his notebook and tapped lightly on his chin with the pen. He frowned and then straightened his forehead muscle with his thumb and middle finger. He smiled and Sushi could not help but smile with him. His smile.

His tooth were pearly white and perfectly aligned. The dimples were definitely praiseworthy but for Sushi, it was something about the innocence that it withheld.

"You see Sushmitha, I thought that you would not feel attracted to anyone else, once you are in love...how did Thomas react when you said to him about it?"

"You see Professor, first of all, I did not say to him about it , he caught me in the act"

"Caught you?" Professor Salahuddin whispered.

"Caught me staring at them, did you imagine something else?"

"No, no, never"

"Ok then, Secondly, attractions and love is different. You might be attracted to many but love only one." She frowned " now that I speak about it, you might be attracted to many and you might fell in love with the few also...it just depends on the person , in my case, I fell in love him but I was attracted to many" she stood straight and took a step closer to him " actually, I am attracted to many"

"He doesn't mind it?" Professor Salahuddin took a nano step back.

"He was very jealous initially but then he found out that he was also attracted to many, so..."

"Oh...interesting," he wrote something again.

He looked pretty cute while scribbling something busily into that notepad, smiling and nodding to himself. She was brought out of the momentary trance by the bell.

"Thank you Sunitha."

"Sushmitha..."

"Yeah thank you Sushmitha for your time." He kept the notepad in his pocket and turned.

"Wait Sir, are you married?" Sushi asked suddenly.

"No, not yet" he shrugged and then smiled.

Sushi felt a little happy and smiled , even if she did not clearly know the reason for her happiness.

"Ok,bye" she said and turned to leave but stopped when another question popped into her mind.

"Sir , are you in a relationship?"

"No," he replies as fast as possible.

"Not yet," she whispered to herself as she walked away.