The climate was very nice for an evening on a day in March. The sun was not too harsh but neither did it retrieve it's warmth completely. The warmth was pleasant and calming. The crows must have been returning to their nests and perhaps those loud caws was a way of letting their family know about the arrival. The balcony at Sushi's house proved that it was bliss in the early mornings and evenings.

"What do you mean?" He raised those dark eyebrows, a few lines of stress appearing on his forehead "it's been over two weeks, why didn't you discuss?"

Sushi hung her head low. She never admitted her mistakes and had always found rationalization as a better option than confession and guilt but this time she could not. The person in-front of her encouraged her to save herself and she did try it but couldn't carry it out anymore after her father's hospitalization. Her father was already back home but she was never brave enough for the last two weeks to bring up the topic 'Sushi's marriage'.

"Your father has welcomed back your sister ...so he seems pretty cool, why didn't you talk to him about this?" Vishwanath pointed her and then at himself.

Her sister's return was a breaking news in her neighborhood and as far as she knew the news was adulterated. Everyone believed that it was her return that caused her father's hospitalization and after the 'near death' experience he realized that he missed his daughter and wanted his grand child.

The news was such a wild fire that it was a miracle that it was not reported by local news channel.

Her father was really happy to have his eldest daughter's small family at his house. He smiled more, laughed more, played more and worried less. Shahma did not want to pop the bubble of happiness with the discussion about her and Viswanath's marriage.

"You should at least ask your sister for some help Sushmitha, my mother is over cloud nine and she is chirping everyday about how she is finally going to have a girl at her house. She is even spying with the help of your Facebook friends to know about your likes and dislikes...we can't keep this going,"

Sushi wondered if Professor Salahuddin was also contacted by Viswanath's mother. She could not help but wish to know if he was jealous. Professor Salahuddin has already said that he was not interested in her, contradicting the letter he wrote to someone named Swaliha, but was he really over her. It was sinful to even think so about her best friend's fiancé but she could not resist the thought.

"Anyway, if you have second thoughts about whatever was holding you back from  the proposal," Vishwanath flashed a handsome smile without much effort and continued, " I am interested in giving us a try,"

Sushi looked at him agape. She noticed the shades of pink on his cheek, peeping beyond the confident wall. She was being a villainess by not giving him a chance but at that moment, she did not want to try being committed to anyone. Once, Professor Salahiddin and Shahma was married, she would certainly find peace at her heart.

"It's ok, I understand that you are not interested. But please speak something and dissolve the proposal as soon as possible, the sooner the dissolution, the lesser the hurt my mother would be,"

Sushi nodded. She herself noted that she was being unusually silent those days.

"And please stop being silent, you are not the Sushmitha that I heard a lot about," Viswanath patted on her head with another dazzling and hopeful smile, his pink and soft lips lining his pearly white tooth.

"Oh, I really did not see anything"

Both Sushi and Viswanath turned their heads to see Shamna giggling at them. Little Appu was in her arms, sleeping peacefully. For the previous two weeks, he was away from his grandfather only when he was sleeping.

"We weren't doing anything," Sushi glared at her sister.

"May be you should say that after he moves his hand," Shamna smirked while rocking little Appu who nuzzled more into his mother's warmth.

Sushi looked up to see his hand on her head but she did not know what to say.

"Seems like she wants my hand for longer but I gotta go," Viswanath shrugged as he retrieved his head and winked at Sushi. He walked towards the balcony door.

"Oh, did I spoil the moment?" Shamna's smirk was causing a lot of irritation to Sushi.

"Certainly not Didi," Viswanath stopped his steps when he was near Shamna and smiled. He bent a little and looked affectionately at little Appu.

"You know Viswanath, you are just my age so please don't make me feel old,"

"I thought her sister would be my sister too," he chuckled. His chuckle was cute but not as cute as that of Professor Salahiddin.

"Certainly, but see me as your younger sister,"

Viswanath chuckled again and shook his head. He nodded and then left with a good bye. He turned back once and gave Sushmitha one last look before descending the stairs.

Shamna walked towards a gloomy Sushi. Sushi sighed and crossed her arms.

"It's been a while since I enjoyed the view from this balcony,"

It was then that Sushi remembered that Shamna did not check out the balcony since her return. She was so absorbed in spending a lot of time with the family members that she did not spend much time at her favorite spot.

Everyday Shamna and Arjun took both their families for an outing. They said that they had only a month  to stay and wanted to enjoy it as much as possible.

Sushi could notice the awkwardness in the air when Arjun, Shamna's husband and her father shared the same air. Neither of them knew what to say after a hi and before a bye, it was so awkward that Sayanth had to intervene.

Once they were going to Calicut to visit the science park and during the journey in which the whole family was sitting in a minivan, Sayanth made the impossible possible.

Sayanth knew his father's weakness, well the weakness next stronger to little Appu. It was VS Achithananthan. His father was a die hard fan of the politician and as far as he knew his brother in law was too.

All that he needed to do was badmouth VS Achuthananthan to ignite a spark in both of them. In minutes, the father-in-law and son-in-law united against Sayanth and his irrational opinions about their idol.

Sushi and Shamna could not help but smile at their little genius but Sushi was curious about her sister.

"Weren't you afraid?" Sushi asked as she looked at her sister who was absorbed in the glory of the evening.

" About what?"

"To come back?"

"I was during his first minor attack because the wounds were fresh but this one...I knew that I had to see him and let him see Appu,"

" Do you regret?"

"About what?"

" Uhm... about leaving us behind for such a long time,"

" I never left you behind, I just took another path and I could always see you," Shamna have her son to his aunt and did a deep stretch. Little Appu woke up whenever his back touched a bed and this was starting to tire her.

"Are you mocking me?"

"Why does my great sister feel like that?" The smirk on Shamna's face shouted that Sushi's assumption was right.

"You know I am not very good with philosophy and you just did that to make fun of me but I have grown a lot since you left and I understood what you meant but philosophy cannot be considered as a valid answer," Sushi rocked the boy back and forth, wishing that she was doing it right and did not look like a fool in-front of the boy's mother. She did not want to see another smirk on her sister's face.

"In that case, there were times when I regretted it but as of now, I don't regret it," Shamna said the next words very slowly "Not a single tiny bit"

"When did you regret it?"

" When our father was hospitalized after my elope, when I did not have the courage to ask him about how he was, whenever I had fights with Arjun and wished if I could call you all or my friends," Shamna chuckled before continuing, " When I knew that I was pregnant and did not have the guts to let you all know about it,"

Sushi simply nodded. She knew that it was really hard for her and her family when Shamna left but she never thought it from her side.

"Actually Sushi, it was really hard for me without you all," Shamna's eyes glistened, "It was almost like I was in exile. I could not call my relatives and I was asked by my friend's parents to not contact them. It was like I lost everyone just to have Arjun. I might have turned insane if Arjun and his family wasn't this good but now," Shamna looked at her sister and smiled proudly, " I am a happy woman without any regrets, I have my parents as well as Arjun by my side,"

Sushi felt a little guilty for making her sister revising the unpleasant experiences but she really wanted to know about everything and perhaps, she did not know much about adulterating questions to make them less painful.

"Grand mother and a lot of our friends and family are still ignoring you, are you really comfortable with that?"

"Uncomfortable, I was but comfortable, I am...you can't make everyone happy Sushi and cheating yourself would make you hate yourself . When you hate yourself you would not be able to feel loved by anyone and that would indeed bring forth fatal feelings,"

Sushi nodded. She did not want to hate herself. She had to speak to her father and perhaps it would be safe especially because little Appu was around. He never failed to make his grand father laugh.

Sushi hoped the conversation would turn out to be good. Hope was all that she could do.