"Are you sure about this?" Sushi asked as she closed the book and kept it beside her.

"Yes, 100 percent" Shahma said.

Exams were only a few days away and Shahma went to Sushi's house for group study and like all the other group studies they had until then, they found something more interesting than their subjects.

"Shahma," Sushi held Shahma by her shoulders, "your marriage date has been fixed isn't it? and now you want to call it off,"

Shahma nodded with a head that was hung low.

"You dare not the Shahma I know, what happened?"

"I already had a feeling that we were not compatible. And like a piece of rotten fish on rotten vegetables, I did not like his mother's attitude,"

"If you like Professor Salahuddin," something caught Sushi's chest as those words left her mouth but she ignored the pain, she had to "that is all that matters, you are going to be his wife not her's"

"May be I am just making her a reason and maybe the sole reason is that I do not think I want to get married and tied down," Shahma took a sip from the glass of juice that was on the table. Then she dropped her back on the bed, they were sitting on.

" All marriages are not about tying the female partner down. I don't think that Professor Salahuddin is that kind of guy," Sushi did not know if what she was doing was right. Her being filled with guilt as she tried to stop Shahma from calling of the wedding. The truth was that she wanted Shahma to back down because she was still intensely attracted by the simple bald man with the smile that made her heart speed off.

"Marriages are synonymous to being imprisoned if you are not ready," Shahma sighed.

Sushi felt guilty about being happy because of her best friend's confused state but then again she knew that there was a part inside every human that was dripping with selfishness. She was considerate enough to stay away from him when there was a chance between her best friend and him. She was a good person.

"But Sushi, I just don't know how I am supposed to say it to my parents...they are busy trying to buy the best clothes and ornaments for my marriage, am I a sinner?"

"You will be if you call it off just the day before it," Sushi lied beside her best friend.

Sushi's bed held a lot of memories for both the girls, good and bad. The white walls, brown fan and motivating wall stickers knew their secrets, disgusting and awe worthy. Neither Sushi nor Shahma knew if that night was going to be a good part of their life or a bad one that they would regret for years to come. Sushi was afraid that she might feel guilty for agreeing with her best friend.

However, Sushi did not have an ounce of guilt when she met Professor Salahuddin at the college next day.

"So she told you too,?"

"Yes but she did not let our parents know," Salahuddin shrugged with a smile that Sushi could worship for years.

The class was a little dusty. It was filled with many old benches and disks. She was pretty sure that nobody has entered the place since her proposal, the day that she declared to Professor Salahuddin about her height being same as that of Kajal. Suddenly, she started feeling a little hot and bothered. She was so childish on that day and she could not believe that she had a side like that in her, proposing a boy by using a Bollywood pair's height. Professor Salahuddin must have thought that she was mad.

"What are you thinking?"

"Ah...nothing...nothing," Sushi flustered.

"Oh...you are blushing?" Professor Salahuddin bent and took a closer look at Sushi.

"No...." it was pretty dark in the classroom and she could not understand how he saw her. The only sources of light were the glass parts of the roof.

"I haven't seen a girl blush in front of me," He chuckled.

Sushi wished if the abandoned furnitures grew legs and walked to form a barrier between the two.

"It's cute."

"Huh...?" Sushi never had an auditory issue but she wondered if something was wrong with her ears because she felt like she heard the word 'cute'. She was a mess when she was with Professor Salahuddin.

"I though you said 'cute'," She giggled and felt to puke at her own giggle. She was acting like a love struck teenage girl. May be it was a bad idea to meet him but she could not say no when she saw the message in her phone that morning. She felt that it was forbidden to say 'no' when Shahma said that she was not going to accompany her to the group study at college. She felt it like a need to meet professor Salahuddin after knowing about Shahma's decision. Maybe she should have agreed to meet at some place which was a little more public. In that way, she might have acted a little less stupid. However, there was also a possibility of showcasing her stupidity in front of the whole college.

"Zoning out again, huh?"

"Ah...no...no,"

Suddenly their ears were filled with the slogans from the protestors. Some political party worker had killed some other political party worker and the late person's death was being used like a bait for votes in the upcoming elections. Sushi and Professor Salahuddin has to pause their conversation until the protestors were a little away. This gave Sushi some time to find a dialogue that would make her look normal.

"I feel this to be equally disgusting as religious intolerance,"

"Sadly they don't know it..." Professor Salahuddin shook his head.

Shahma felt happy that she finally spoke like a normal human being. She wondered if he was impressed by her views.

"By the way, do you know why Shahma wants to call off the wedding,?" He asked.

Sushi simply stared at him. She wondered if he was actually sad about Shahma'a decision.

"No, no...I am okay with it, I just wanted to know if it's because of my mother... she went through some rough patches in her life and she has been a little different since then,"

"Oh..." Sushi could not understand why she was at lose of words whenever she was with him. She wondered if she had to ask if he minded sharing about those rough patches. She wanted to know but she did not want to be like a emotion scavenger in-front of him. She did not want to look like an immature girl in front of him.

"May be I could say about it tomorrow," Professor Salahuddin shrugged.

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes, at the light house at 3 pm. I want an answer from you..."

" About what?"

"If SRK and Kajal is still Bollywood's golden couple," Professor Salahuddin winked. Actually, it looked like a forced blink but it was cute.

He walked away without saying anything. He wanted to turn back and look at Sushi one more time before leaving the class. Sushi wanted him to look back at her so that she could shout at him that SRK and Kajal would be the golden couple forever. Keeping the wants aside, both of them knew that they had to take it slow.

Professor Salahuddin wanted Sushi to be sure of her decision and Sushi wanted to be sure of Shahma's decision and herself.

Neither of them knew that, at times, deflating was the worst thing ever in a relationship.