Thomas knew that he was ready.

He was not yet ready to speak about his feelings to Shahma but he was ready to share the secret with Sushi. He was in dire need of help and he knew that Sushi would be the perfect option to help him have a place in Shahma's heart.

Thomas had a permanent smile plastered on his face that day and Anna had to know the reason. After all, she was a writer and the more lives she knew, the more realistic her characters would be.

"Going to confess your undying love, ha?"

"Nope," Thomas said with a pop sound. Thomas looked at the mirror and smiled at himself.

"When are you going to confess?"

"On the valentines day perhaps,"

"So ,after all ,you are going to confess, isn't it?" Anna said. She folded her hands and smirked at her nephew.

Thomas opened and closed his mouth for a few times before facepalming. His Aunt was always nosy about his life. No matter how many times he changed his password, his aunt would always find a way to unlock it and go through his message. She would not try to hide the fact that she went through his social website's accounts. She would mock him and make fun of him relentlessly.

Thomas, being THE Thomas Zachary, had a lot of female contacts and a lot of sweet talks in his phone and he did not like it when Anna tried to peep into his life.

In her last book, Anna made up a character who was just way too similar to Thomas. Anna stole some of his pick up lines for her character and this infuriated him. They did not talk for two weeks after the release of the book until Anna apologized to him.

"Did you know that I started a new novel?"

"No," He felt relieved that the topic was suddenly changed.

"Yeah, it is named 'the flirty's real love' and it is based on you," Anna said.

She did not give him a chance to react as she hugged him tightly. Thomas's hands were stiff beside him as he tried to breath.

"You do not have to thank me, love," she said. She retreated from the drastic hug and looked at her watch. Her face fell suddenly and she started biting her lips. "Gotta go" she squealed.

"Aunt Anna..." He called but she was busy strapping her sandals and texting something into her phone.

"Aunt Anna..."

She opened the door and her bag fell down. A lot of pens and book peeped through the zipless bag. She whispered something to herself as she took the bag.

"Aunt Anna..." Thomas was now getting extremely angry. His voice was higher and he stood there with folded arms.

Anna stopped and turned around. Thomas felt satisfaction as she turned around her heels and started walking towards him.

"I forgot to give you, your goodbye kiss," She slapped on her forehead and gave a kiss on his head. His eyes widened at her wildness. He tried to glare at her as she said goodbye and closed the door.

That was not what he wanted..... but never mind , she was like this and their relation was like that.

He could not help but hum a song as he revved up his bike and rode to Little Bells.

He missed his first period but perhaps a little innocent act could give birth to an attendance mark.

He was about to go to his classroom when he noticed Sushi trotting through the corridor. He decided to follow her and wasted no time in doing it. Sushi entered the staff room at the same time as Thomas's phone rung.

"Hello,"

"Hey, Tommy," A high pitched voice said.

"Oh Seline, how are you?" He said with an annoyed expression on his face.

Seline was his classmate during his higher secondary life. She proposed to him when they were about sixteen years old but Thomas rejected her. Seline did not lose her contact with him even after their school days. She called him every once in a while and increased the frequency of her calls when the valentine's day was near.

Valentine's day was just a few days away and Thomas knew that he was going to have a lot of calls for the next few days.

"I am fine but that is not what matters now Tommy" Her sound was filled with worry and this worried him too.

"What happened Seline?"

"Tommy, I know that you have always loved me," she said. Thomas shook his head and placed a hand on his hip as he moved away from the staff room, he could not understand which part of an 'I am not interested in a relationship' she could not understand but he was tired of correcting her and he let her continue the rant so that she would not call him in the evening too.

"My marriage is fixed and I do not want us to continue this,"

A pulse of joy reverberated through his body as he heard the news. A smile found its way on his face as he stared at the blue sky. His eyes focused on an eagle that was flying away, enjoying his freedom. He knew that he was happy but he did not want to ruin another person's dramatic moment.

"Seline, Seline..." He tried his best to act emotionally as her name rolled over his tongue.

"Oh my dear dear Tommy, I do not want to listen to the pain in your strained voice"

Then hang up, please.

"Seline..."

"I do not want to let your life rot in the agony of our murdered love," She paused and sucked in a deep breath. "I am finally ready, let's elope Tommy!"

"Seline?!" Thomas's eyebrows knitted together as he looked at a bird following another, high up in the sky. The bird that was following was literally terrifying the other one. The bird that was being chased took turns, flew higher, chirped loudly but the other one would simply not let go.

"Let us elope and start our lives afresh. Let us live in a house made of love and love only,"

Up until now, I have only lived in houses made of bricks and that was really very comfortable.

"Um... Don't you think our families will fight against each other if we elope."

"I do not care, Tommy, all that matters to me is you, you alone"

"Ok, here is the thing Seline, I am in love with another girl and I, truly, honestly have never seen you as anything more than a friend"

"Oh, Thomas, I understand that you do not want me to be in trouble, my love" Thomas cringed when she called him that. Thomas could hear her emotional breakdown through the phone. "I will marry him and live happily, for you"

She hung the phone and Thomas sighed deeply before turning on his heels. He gulped when he saw Shahma in front of him. He had accepted the fact that he was deeply in love with the girl in front of him and that gave him a certain amount of confidence to smirk at her.

Shahma raised an eyebrow before smiling at him.

"So you are in love with a girl?" Shahma asked.

Thomas nodded and felt his confidence vapourize like it never existed. He made a mental note to have a pep talk with himself on talking with Shahma. He had to talk with her if he wanted her but it seemed like... he just couldn't do it.

"Does her name start with an 'S'?" She asked. Thomas had never seen Shahma speak so confidently.

He nodded as he gulped. She knows it.

Shahma walked towards him and he could feel beads of sweat forming on his forehead. The atmosphere was suddenly too warm for his liking and he cursed the Sun, who was actually innocent.

"I am Sushi's friend and I am watching you," She narrowed her eyes at him and turned away. She took a few steps and then halted abruptly.

"I do not want you to hurt her," Greeshma said without turning back and walked away.

Thomas blinked at her retreating figure for a while before walking towards the staffroom.

Sushi was holding a book in her hand with a pale face. She was looking aghast at a book in her hand. Her eyes seemed teary and she looked like she was on the verge of breaking down. She opened and closed her mouth a few times but she spoke nothing.

"Sushi," Thomas called her and once their eyes met Thomas knew that they needed to talk.