THE DEGREE OF HAPPINESS

20

I went out of the storage room and buried my face in my hands.

My friends surrounded me,  engulfing me in a hug.

"Well,  that was fun," said Ishita,  "Who knew you'd look hot hitting a guy with a baseball bat? That too, in pajamas."

I was ready to not even bother about what Ishita said. Except....

"Ahem,  right,"  said Soroush. And we all got out of the hug. His face had turned slightly red, as though he had heard exactly what Ishita said.

"Pretty boy needs to go to the hospital," said Soroush. "Unfortunately."

"Unfortunately for us," said Faris. He and Legolas came out of the room,  Ali between them. Ali could barely walk,  his eyes closed as he moaned. "We have to hear him moan as we take him to the hospital."

"Thanks guys," said Soroush, "For everything."

They shrugged,"You are welcome. Anytime for a friend."

They looked at me, "And don't worry,  Elizha. The next time someone bothers you... Or your friends, you call us. Take our number from Soroush as a precaution. Is that clear?"

I nodded,  "Thanks guys."

They smiled and walked away with Ali.

Soroush looked at me,  hand behind his hair."Um....well....yeah. I called you for this. And you delivered."

I walked up to him. Gulped down all hesitation before saying,  "Thank you. So very much,  Soroush. For this. I... You heard me. When nobody in my family...."

I looked down. Kept my eyes closed.

Soroush held me by the sleeve,  forcing me to look up.

He smiled,  "Anytime. Any day. And,  you might wanna start working on the cupcakes,  because I have just the right thing for your problem."

"Whatever do you mean?" I asked.

"I will be coming to your house tomorrow," he replied,  "And your Ammaty will be out. Just.... prepare a batch of cupcakes for me,  okay? Chocolate."

"That depends," I said,  with knitted eyebrows.

He shrugged, "Fair enough."

He looked behind me, "Now hurry back to your friends. They will probably be grilling you about what I said and shipping you and me."

I gasped, "How did you...?"

"Pretty obvious," Soroush said with a shrug,  "Plus the crazy one, was asking me your hotness level whilst you were hitting Ali."

I glared at Ishita. She smiled back widely.

"What did you say?"

"I pretended not to hear her," he replied, "This isn't something that should be discussed. At all. You are not an object. If it wasn't for the fact that she was a female herself,  I might have taken the bat from your hands and start hitting her."

"Well, she is a bit cuckoo," I replied. "Shezwa is the biggest shipper of you and I,  even forcing me to go to your bike race but even she has boundaries. That girl,  Ishita,  defies boundaries."

"Shezwa as in.....the one Yahya is talking to?" Soroush asked.

I followed his gaze to find Shezwa talking to Yahya. Her phone was in her hand,  along with her stylus.

"Hmm,  yeah," I replied.

He laughed,  "I see. Well,  it will be sad to see their dreams go down of you and I. I mean,  you are like a sister to me. And I am like your brother. So,  this isn't happening."