THE DEGREE OF HAPPINESS

20

"Never,"  I agreed,  shaking my head.

"Hey,  Yahya!" Soroush called in a louder voice,  "Let's go to the hospital and check on your nephew."

Yahya nodded, "Yeah."

He looked at Zoya, "See you later,  Zoy-Zoy."

"Bye, Akhi," Zoya said,  waving. Shezwa went back to our friends.

I looked at Soroush, "Thanks again for everything. And.... Bye."

I walked back to my friends,  who were grilling Shezwa about her encounter with Yahya.

"I just asked for his autograph," replied Shezwa,  "I saw him race. And he was good. But Soroush had beaten him."

"You went to the bike race?" asked Zoya,  "You idiot!"

We began to walk back inside as Zoya and Dua both began to hit Shezwa for going to the bike race alone.

Ishita held my hand.  Spoke in a low voice,  "Did you know,  I can see the future?"

She looked so sincere,  I almost believed her. Almost.

"Liar," I grinned, "One of your acting gigs?"

She gave a lopsided grin, "My craziness is my acting gig,  darling. And I do this to assess the situation. And do you know what I found?"

I shook my head,  "No."

"Yahya and Shezwa will end up together," she replied,  "For darling Tina, her cat owner is waiting. Zoya, well, she will have to wait. Not everybody finds their true love in high school. Actually, very, very few find their true love in high school and our friend group has somehow attracted the love gods by appeasing to them somehow. Anyway, as I was saying, Zoya's love story will happen probably in university. Though, it will be a relation that will come years down the line. Dua, well, Zoya's brother is waiting for her. But you and Soroush?"

"What about me and him?"

She shook her head. "Amira Abbas will get to him before you ever will."

"Makes sense. Amira is his fiance."

She shook her head. Laughed. "Your stubbornness will ruin things for you with him. Mark my words, Elizha. Amira Abbas will get to him first."

"What are you guys talking about?" Asked Tina. She wrapped an arm around Ishita's.

Ishida shook her head,  "Nothing. We were just talking about how Thalj the cat will taste."

She and Tina got into their classic argument for the first time in forever and whereas before,  I would enjoy them,  now,  I was just left with a little ache in my heart at her words.

Which was ridiculous,  really?

It was pretty obvious that we would never end up together.

Not after what his father did.

Never Ever,  I told my self.

But the word stubbornness did an extra echoing that whole evening.

-----

"Oh my goodness,  the last thing I wanted was for those two to meet," whispered Zoya in my ear,  "Now they will both be insufferable."

We were sitting in front of my television after praying Esha,  watching 20th Century Girl for like the fiftieth time ever since it's release. It was sad,  but we still watched it because of Byeon Woo-Seok.

You better believe we watched Strong Girl Nam-soon and had tears in our eyes even though Ryu Shi-oh was a walking red flag.

"Who? Yahya and Shezwa?" I asked. She nodded and I followed her gaze to Shezwa,  who was looking through her phone,  not bothering with the movie at all.