Kamila tilted her head with a knowing glare. “I mean talk to him about filling your cream donut at Hatari.”
Rohan huffed a laugh at his wife’s choice of phrase.
Jana’s eyes widened. “You toldRohan?”
Kamila shook her head. “Ididn’t tell Rohan what you did at Hatari.Anildid. The Groom’s Platoon had a little chitchat at breakfast. They are very open with each other. I’m not even allowed to look at their group chats.”
“Really?” Jana cringed. What kind ofdetailshad Anil told the others? She could feel her face redden.
“It was all a part of our promise to be fully authentic with each other,” Rohan said.
Jana raised a brow.Authentic?
He chuckled. “Yeah. I easily had the most emotionally intelligent groomsmen in existence. When the women weren’t around, it was all talk about self-awareness, genuine communication, and recognizing toxic masculinity. Very open group. We tell each other everything.”
Meanwhile, the ladies were fond of playing fuck, marry, kill and sending each other dik-dik pics.
Kamila snorted. “Y’all would have giggled like schoolboys if you came to the penis-painting party.”
“Probably,” he said. He looked at Jana. “Anyway, Anil didn’t say much, but he seemed pretty shaken up.”
Jana exhaled. She was aprivateperson. She wasn’t used to everyone being up in her business. She took a sip of her tea.
Kamila and Rohan stared at Jana. Waiting for her to say something. Jana knew her friends. If she said she didn’t want to talk about it, they would respect that and let it go.
Jana sighed. “I’m impossible. I don’t know why he wanted to be friends at all. I’m not exactly a friendly person.”
“Wewant to be friends with you,” Rohan said.
Jana shrugged. “I’ve known you two since birth. You’re stuck with me.”
Kamila shook her head. “Wrong. If I didn’twantto be friends with you, I wouldn’t be. Heck, weweren’tfriends for years. People misunderstand you, but you are a freaking delight.”
Jana snorted.Misunderstand. “Come on, guys—you two know me better than most. I never know how to act or what to say in groups, so people always think I’m a stuck-up snob.” She wasn’t sure she’d ever said that aloud. Kamila and Rohan both had looks of pure compassion on their faces, which somehow didn’t really help Jana feel any better.
“You’ve lost some confidence lately…but you are still you in there. Anil sees that,” Rohan said.
Jana shook her head. “I’ve been terrible to him. All he wanted was for us to be friends, and I didn’t give him a chance.” She remembered that conversation they’d had before having sex—that Jana would never see anything but his flaws.
Kamila snorted. “I think he wants to be a lotmorethan friends with you.”
Jana shook her head. “I doubt it.”
“You had sex.”
“Yeah, but that was letting loose for a night. He said he had no expectations. Didn’t you hear what he said at lunch? Imani is the only thing holding him in Toronto. He doesn’t want to be with me. He wants things to be easier between us—that’s it.”
They were all silent for a while.
“He does,” Rohan said suddenly.
“Does what?” Jana asked.
“Want to be with you.”
Kamila turned to him. “He told you that?”
Rohan shook his head. “Not in so many words, but yeah. Anil cares about you. A lot. But he gets how complicated it is, and he doesn’t want to get burned. And he wants to protect Imani above everything else.”
