The amusement fades, and he sobers. “For what it’s worth... I hope you get her back.”
He pats my back as he stands, voice gentler now. “Until then—my wedding can handle one sad fuck.”
I laugh under my breath, low and reluctant. Watch him walk off down the hallway, alone in the dim light.
THIRTY-FOUR
Greesha
“You’ll see Aarohi tomorrow, man. She’ll be the one in... red? I don’t know what her bridal gown is like.”
I freeze mid-step.
That name—hername—lands like a boulder in the pit of my stomach. My breath catches. My heartbeat stutters.
I’m standing at the back entrance of the hall, hidden by the darkness beyond the corridor, right before I can head to the secluded room they gave me. I was just passing through. Trying to be invisible, like I’ve always known how to be.
But that voice.Hisvoice.
Advik.
I don’t move.
Not when I hear him laughing. Not when I hear her name again—Aarohi. The bride-to-be. The woman who, once upon a time, slept with the man I—
My pulse pounds.
How the hell are they even able totalkto each other like this? Him and the fuckinggroom. I want to scoff, maybe even laugh at the absurdity, but nothing in my body moves.
Advik was invited to her wedding.
Best case scenario—the hatchet between him and this Lucian guy must be six feet under.
But it’s what the groom says next that stings unexpectedly.
“Barely friends? That’s a hell of a rewrite. I wasn’t thrilled about you being invited to our wedding, but I didn’t expect you to say that.”
I frown.Barely friends?
Is that how he rewrote his connection with Aarohi?
I inch closer to the shadows, hiding deeper in the corridor as their conversation continues. Something about this whole thing feels dangerous—not physically, butemotionally. Like it’s going to unravel me if I keep listening. I’m hoping the emotional floodgates that have been opened won’t feel the need to shut down again. But I can’t stop.
Then I hear it.
“How... how did you fuck up with Aarohi? And more importantly... how did you fix it?”
My frown deepens. Why is Advik asking forrelationship advice?
Fromhim? But then I listen further.
Lucian made mistakes too apparently. Maybe he fucked things up before their engagement. That part doesn’t surprise me. What does surprise me is the vulnerability in Advik’s tone.
But the more I listen... the more my stomach sinks. And then Advik starts to tell him about his relationship withme—and how Aarohi was the downfall.
I break out into a cold sweat. My legs wobble. I brace a hand on the wall, barely keeping upright. The way he says my name—like a heartbreak caught in his throat.
I’ve barely ever heard him talk about me in that manner. Save for the time I had my PI record a sliver of his conversation with his brother last year. Where I’d scoffed at his confession.
