Every few minutes, the stupid man looks around, scanning the crowd. Trying to spot me.
He won’t. I’m too good at what I do.
Still... there’s this clawing urge inside me to step out of the shadows. To walk toward him. To take part in all of it.
The pull is sovisceral, so unrelenting, my heart thuds with the ache of it.
An hour passes before I watch him step onto the stage to congratulate the bride and groom.
He’s laughing.
They’re laughing.
He hugs Lucian. Barely brushes Aarohi’s shoulder. Just a gleaming, effortless smile before stepping aside.
Maybe it’s for my benefit. Maybe heknowsI’m watching, monitoring this entire ceremony like a hawk. But I don’t think it’s aperformance.
I think... he’s grown.
His words, his actions—they’re a brutal catalogue of restraint. Of grief. Of choosingno oneafter thinking I was dead.
And I wonder...
If he couldn’t move on with the woman he once had feelings for—evenmuddledones—then could he really have moved on with anyone else?Ithought I did.
The thought stops me cold.
Because not long after Vikram’s wedding... he tried to—fuck—kill himself.
My stomach clenches at the memory. At the brutal, quiet truth of it.
The man I love had once looked at the world... and chosenot to live in it.
I shake the thought away.Focus. I need to stay alert.
A few hours later, I decide it’s time to show my face. We need to leave. The trap for Mehul Bedi has to end, and the ceremony’s already dragging.
I spot Advik in the main hall. It’s swarming with activity. A few uncles and aunties are arguing with the workers about themandap.
Looks like thepherasare next.
But we can’t wait for that.
We need to move.Now.
I step closer, about to cross into his line of sight as he chats with this Liam guy, when I feel the sudden nearness of a hand brushing toward my shoulder.
I spin, body taut.
It’s a woman. Bright-eyed, maybe in her 50s. She looks vaguely familiar—probably someone from the bride’s family.
“Arrey! Thank god!Beta, can you find the—”
“Kiki Aunty,” Advik’s voice cuts in, smooth as ever. “Sorry. She’s... not aworkerhere. What do you need?”
My eyes snap wide. That’s Kiki Aunty?
That’sAarohi’s mother.
