Prem spun in a circle and scrubbed his hands over his face. “Okay,” he said, not believing the words that were about to come out of his mouth. “Okay, I hear what you’re saying, but I have a little bit of a problem with that.”
His friends waited patiently, drinking their beers in his hallway.
“What if,” he said, and then glanced at the door. “What if I kept her?” He immediately covered his mouth with a fist.
“What the fuck do you mean by that?” Bunty said in his normal voice, then quieted after both Deepak and Prem hushed him into a whisper. “Prem, she’s not fucking chattel!”
“No, I know that, you idiot. It’s just that maybe I want our fake engagement to, to be more . . . real.”
Both Bunty’s and Deepak’s mouths dropped in unison.
“I know! I know,” Prem said, and pounded a fist to his chest again. God, he really needed to get one of coworkers to run some tests. He had some tightness in his chest whenever Kareena was in his head, and that had to be some glitch in his system. It wasn’t normal.
“Dude, you slept with her once and now you want to marry her?” Deepak asked. “Does she have a magic—”
“Don’t even think about finishing that sentence.”
Bunty held up his free hand like a stop sign. “You can’t blame the guy for asking. After Gori died, you wouldn’t even consider dating a woman more than two times. It’s been three years since your fiancée died, and—”
“And I’ve been busy!”
“You’re still busy,” Deepak said. “Nothing has changed from a year ago to now. If anything, you’re even busier now.”
Prem closed his eyes again. Deepak and Bunty were right. That wasn’t an excuse he could use here. Hadn’t he just had the same conversation with Kareena? “This is different.”
“Different, but you two want completely different things,” Bunty said. “Hello! You’re Dr. Dil. The cardiologist whose first name means love and who actually thinks love is an illusion. And she’s Kareena! The smart-mouthed babe who isn’t afraid to fight anyone who doesn’t believe in love. She wants Prince Charming and happily ever after and a Bollywood-style romance!”
“And that’s something you won’t give her,” Deepak added.
They were right again. About everything. And Prem hated that.
“God damn it,” Deepak burst out. “Why can’t you just admit it? Admit that you have feelings for—”
The door opened to a fully dressed Kareena with tousled hair and glasses.
“Hey!”
“Kareena! How’s it going.”
“Fancy seeing you here.”
Prem rolled his eyes as his friends looped arms over each other’s shoulder and talked over each other as they saluted her with beer.
“You look great,” Bunty said. “Love the sweater vest.”
“Uh, thanks,” she finally said. She turned to Prem, a confused expression on her face over the beautiful glow. “It looks like you have company. I should probably get going. I’ll catch an Uber.”
“No!” All three of them shouted at the same time.
“No, we were just leaving,” Deepak said. He shoved the Chinese food bag in her hand. “We just brought this over for you.”
“And beer,” Bunty said, and handed over one of the six-packs to Prem. “Just your friendly neighborhood delivery service. We’re heading out now. Have fun, you crazy kids!”
“We’ll catch up with you later,” Deepak said, giving Prem a pointed look.
Then both of his friends rushed down the hall toward the elevator bank.
Prem watched them stumble inside one of the cars and heard the soft swish of the doors closing.
He had to admit, even though they were idiots, Prem was lucky to have people like Deepak and Bunty in his life. They may not agree with him right now, but they still had his back.
“I still think I should go,” Kareena said at his side.
She held the bag against her chest, and deliberately put space between them, but Prem wasn’t ready for that yet. Space meant he’d have to process his thoughts about her, and she’d make even more excuses for them to stay away from each other.
“We just got Chinese,” he said, motioning to the bag. “And beer.”
She looked up and down the quiet hallway. “Prem, I don’t know if this—”
He opened his apartment door and ushered her inside before she could finish that sentence. Then, without hesitation, he pressed a hard, firm kiss against her mouth.