Page 125 of Wasted Grace

“Bye, Advik!” Kashvi sing-songs, sauntering off like the chaos fairy she is. “Bye, Lucifer! May your hair survive tomorrow.”

Lucian shouts after her, “I hope she drops thekaleereonyou!”

She only blows him a kiss before disappearing into the hall. Leaving me and Lucian alone.

I’m still laughing when Lucian turns to me with the look of a man slowly losing all control of his wedding. “Is she always like this? You’ve known herlonger.”

“Worse,” I say, grinning. “But you already knew that.”

He groans.

I laugh again. It was only a year ago that I saw Kashvi being hostile toward him. For hurting Aarohi the way he did. I still don’t know what he did to garner that hatred.

But they’re getting married. So I guess he fixed it.

I sober at the thought. CanIfix things with Greesha? Is it evenfixable?

We settle onto the couch in the main hall—Lucian pulling out his phone, fingers hesitating over the screen. I don’t miss the quiet agony in his eyes as he opens his chat with Aarohi.

His bride. I smile.

“How are you holding up?” I ask, lightly clapping his shoulder, keeping my tone light.

He sighs and tosses his phone onto the cushion beside him, then stares blankly at the ceiling.

“Christ,” he mutters. “I’ve never been away from her this long.”

I chuckle. And I realize he’s feeling the same way—as I am about Gree.Fuck. How did I go on without her forthree fucking years—when I can’t handle her being away for merefourteen hours?

“You’ll see Aarohi tomorrow, man. She’ll be the one in... red? I don’t know what her bridal gown is like.”

He goes silent.

I glance over, confused, only to find him watching me with something unreadable flickering in his expression. A weight that feels a little too personal.

“Yeah, you don’t know a lot about her anymore. You never contacted her after Vikram’s wedding. For ayearshe hasn’t heard from you.”

My lips part and then I clear my throat. “She told you that?”

He sighs. “Well, we’ve talked aboutthatnight where you... you both... you know. Our couples therapy brought it up. And she knew then—that your friendship was over. But she expected some word from you about the wedding at least. Hell!I did too.”

I scoff. “I’m sorry, Lucian. But we were barely friends. I... she... that night at Vikram’s wedding was a mistake.”

His frown deepens. “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 saythat.”

I wield a smirk—one of those carefully crafted, insincere ones. “Why? Were you afraid?”

He snorts. “Please. Even if we were having a Christian wedding, I’d skip the objection part. Didn’t want you getting any ideas.”

That earns a laugh from me, dry but genuine. “Relax. No objections from me. Unless of course... you were marryingmywoman.”

His face pulls into amused disbelief. “Yourwoman? Didn’t know you had one.”

I shift slightly, uncomfortable under the weight of how true that statement feels. Greesha isn’t mine. Notreally. Butgod, the way she’s carved herself into my bones over the last few months... it feels like she is.

“How...” I start, quieter this time. “How did you fuck up with Aarohi? And more importantly... how did youfixit?”

Lucian stills. His playful demeanor drops, replaced by something darker. A shadow of remorse. “I... began our relationship on a lie. And...fuck. I don’t like to think about it. Why do you ask?”