“No, no. This has nothing to do with you.”
Jia continued like she hadn’t heard him. “I’m backsliding in my career. I’m too tired to generate any more content.” Her tears spilled over. “And now I’m engaged to the face of my catfish. I’m a complete failure.”
“You’re not a failure.” He patted in his pocket and found the handkerchief he always carried. He handed it to her, but she didn’t move to dab her tears. “Not one bit.”
“My family won’t see it that way.” She twisted the handkerchief in her hands. “This is going to be it. Confirm that I’m the family screw-up. I’ll have to move back home with nothing to show for my independence except the knowledge that everyone was right. I’m impulsive and reckless and don’t think and I can’t be trusted—”
“Hey.” Dev pulled Jia’s fists into his hands and looked deep into her watery eyes. “I don’t like you talking about my fiancée like that.”
She stopped for a second and stared at him, startled. Then she let out a weak half sob. It wasn’t her usual deep laugh, but it would do.
He squeezed her hands. They were small and fragile in his. “Here’s what I think we should do,” he started, then paused. Because the answer that was so obvious to him was also possibly the most absurd one.
“What?”
“I think we should be engaged. For real.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You can’t be serious.”
Dev hadn’t known what certainty felt like until this very moment. Wasn’t this what he’d basically been angling for this morning in the car? Granted, he’d wanted to spend more time together before an engagement, but in the end, what did it matter?
He’d already made up his mind. Jia was exactly what he was looking for, and she’d fallen into his lap by pure chance. “I’m serious. I wouldn’t mind it,” he said. “I could see it. We would suit. I . . . admire you very much. I think we could have fun together, and I think we communicate well.” Say the mushy words in your head. No, he couldn’t. These all sounded like stilted reasons, but the other ones were far too flowery.
One good thing was that her shock had gotten rid of her tears. Her expressive eyes brightened for a second, but then they quickly shuttered. “You wouldn’t mind it,” she repeated, without inflection.
Uh-oh. He might be dense, but even he knew he’d chosen his words poorly there. “I mean, I think we could be a good match.” He breathed out a rough sigh. “Right now, our options are that we confess what actually happened, or we claim that it was all real, the texts, our relationships. We can tell your parents the truth about the engagement being made up, that’s your choice, but if we don’t, my grandmother and Chandu won’t breathe a word.” The next words were harder to force out. “And if you decide we don’t suit, we can end the engagement. People will talk, but it won’t be the first wedding to be called off.”
“Wedding,” she repeated.
He wasn’t scared of the word, but he feared she might be. “Even a wedding won’t be without escape,” he said quietly. “If the marriage doesn’t work out as you’d want it to, divorce is an option.” And if they did the wedding before his birthday, she’d walk away immensely wealthier, with half his inheritance.
Dev looked down at Jia’s hands and took the handkerchief. She jumped when he tore off a strip of it, then she gave a little squeak when he slid to the floor on one knee. He took her limp hand. “Jia, I’m sorry I’m not able to explain myself better. But the truth is, this morning, I was already thinking along these lines anyway. I’m sorry this happened in such a manner, but I do believe fate works in mysterious ways. Would you do me the honor?”
She licked her lips, and then gave the slightest of nods.
He gently tied the fabric around her ring finger, making a silent vow. From now on, he would do his best to make sure everything was in her control. “You call the shots,” he said quietly. “What we tell anyone, whether we stay together, whether you want to meet my grandmother, everything. I’ll back you up.”
Her phone gave another vibration, distracting both of them. She released his hand, her fingers curling in to hold the fabric in place. “We’re engaged,” she announced, in a clear, firm tone that shouldn’t have surprised him, given what he’d witnessed of her resilience already. “I’m going to call my family and tell them it’s true, that we’ve been talking for a while, it got more serious than I’d let on before. I’ll tell them that I don’t have a ring or anything, that you were waiting to ask their permission when you met them in person. They’ll love that.”
He nodded. “I will keep to this story too.”
Jia’s phone vibrated yet again, and she came to her feet and scooped it up. “First I need to shower. I need to get clean and dressed and put on fresh makeup, and then I’ll be able to think.”
“I think that’s a fine plan,” Dev said gently. “If you don’t mind, Luna will be home soon from her sleepover, and I need to break this to her before someone else does.”
Jia jerked. “Oh my, of course. Luna! I completely forgot about her.”
“She and I are something of a package deal. In case you wish to factor that into your decision-making.” He tried to be as delicate as he could. He didn’t blame her if she didn’t want to take responsibility for a thirteen-year-old right away, but Luna wasn’t going anywhere.
Jia gave Dev an impatient look that relieved him instantly. “Of course she’s a part of this. I have no issues with having a niece right away. I’d like to spend more time getting to know her. Should we break the news to her together?”
“Let me talk to her alone for now.” Best to see how his niece reacted first.
“Right. Go home and be with her. I’ll text you once I’m done with my family. Here, let me show you out.”
He followed behind her. She opened the front door, and he paused, awkward. How on earth did someone take leave of another after something like this?
She seemed to sense his confusion, because she gave a wry smile. “Can we hug?”
Oh thank God. “Yes, please.” He opened his arms and she flowed right into them. He looked down at her upturned face and the vulnerable curve of her cheek. It was a perfect cheek to kiss. Surely, as an engaged man, he could kiss his fiancée, yes?
Lights flashed in warning.
Oh, wait, that was him. He leaned away from the light switches on the wall. “Ahem.”
She disengaged from him. “What a wild road trip this was, huh?”
“I agree.” His smile felt more genuine than any smile he’d had in a while. “I will talk to you soon, Jia.”
Chapter Eighteen
JIA TOOK five deep breaths. Then another five.
Her hands were shaking so hard she could barely flip open her laptop. This was it, the turning point on her family’s opinion of her, the moment they decided she was either past redemption or the same silly but benign Jia.
She’d responded to Ayesha’s frantic warning texts first, telling her everything was handled, then sent a message to the family group chat that they could have a phone call, but she’d also messaged Sadia privately. The whole gang would be on this call, but she wanted to speak with her middle sister first.