“Bane! Wait.” Sunny was right behind me, all the way back to the restrooms near the front of the lounge.

“What?” I said, willing my eyes to stop misting. My face was on fire, and I couldn’t bring myself to stop, to look at him.

We were partway underneath the awning between the lounge and the lobby when Sunny took my wrist and forced me to face him.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“For what? It’s not your fault. I started this entire ruse.” If only he’d waited to tell his friends. Tears prickled my eyes, and I pulled out my phone to glare at something other than his sorrowful face.

“Bane—”

“Don’t worry about it,” I interjected. “You should get back to your friends for the farewell. I’m sure things will smooth over, and you’ll all be laughing about this in no time. See? It wasn’t so bad after all, them knowing the truth.”

He hadn’t released my hand until his phone rang. “I’m sorry. I have to take this. Don’t move.”

As he answered, I finally looked at him after having blinked away any lingering tears. I forced a smile and said, “No worries. Just leave the key card on the counter when you go.”

I walked away but made the mistake of glancing over my shoulder.

Sunny had taken a few steps toward me, his brows furrowed, but he was already on his phone. He was talking to someone, thrusting a hand through his hair.

Sunny didn’t follow.

We weren’t a rom-com.

We were not a couple.

We were coworkers who got so caught up in the lie we’d created that we ended up sleeping together.

This wouldn’t happen again. Ever. Because clearly, we were truly nothing more than coworkers and even a phone call was more important than me.

The probability of any of this mattering to Sunny after a few days, a few weeks, was slim.

What mattered was how my legs wanted to give way from beneath me. What mattered was how my stomach twisted into tight, painful knots, how my heart squeezed a little too aggressively on every beat, how my throat turned sore and raw, how every labored breath pained me.

I swallowed and clutched the strap of my purse. My nails dug into my palms.

Why did this hurt so much? Why did this hurt at all?

My brain screamed that none of what Sunny and I had done on this island was real. What had tricked my body into thinking that any of it had been? The fake dating, the fantasy relationship, even the flirting, the touching, the mind-blowing sex…it was all pretend. A game we’d chosen to play. A game I’d gotten lost in. And obviously, he hadn’t.

Sunny deserved to be at ease with his friends. Surely they’d forgive him and laugh about this together. Sunny deserved to be happy in a real relationship, one where he didn’t have to hide or pretend or keep anything locked up.

My parents kept hammering the importance of moving forward, not staying stagnant. For Sunny, the phase of inertia had been truly detrimental. But he seemed ready to leave that behind like he was leaving behind this lie. How wonderful he must feel to have this weight off his shoulders.

Logic must prevail. I mustered up enough sense to stop myself from reacting, enough strength to take an emotional step back.

I called Diya. “Hey, can you pick me up?”

“Sure! Are you done? Is Sunny gone?”

“He’s on his way out.”

“Are you going to tell me everything about him now?”

I forced a laugh. “Forget him. I have to tell you about my promotion!”

Diya squealed and met me in the parking lot with Kimo in the driver’s seat.

Her window was rolled down as she hollered, “We need to celebrate! Kimo’s mom is making you a giant ube cake!”

My sister and ube: the best celebration and a cure-all for heartache.

Thirty-six Sunny

How had life gone from perfect to a shit show? Forget Sejal forcing me to come out like that, and even my friends, who would need a good sit-down to chat about this entire thing, but Bane? I couldn’t let her walk off like this.

But then Sheila called, and I had to answer. I couldn’t keep Bane there and concentrate on what my sister was telling me.

I knew, like storm clouds writhing overhead, that my weekend of bliss would shatter once reality broke. And reality was breaking hard.

“Papa’s in the hospital,” she told me, her voice cracking.

“It’s going to be all right,” I assured, even as worry grew into a hideous, dark monster devouring everything in its path. “I’ll be there soon. My flight leaves in two hours.”

After telling Aamar and Sam about my dad, they broke off from the group, leaving Maya and April arguing with Sejal, to give me a ride to the villa.

I called Bane on the way, but she didn’t answer.

I threw the rest of my things into my suitcase and off we went to the small, open-air airport.

“Are you okay?” Sam asked.

“I’m panicked about my dad. Every time he goes to the hospital for these things, we just expect the doctor to come back and conclude this is the big one.”

“He’s going to be okay. Your dad is a fighter.”

We sat in silence as I texted my sisters for updates and specifics when Aamar said, “For what it’s worth, don’t feel bad about the lying.”

“What?” I asked, derailed from worrying over my father.

“We get why it happened and why it lasted. Don’t need to worry about any of that between us.”

“Oh. Thanks.” A slight reprieve that didn’t quite cover the damage I might’ve done with Bane.

“And for what it’s worth,” he added, “it might’ve started out a lie, but it never looked like one.”

I frowned.