“I’m just saying you’re lucky Keane asked Rashid to host Dawn and Victor’s wedding and not Han. I would have been like heck no if I knew he was connected to the guy who got you kidnapped twice and made you move to Delaware right after I moved back to Hawaii!”
The face she made when she said Delaware had me wondering if she considered that way worse than my two kidnappings.
“He didn’t make me. He asked,” I gently reminded her. “And I said yes because I love him.”
“How can you love a guy who made you give up Hawaii and all your hopes and dreams about starting a surf school?”
I had to admit that question panged in my chest, pressing on parts of my heart I’d been trying to ignore during my five months in Delaware.
Luckily, Rashid chose that moment to roll up in his wheelchair.
“Sayonee, be nice,” he advised. “Your sister is only here for a few days, and you have already made your feelings about this event quite clear. Why I’ve barely seen Han all day, I think he’s afraid to come near you.”
That was true. Han had to attend the wedding as one of Victor’s best men, but he’d told me he’d do whatever he could to avoid Mika this morning. Five months of peace hadn’t calmed her down like my parents. If anything, distance had made her heart grow even more bitter toward my husband.
“I hope he does try to talk to me,” Mika answered Rashid, her voice low and sinister. “I’ve got a frying pan with his name on it.”
“Where is this bloodthirst coming from?” I placed a cloth over my shoulder and raised Joi for a burp just like Dawn showed me a couple of days ago—after squeeing a whole bunch about why I’d volunteered for wedding and reception babysitting duties.
Han and I had decided to remove my implant a few weeks ago, and it was low-key killing me that I still hadn’t broken the news to Mika because I knew how she’d respond.
“I miss my sweet sister,” I told her for more reasons than one.
“A divorce announcement would bring her right on back,” Mika guaranteed.
“Why don’t you tell us the story of the bride and groom,” Rashid suggested. “I am curious about these two people who just had to be married on May 25th.”
Good idea, actually.
By the time I was done with Dawn and Victor’s epic story, Mika had to admit, “Well, that puts a lot more perspective on your situation with Han.”
“I know, right?” I agreed, shaking my head.
“Is there a word that means being happy that other people’s relationship stories are even more drama-filled than yours?” Rashid asked, taking Mika’s hand. “Something like the German word, schadenfreude?”
“Schadendrama?” I suggested with a thoughtful tip of my head.
Rashid clasped his hands. “Yes, I am feeling much schadendrama after hearing that story!”
We all chuckled, and it felt good to be laughing with my sister instead of having to endure another harsh take on my marriage.
But then, Mika asked, “So wait, if Victor’s and Dawn’s marriage was fake, do you think yours and Han’s might be too?”
I froze at her question. Then said, “Excuse me, I need to go give back this baby and find my maybe not-husband.”
PHANTOM
“Is our marriage fake?” Jazz demanded, interrupting Phantom’s conversation with Han at the groom’s table.
She looked mad as hell, but of course, Han went all moony-eyed at the sight of her holding a baby.
“Hell, no,” Phantom answered on his honorary cuz’s behalf. Because the thing was, with Han laid up, he’d been the one who’d had to bust his ass last September to make that shit legal. Victor’s fake marriage had been easy in comparison.
Han’s tone was a lot gentler when he got out of his seat to ask, “Where is this coming from?”
“I don’t know.” Jazz softened out of her defensive stance. “I was talking to Mika, and she got in my head.”
“Jasmine.” Han tilted his head and reached up to cup her face on the side of her body that didn’t currently have a sleeping baby. “You know she hates me.”
“I know,” Jazz answered with a laugh. “I’m being stupid. We’re good. I’m sure of it.”
“Yes, we are good and happy and so many other things I would not have been able to imagine before I met you,” Han agreed, his voice emphatic AF.
But then he smirked and asked, “Were you really very upset at the thought of not being married to me?”
“I mean, yeah….” Jazz rolled her eyes at his smug tone. “But don’t go getting a big head about it.”
“Oh, I am getting a big head,” Han assured her. “We will sneak into the house, and I will show you just how big my head is getting at the thought of how much you want to truly be my wife.”
