He laughed. “No, I guess not.”

“So why did she delete the Instagram?”

“That was my father … somehow, he found out about it. Someone on WhatsApp posted screenshots and he was furious. He insisted she delete it or he was going to ruin her or something. I was so pissed … Dad even threatened that he would back out of the investment here and make me leave Toronto if she didn’t delete it.”

“OMG … Rish’s cousin!”

“What?”

She looked at him, trying hard not to laugh. “My sister’s future sister-in-law’s cousin was obsessed with your fiancée and posted screenshots of her Insta all over WhatsApp. Your father must have seen them.”

“Seriously?” He laughed.

Reena nodded. “Seriously. You know, the moral of this whole story is that our parents really need to stay off social media.”

He laughed. “Oh, man. This is actually hilarious. But … ”

“But what?”

“The day Dad found Jasmine’s Instagram and gave me that ultimatum—that was the day you found me at the Sparrow. I was in a terrible mood. I was so ready to run off to New Zealand and let Dad cut me off, but you were there. You were so cute and cranky and I had so much fun. That’s when I decided I was better off staying as close to you as possible.”

They were both silent for a while. She wiped her eyes. This was torture. She wanted to see his face. The whole thing at once.

“And now he’s barking orders again. Can’t you just tell your dad Salim is lying?”

“My father is uncompromising. This is all a taint on the family reputation. He had my name wiped from the controversy surrounding the hotel failure, and here is Salim Shah publicly stating I’m marrying his daughter. Whether it’s true or not is beside the point.”

So that was it. Because of stubborn parents and idiotic competitiveness, she was losing him.

“Hey, Reena.” His hand came through the gap and returned her phone. “Don’t be upset.”

“How can I not be upset? I wish, just once, something would happen to me, good or bad, that had absolutely nothing to do with my parents.”

He smiled. “Well, I wouldn’t have even met you if it wasn’t for them, so I’m glad for their interference.”

He watched her, his face showing that Nadim-mischief, that playful smirk she loved.

Their eyes held for several seconds.

“Reena, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have hidden my past from you. I should have followed my instinct a long time ago and thrown myself at your feet, telling you exactly who I was and what I’d done, and begged you to take me anyway.”

She scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous. You weren’t that into me.”

“Wrong.” His voice lowered to a bare whisper. “I was into you. Right away. If you’ll recall, I asked you out before I knew who you were. I wanted my hot neighbor, not a wholesome bride.”

“I’m not hot,” she said, immediately regretting the words. But she wasn’t, at least not compared to someone like Marley. Or Jasmine, for that matter.