“Nothing,” I say, trying to keep my expression straight. I don’t think I manage, because Ace shakes his head at me, and he’s so close his nose brushes my cheek. I hold my breath, my gaze darting to Dadu, but she’s too busy washing dishes to pay attention to us. Still, I shift minutely away, tucking my hair behind my ear.

Ace blinks at me, before his eyes lighten with understanding. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I say quietly, offering him a small smile. “She didn’t notice.”

“If you two are quite finished,” Nandini says, drawing my attention back to my phone. “Ace, why didn’t you say something? We would’ve come with you.”

I roll my eyes. “He cut class to be here. Please don’t follow his example.”

Cora whispers something unintelligible to Nandini and then looks dead at the camera. “Ace, can we speak to you privately?”

Ace shrugs. “Sure.”

“Wait, what—?”

He grabs the phone out of my hand and walks away. I blink after him in bemusement, but don’t protest. I think if I did, they’d just call Ace instead and repeat this all over again.

“I’ll see you in five minutes!” Ace says and disappears into the foyer. I hear the sound of the front door opening and shake my head in exasperation.

I start carefully piling food on my plate when something lights up in the corner of my vision. I realize it’s Ace’s phone, left unattended. I glance at it and freeze, staring at the screen.

He has ten unread texts and three missed calls from his father, twenty unread texts and one missed call from Xander, and one unread text from Mia.

I flip the phone over out of respect for his privacy, but I’m flabbergasted. Why doesn’t he call back his family? Has he been ignoring them the whole time he’s been here?

Ace returns a few minutes later, a sparkle in his eye as he sits next to me. I frown uncertainly, sliding him his phone. “I think your family is trying to get in touch with you.”

He shakes his head, waving dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. Here’s your phone.” He hands it to me. “Damn, Ahmed. Your friends can be terrifying when they want to be.”

I stiffen, glancing between my phone and him. No. I have to believe they wouldn’t embarrass me like that. “Did they threaten you?”

“Just a little,” he says, scooping food onto his plate. Dadu comes in halfway and takes over, piling on immense servings from each dish while Ace watches with wide eyes.

“He’s a growing boy, he needs to eat,” Dadu says to me, pouring us both water.

I laugh, reaching over to squeeze her wrist. “You can let him starve, Dadu. I don’t mind.”