He’s sitting at a large mahogany desk and scrolling through something on the computer. There’s something about seeing him there, absorbed in his work, that makes her sadder than she expected to feel. She briefly sees him the way most people do, as a dedicated and caring doctor.

Roshan glances up with a look of surprise, then disdain. “Uh, hi.”

His white coat is on a hook next to him. The walls of his office are barren, which could be either because he hasn’t had time to put anything up or because he doesn’t care to. Roshan was never into aesthetics. Even in med school, he had the bare minimum amount of furniture in his studio apartment.

“I got your text and figured it’s better we talk in person. Because I have to talk to you, too.” Suhani walks into his office and closes the door.

“About?” Roshan turns off the computer screen and raises his eyebrows. She wants to analyze his expression, know what he’s thinking. But she tells herself it doesn’t matter.

She has to project strength, the way she should have years ago. She has to get this conversation over with and return to her life. Her happy, full life. “You appear out of nowhere at my hospital. What the hell do you want?”

“Excuse me?”

“Excuse you.” Suhani crosses her arms. “What are you doing here?”

“Work, if you couldn’t tell.” Roshan motions around his office.

God, that sarcasm. His straight lips and furrowed brows take her back to the night they met. She forgot how he looked at her as though he could see straight to her thoughts, in a way that made her feel raw and alive and vulnerable all at once. The qualities that made Roshan scary were the same ones that made him sensitive: the intensity to which he felt pain, the way he remembered details, how guided he was by his emotions.

“And that’s it? Really?” She taps her foot on the scuffed floor. Just being around Roshan riles her up. She can’t help but compare that to how she is around Zack. Content, easygoing Zack.

“Really,” Roshan says. “I told you I always wanted to come back to Atlanta.”

He did tell her that years ago. It was the first thing they ever connected on, being the only people from Atlanta at their med school.

“And you just happened to get a job where I work?” Suhani asks.

“The best hospital in the state? Yeah, I did take this job when they recruited me,” Roshan says.

Her heart rate slows down. Maybe that’s all this is, a dumb coincidence.