Page 52 of The Pucking Fake Marriage

To stay sane, I need to stay away frombothbrothers. The moment this deal is done, I’m going to file for an annulment and move as far away from him as I can.

“Oh, come on. Yourdaughter is amazing.”

I hold my breath. At the same moment, I feel Ken freeze beside me. And I know exactly why. We’re both familiar with this ploy of Kali’s, a sort of humble brag where he pullseither Ken or me under the scrutiny of our parents. It comes off as innocuous, at least at first, but it always somehow ends up in them heaping praises on him while comparing his achievements against our own shortcomings.

Like clockwork, my mother rolls her eyes. “Yes. Well.” She sounds like she was just forced to swear allegiance to Satan. “Charlie has struggled all this time to make a name for herself, and she only recently has found success.”

I guess it’s now the appropriate time to list out my misgivings in front of both my ex andhis brother, who also happens to be my secret husband.

Kali has a sanctimonious look on his face as he pats my mother’s hand. “Well, yes. She’s trying.”

“Not likeyou.” I swear my mother’s eyes are lit with stars as she looks up at the son-in-law that got away. Beside her, Kali’s mother is beaming appreciatively. The men have fallen into a private discussion of their own.

“Well…yeah.” Somehow, Kali manages to accept the praise while maintaining the absolute picture of modesty.

I stare at him, wondering whyit took me so long to notice how damn self-centered he is. I’d dated him through four years of school, and yet, I only got the memo when he broke up with me on my sick bed in anemail.Apparently, my frequent messages to him were “too depressing” and making it difficult for him to “flourish” at the PBT.

But as he rakes a hand through his long hair, undoing his ponytail as he goes, I finally see it.I see it in how he lets allthe parents dote on him without minding it a single bit. How he hasn’t said one word to Ken or me since he walked in. How he throws us under the bus so he can receive more praise. I see how damn arrogant he is. Hell, I’m starting to understand why Ken can barely stand him.

Not that Ken was perfect, either,a small voice whispersin my head. I can hardly believe it even now, but no other explanation makes sense. Ten years ago, I was running down thisset of stairs, the way I had millions of times in the past. But that day, I tripped and broke my ankle.

Because someone left a set of dumbbells lying around haphazardly.

Even then, I knew Ken enough to know that he wouldn’t have done such an act out of pure malice. It could’ve been anything. Maybe it was childish upset I rejected him, wanting to get back at me without thinking it all the way through. Maybe he wanted to fix the blame on Kali. Or maybe he was just plain careless.

But those were his weights, and he was the one to leave them there. And with that one act, he changed my life for good. If that night hadn’t happened, maybe I’d be sitting in Kali’s chair now, my parents telling me how proud they are ofme.Maybe I’d have even dumped Kali along the way and started to wonder if I didn’t make a mistake, turning Ken down. Maybe…

“…and we know the injury was probably for the best.”

Again, my attention is drawn back to the table. Kali and my mother now have their heads turned over to us. Kali has an appraising look on his face, while my mother seems to realize that I’ve been standing here all along.

“What did you just say?” I hear myself ask. There are jolts of electricity shooting down my spine, and I’m already fearful of what I might do if I heard him right. Still, that doesn’t stop me from wanting to know.

Kali turns more fully in his chair. “I’m talking about your ankle.” The glare he gives me reminds me strongly of how he looked at me in high school, just before he was about to go into mansplain mode. “I know it was hard and all, but it really brought out the best in you, didn’t it?”

“No.” It’s about all I can say without breaking into hives from the fury spilling through my veins. How dare he talk about my injury like it was not the single most traumatizing thing in my life?

Kali’s smile broadens. “Come on, pumpkin.”

“Don’t call me that,” I hiss. The fact that he dares speak to me like I am still a little girl makes me even more furious. My mom shoots me an irritated look—she’s evidently annoyed by my rudeness. It doesn’t matter, though, because Kali just keeps going.

“The thing is…” He pauses, most likely to build anticipation for his next proclamation. I’m disgusted to remember how well that used to work on me in the past. “The PBT was the most exhilarating part of my life, but it was also the most exhausting. Going through that program might’ve made you realize you didn’t want to be a dancer after all. That you wanted—wantsomething less taxing.” Beside him, my mother is nodding thoughtfully.

I’m at a complete loss of what to do. Scream until I bring the house down? Punch him in the face? Walk out? There’s no need to decide though, because Ken steps in front of him, his shoulders taut with barely suppressed rage. “You weren’t even selected in the first round, did you somehow forget that? You were on their waitlist, you genius.”

“But I did get in, and I danced with them. Nothing you say changes that,” Kali replies like a petulant child, his face turning a ruddy color.

I glance at Ken’s angry profile, confusion boiling within me. Thisis the rollercoaster I have to go on with Ken. Five minutes ago, I was sure I wanted to forgive him. After he hurt my feelings, he reminded me of what he did in the first place to cause myinjury.

And now, this. Defending me, again, in front of our whole family.

I don’t even know what to feel. But underneath the confusion, there’s a saner emotion stirring within me. Peace. Because even if I absolutely have no idea what to say to Kali, Ken does. And I trust him to stand up for me in this situation…and any other, for that matter.

“Even Mom and Dad remember that you stayed in your bed for days because you didn’t get accepted. Maybe if Charlie hadn’t broken her ankle, you’d still be in your bed upstairs, pushing thirty and on the waitlist.” He crosses his arms, an ugly sneer on his face. “You know, you should really be thanking Charlie.”

Kali jerks up to his feet, his fists clenched. A strange silence descends over the table. Our parents seem to have forgotten how to move, maybe even breathe. Or maybe they’ve forgotten how to act since this is the first time Ken and Kali are fighting in years.

“Are you saying that I didn’t earn my place in the PBT? Because male and female acceptances have nothing to do with each other.”

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