The room had settled into a soft quiet, the kind that followed emotional unraveling. Snacks had been abandoned, the VHS tape left paused and forgotten. A single mp cast a warm circle of light across the living room, giving everything a dusky, golden hue. Mia leaned into the couch’s corner, bnket pulled over her legs, but her body was thrumming with something far hotter than the chill in the air.

  She had stopped trying to pretend she wasn’t aroused.

  That ship had sailed twenty minutes ago-somewhere between Marisol’s hand curling against Bharath’s stomach and Sarah’s offhand mention of “making it up” to him after a moment of jealousy.

  Mia couldn’t unsee the images her mind had conjured.

  So instead, she clutched her soda and asked the one question that had started itching under her skin since the very beginning.

  “What about your families?”

  All three of them went still.

  Not tense.

  But thoughtful.

  Marisol was the first to speak. “Society? The campus gossip mill? That part’s been… manageable. Actually, kind of funny.”

  Mia raised a brow. “Funny?”

  Sarah smirked. “There was a rumor st week that Bharath had hypnotized us.”

  “He has hypnotic hair,” Marisol muttered into her cup.

  Bharath groaned. “Please.”

  “I’m serious,” Sarah said. “Someone tried to sneak into one of our study sessions just to ‘observe the alpha male’s aura.’”

  “That expins the guy holding a crystal outside the engineering b,” Mia muttered.

  They all ughed.

  Mia tilted her head. “Okay. So that expins why everyone treats him like a celebrity?”

  Sarah and Marisol looked at each other. Then at Mia.

  And grinned.

  Mia’s mouth fell open. “Wait. You two started it?!”

  “I may have,” Sarah said sweetly, “accidentally kissed him in public. In front of Marisol. Very dramatically.”

  “In front of the dining hall,” Marisol crified. “Near the soup station.”

  “Someone took a picture,” Sarah added. “Then posted it on the common board with a caption that said: ‘One man. Two goddesses. All hail the king.’”

  Mia wheezed. “Oh my god. That’s what that was about?”

  Bharath covered his face. “I begged them not to post it.”

  “Which made it funnier,” Marisol said.

  “But… it kind of made things easier,” Sarah admitted. “People stopped asking if it was just rumors. And we stopped hiding.”

  Mia shook her head, ughing into her sleeve. “Okay, but then why are you telling everyone your secret weapon is Wild Stone Bharath?”

  Bharath looked up, confused. “What? It is-”

  “I knew it,” Sarah decred. “He told someone in the dorm that it’s his signature cologne. Said it ‘unlocked the universe.’ It was probably a joke, but now half the guys on campus are reeking of that chemical mess.”

  Marisol groaned loudly. “You did not.”

  “But it’s why I got you and-”

  “It’s like inhaling cheap whiskey through a gym sock!” Sarah added.

  “Hey! But it got me you two! I just want to spread the love to the others”.

  “Trust me - you got us despite it, definitely not because of it. We even threw it out secretly,” Marisol muttered. “But now it’s everywhere.”

  Mia ughed so hard she nearly spilled her drink.

  “But seriously,” she said once she caught her breath, “society’s one thing. What about your families? That’s where it gets tricky.”

  Marisol’s face sobered slightly. Sarah’s did too.

  And then Sarah said, very softly, “Mine’s… not complicated.”

  They turned toward her.

  “Because I don’t have one.”

  The words weren’t bitter. They weren’t even sad. They were just… quiet.

  “I grew up in foster care. A few homes. Some were okay. Some weren’t.” She looked down at her hands. “So there’s no one waiting at Thanksgiving. No one I have to expin this to.”

  The silence that followed was thick with emotion.

  Marisol reached over and slid her arm around Sarah’s back.

  “You have us now,” she said.

  Bharath nodded. “Always and forvever.”

  Sarah looked up-and Mia watched, stunned, as Marisol leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. Not deep. Not possessive. Just… loving. Then Bharath and Sarah shared a very loving, passionate kiss.

  Mia’s breath hitched. She squeezed her thighs and stared. How could something so taboo look so... reverent? She had seen girls kiss before of course - but it was all for fun. This was so much more!

  Her eyes locked onto the shape of their mouths. The closeness. The ease of it.

  God.

  She licked her bottom lip without realizing-and caught both girls catching it. Their expressions flickered-but neither said a word.

  Mia turned quickly to hide the heat in her face.

  “What about you?” she asked Bharath. “Your family’s… traditional, right?”

  He hesitated. “Very. South Indian. Conservative.”

  “That’s going to be…” Mia trailed off.

  “Hard,” he finished. “They won’t understand. At least not at first.”

  “And you’re okay with that?”

  “No,” he said honestly. “But I’m working on it. On how to expin. On how to live in a way that honors them while also honoring myself and my women.”

  “We want to help,” Marisol said. “But it’s going to take time.”

  “We’ve started learning about his culture,” Sarah added. “Small things. Language. Food. Festivals.”

  “And if we have to…” Marisol’s voice softened. “We’ll go with him. To India. If that’s what it takes to stay together.”

  Mia stared. “You’d… leave everything behind? Just like that?”

  Marisol nodded. “For him? Yes.”

  The sincerity in her voice knocked the wind out of Mia.

  She really would.

  Marisol didn’t say it like a girl in love. She said it like a woman who’d chosen her person and would follow him anywhere.

  Mia’s chest tightened.

  She wasn’t sure if it was envy or admiration. Or maybe something deeper-like longing.

  A strange hope blossomed in her gut.

  Could I do that?

  Marisol sighed softly. “And then there’s Mami.”

  Mia looked up, startled. “Wait. You mean Mom?”

  Marisol nodded. “Yeah. I mean-our mom. But this is where I think we need your help.”

  Mia blinked. “My help?”