Their Wonder Years: Fall 98

Chapter 185: Complications

The apartment felt quieter than it had all day. Not empty - just... expectant.

The kind of silence that waits for truth.

Bharath sat on the edge of the couch, hunched slightly forward, his elbows resting on his knees again. This time, though, his eyes weren’t vacant. They were searching.

Mia sat across from him, tucked beside Marisol on the longer side of the sectional. Her legs were curled up under her, her hair damp from her quick rinse, a blanket thrown over her bare thighs. She wore one of Bharath’s t-shirts - too big, almost falling off her shoulders - but nothing could hide the raw magnetism of her face, her posture, her quietly defiant grace. Bharath had given up trying to get the girls to stop wearing his tops.

Sarah settled behind Bharath, her arms around his torso from behind hugging him to reassure him that they were there for him.

But Bharath’s heart was a mess.

“I need answers from you Mia,” he said finally.

His voice wasn’t angry. It was low, hoarse - cracked in places like a foundation settling under weight it hadn’t expected.

“Before we talk,” Bharath said, his voice low, “I need to be sure. Last night you told me you love me Mia. I could feel that you really do. However, I need to let you know that Marisol and Sarah are my soulmates. Although I have come to care for you a lot, I am scared to take the next step with you because I don’t want to hurt you if you are not. Do you understand?”

“I do.” Mia said softly. “I’m glad you finally understood my love for you Bharath. It is a lot sooner than I thought possible.”

“I love Marisol,” he said, looking directly at her older sister. “And Sarah. You both know that.”

Marisol nodded without hesitation. “We do.”

“I’d never do anything to hurt you,” he added. “Either of you.”

“You haven’t,” Sarah whispered against his back.

“But Mia is your sister,” he said, turning his gaze back to the youngest Rivera. “That matters. It has to matter.”

“It does,” Mia said quietly.

“I still don’t understand how you’re all okay with this. With her watching, joining, eventually… being part of this although you have given me your approval many times now. How can you be so okay about something so-so sacred between us?”

He didn’t mean to sound accusatory. But it came out that way anyway - the desperate confusion of a man who’d been pushed to the emotional edge by desire, devotion, and the raw, impossible chaos of having three women willing to share him.

“You’re not a toy,” he said. “You’re not a game. I don’t know what this is yet, but it matters. And Mia, you-” He shook his head. “You could have anyone. You’re one of the most gorgeous, brilliant women I’ve ever seen. You’re too young. You don’t need to… do this. Not for me.”

Mia’s face didn’t flinch. She took it all in like someone who had already lived through the storm of her own heart and decided where she stood.

“I know I could have anyone,” she said calmly. “But I don’t want just anyone. I want someone who sees me the way you do. Who sees past all this-” she gestured vaguely at her face, her figure “-and gets excited when I talk about my study plan or my Georgia Tech application. Who believed in me before I even proved anything.”

He blinked.

“You’ve only met me a few times,” he said.

“Twelve times, technically,” she corrected. “But we’ve talked. A lot. And you listened. No guy I know listens the way you do. And when you looked at me - really looked - it made me feel… seen. Safe. Like my brain mattered more than my body, and my body mattered because it was mine. You offered to teach me to make me better. “You’ve done everything to build me up and make me feel valued, Bharath. Your note today - when you told me you believed in me. What more can I want in a man?”

Bharath exhaled, struggling to find a way through the noise in his chest. “But it’s not just about you. It’s your sister.”

He turned to Marisol again. “How? How are you okay with this?”

Marisol let the question hang in the air for a moment. Then she spoke - slowly, clearly.

“Because I trust you,” she said. “And I trust her.”

She looked at Mia, something fierce and proud in her eyes. “She’s not some kid with a crush. She’s been talking about you since the first night. I brushed it off at first. But the more she talked, the more I realized - she sees what I see. And if she’s serious - if she’s willing to earn her place - why should I say no just because we share blood?”

Bharath opened his mouth to protest, but she wasn’t done.

“I don’t see Mia as competition,” she said. “She’s family. She’s mine.

And honestly? If anyone’s going to touch what we’ve built, I’d rather it be someone I love.”Sarah chimed in from behind him, her voice a soft current against his skin. “We’ve already crossed the impossible line, Bharath. We’re a throuple in Georgia. That’s taboo enough. If we’re going to keep building something out of this… maybe it’s okay to ask different questions. Not ‘why add one more?’ but ‘what makes her worthy of joining?’”

He looked at Mia again. “And what makes you think you are?”

Mia didn’t take offense. She nodded slowly.

“Fair question,” she said. “I don’t know if I am yet. But I’m willing to find out. I want to earn your love, not steal it. I want to be someone Marisol can still be proud of. Someone Sarah can lean on. Someone who makes this family stronger, not messier.”

Bharath’s throat tightened again. He looked down.

“But what about your mother?” he asked softly.

That brought a shadow over all three girls’ faces.

“Mami is… not ready,” Marisol admitted. “She barely accepted me being with you. I haven’t told her about Sarah. Let alone anything beyond that.”

“She’d lose it,” Bharath said.

“Yeah,” Mia whispered. “She would.”

“Then how is this okay?”

“It’s not,” Mia said honestly. “Not yet. But love isn’t always about what’s okay. It’s about what’s real. What lasts. And when the time comes, if I’m still worthy… I’ll stand by your side. Even if it means facing Mami. Even if it means she never accepts it.”

Bharath looked at all of them again.

His heart was pounding.

“I don’t want to ruin your family,” he said. “I don’t want this to end with your mom hating you. Or you resenting each other. Or me losing all of you.”

“You won’t,” Marisol said, sliding onto his lap, straddling him gently. “You’ve made this family. You just don’t see it yet.”

Sarah curled closer, her lips grazing his neck. “We’ll go as slow as you need.”

“And only if you want this,” Mia said softly. “I can wait. Years, if I have to. Actually no I can’t. I want you now.”