Bachelor in Paradise star Kira Mengistu has dished about her past with Romeo Alexander and Jill Chin and why she didn't have any hesitation pursuing Romeo on the beach in Mexico.
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Once Kira arrived in Paradise, she seemingly assumed that Romeo was going to be her man, which erupted an argument between the two women.
"So Romeo and I actually went to school together. We graduated the same year at Harvard, and we didn't know each other super well, but we definitely were acquainted," Kira shared during a recent episode of the "Talking It Out with Bachelor Nation" podcast co-hosted by Mike Johnson and Bryan Abasolo.
"But we definitely didn't hang out together. We weren't in the same friend groups, but I definitely recognized him when the cast list for The Bachelorette [Season 18] came out. I was like, 'Oh, I remember that guy, we went to college together.'"
Kira said after she joined the cast of The Bachelor's 26th season starring Clayton Echard, she and Romeo "reconnected" and "texted about" their experiences.
"So, you know, we got friendlier. And after the show, some things went down [in the New York scene] and the aftermath is kind of playing out in Paradise right now," Kira teased.
Kira said before filming Bachelor in Paradise, she was living in Philadelphia but would visit New York a lot, where the mathematician lives.
"And I would hang out with him," Kira revealed of Romeo. "He likes to have fun, I like to have fun. And we would hang out together."
In terms of how Jill entered the picture and the girls became a love triangle with Romeo, Kira admitted Romeo was "having conversations with multiple girls" -- who ran in the same social circle -- when they were getting to know each other in New York.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
"And Jill and him were texting a lot and talking a lot, and she denied that she liked him," recalled Kira, who used to be good friends with Jill.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW"I explicitly asked her if she was into Romeo, and she said, 'No, definitely not.' So yeah, that's sort of how she comes into this. She and Romeo were also talking at the same time that he and I were talking and hanging out."
Kira therefore wasn't exactly shocked when Romeo said he wanted to pursue Jill in Paradise.
"It wasn't a surprise because what happened is that during one night out, me and Romeo, we ended up making out, and Jill asked me about it later. And she was very upset that I didn't, like, tell her that we had kissed," Kira explained.
"And I think that sort of clued me into the fact that she may like him as more than a friend. Because if he was just a friend, then she wouldn't really care if I was kissing him or doing anything with him."
Since Jill allegedly wasn't forthcoming with her feelings for Romeo, Kira had "no idea" if Jill was going to want to date Romeo in Paradise or not.
"I really didn't [know]," Kira insisted.
As far as her own intentions went, Kira said she had been hoping to reignite the spark she felt with Romeo in New York on the beach in Mexico.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)
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"However, I was definitely open to other guys," she clarified. "I was talking to some other guys. I know they didn't show that... but I had conversations with almost everyone on that beach."
She added, "I definitely felt a strong connection with Romeo, but I didn't only have eyes for Romeo."
When asked if Romeo had "game" prior to their stint on Bachelor in Paradise, Kira called him "a late bloomer."
"Let's just say that," Kira noted. "He's a late bloomer. He's blooming right now."
But Mike joked about how Romeo definitely isn't blooming on Paradise, from a viewer's perspective.
Romeo, for example, was indecisive about which woman he wanted to be with, and so he was rejected by three women -- Kira, Jill and Brittany Galvin -- before the first Rose Ceremony of the season.
Jill only accepted Romeo's rose so she could stay on the beach and hopefully meet new men, and so Season 8 cast members have joked about Romeo being "a dead man walking" and crashing and burning in Paradise.
"He really got himself into a predicament," Kira acknowledged.
"Okay, I would say if I had to answer, no, he doesn't have game. But he's a very tall, good looking, smart guy with a good job. So that sort of compensates for his lack of game."
Jill told a similar story about her history with Kira and Romeo on Us Weekly's "Here for the Right Reasons" podcast.
Jill also confirmed she and Kira haven't spoken since they stopped filming Bachelor in Paradise.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
