“You married me for revenge. You never hid that truth from me after that day. And now…You have taken it. You have done what you waited fifteen years to do. Trinity is gone, and even the DG group won’t survive. The power, the wealth, the pride that we Goels built on stolen blood… it has all come crashing down.”
Karan’s fingers fisted.
“You don’t need me anymore to finish this chapter of your life,” she said softly. “And I don’t want to be the reason you keep bleeding when you should finally begin to heal.”
The room felt unbearably still.
“Your parents… they are watching you, Karan. They are blessing you from wherever they are. And I know they would never want you to live like this. Carrying anger like a second spine. Living with grief and emptiness when you deserve happiness. They would want you to live fully, surrounded by people you love… people who bring you peace.”
She paused again before continuing.
“AndIam not one of those people.”
His throat tightened.
“You told me yourself,” she went on, “that every time you see me, you remember what my father did. That I will always be a Goel to you before anything else. I heard you. I understood you. And that is why I found the courage to walk away. That realisation gave me the strength to make this painful decision. To choose a different path for myself. Not because I want to leave, but because I do not want to hurt you any further.”
His eyes burned, but he did not blink.
“I cannot change the past,” she said. “I cannot undo what he did. But I can choose not to become another constant wound in your life. Leaving you is the only way I know how to stop hurting you.”
Karan exhaled hard, his eyes tearing up.
“You will always be in my prayers, Karan. I will pray for your wounds to heal. For you to finally find the peace you were denied for fifteen years. I will pray to God to ease your wounds, to make you the happiest man in the world. You have burned long enough. You deserve peace now.”
His other hand went to his face, wiping the corner of his eyes.
“And you are not alone in finding that peace,” she continued. “The gift I left for you in the temple room… it will remind you of who you were before all this. Before grief changed you. Before revenge became your purpose. It will always remind you how to live again.”
Karan’s breath hitched as his eyes fell on the wrapped parcel lying on the table.
With shaking hands, he opened it.
The moment he saw it, something inside him cracked again. It was an old photo diary. Restored. Carefully preserved. The leather cover looked new, but the soul of it was unmistakably his.
His eyes filled instantly with tears as her voice continued.
“I found this diary in the temple room,” Mishti said. “I’m sorry, I never told you. But the diary… the photographs… they were old, dusty, almost forgotten. I had them restored because I wanted you to have them like this. Untouched by time. Untouched by pain.”
He flipped the pages one by one, which revealed glimpses of his mother, him, and his little family.
Karan’s breath broke.
“These pictures are your life,” Mishti said softly. “The best days of your life. The days you had your family around you. I want you to remember those moments. I want you to live them again… even if only through these pages.”
His fingers trembled as he turned the page.
His toddler form clinging to his mother’s dupatta.
A family photograph, laughter frozen in time.
Him sitting on his father’s shoulders, fearless, happy.
Tears spilt freely now, dropping onto the pages as he stared, unable to stop himself.
“I know even if you chose to restart your life now that your revenge is complete, the past will never fully leave you,” she continued. “It will always live somewhere in the darkest corner of your heart. But I still pray that one day, love finds you again. That peace chooses you. That happiness stays in your life forever.”
She did not speak of herself.
