Mishti frowned, confused. “That’s VK… your dad.”
Avni smiled wider. She glanced at VK with pride first, then turned back to Mishti and said, “Well, he’s not my Dad. But my father-in-law. I mean, he’s going to be.”
Mishti’s jaw dropped as she stared at them, stunned.
“He’s not your dad? I… I didn’t know. But you call him Papa.”
“I do. That’s because he is no less than a father to me,” Avni continued casually. “Actually, a few people back in London already know. But it honestly never crossed my mind to tell you that he’s not my real father. He raised me. And I don’t think I could have asked for a better one.”
Mishti stood there, still trying to process it. She had never known this, never even doubted it. So if VK was Avni’s father-in-law, then where was Avni’s family?
VK read the confusion on Mishti’s face and smiled gently. “I’ve loved Avni more than my own daughter. And thank God I don’t have to part with her. She and my son fell in love, and here we are, preparing for their wedding.” His smile deepened. “She’ll officially become my daughter all over again now. Isn’t that wonderful?”
Mishti nodded blankly. This was far beyond anything she could have imagined.
“And Avni’s real family?” she asked, a bit hesitant.
Avni too stiffened instantly, her expression turning hurtful as if the subject had struck a raw nerve. “I… I don’t have anyone in my family,” she said quietly.
“Don’t say that, Avni,” VK cut in, scolding her. “Yes, your parents are no more, but you still have a brother.”
Avni gritted her teeth, rolled her eyes, and said flatly, “I don’t count him as family. He never was. In fact, he’s non-existent to me. And he’ll remain that way.”
VK was about to argue, but that very moment, he looked past Mishti, and his face lit up with a knowing smile. “Look,” he said softly, “we were just talking about him. And there he is. Avni’s elder brother.”
Mishtifelthimbefore she turned. Still, as if needing to confirm the impossible, she turned around slowly, her hand instinctively going to her chest, right where she used to touch her Mangalsutra, which was no longer there now.
At the very same moment VK spoke his name, she saw him. “That’s him. Avni’s real elder brother.Karan Wadhwa.”
Karan walked toward them, dressed in a crisp white shirt and dark trousers, every bit the same broody, devastating presence he had always been. His eyes never once wandered. They were fixed only onher. His wife.
Mishti felt the ground tilt beneath her feet.
Avni was Karan’s sister, real sister? Why had no one ever told her? For all the months that she stayed with Karan in Wadhwa mansion, there had never been any signs of him having a sister too. Then how? The questions spun violently in her head, one colliding with another, but she could not focus on any of them. Because her gaze refused to leave the man walking toward her. The way his eyes bored into hers made her breath falter. And just like that, she realised something. He wasn’t surprised or shocked seeing her here. He looked confident, as if waiting forthis confrontation. Did Karan know she would be here? But how?
The moment Avni saw him coming, she turned to walk away, but VK caught her hand and stopped her. She froze, clearly irritated, but stayed, seeing Raj walking towards them, too, right behind Karan. Mishti instantly heard Avni telling her, “And that’s my fiancée. Rajat Mathur. My Raj…”
Mishti was still in shock. Raj was Rajat and he was VK’s son? Avni’s fiancée? And all these 11 months since she left India, she had been still living amongst people who were related to Karan? Was the world really so small? What kind of coincidence was this?
Karan reached them first. His gaze slid to Avni for barely a second in an acknowledgement, before it returned to Mishti, as though she were the only soul standing there. As if the rest of the world had faded into insignificance. Rajat joined the next minute.
Avni immediately moved toward him, looping her arm through his and turning back with a bright smile.
“Rajat… she’s the one I keep telling you about. My friend who turned into a sister. Mishti.”
Mishti swallowed hard, forcing herself to look at Rajat as he greeted her with a polite, “Hi.” She returned a faint smile, though it never quite reached her eyes.
Inside her, something shattered. She felt betrayed. As if the life she thought she had carved out for herself, away from everyone, answerable to no one, had been nothing but an illusion. She thought she was free, but the truth was she had all these eyes on her. All the time.
Her head began to spin. All she wanted was to get away from there, anywhere, because her husband’s gaze hadn’t left her even once. He hardly even blinked, like doing that would hide heraway again from him. Like he was still making a point to her that she was stillhis, and the distance and time had meant nothing.
Her body started to give in slowly. Her feet felt unsteady, her strength draining away.
Just then, the event manager returned, asking Avni and VK if they wanted to review or change a few arrangements. Avni turned toward Mishti to excuse herself and froze when she saw her swaying.
“Mishti—” she moved instinctively to hold her.
But Karan was faster.
