Karan still didn’t look at her.
Rajat gave a helpless shrug. “You know him. If he wants to join us, he will. You and I can’t change that.”
Avni opened her mouth again to argue, but this time Karan spoke.
“Don’t make me get down and force you into the car, Avni. Get in.”
Avni gritted her teeth whilst Mishti stiffened. What kind of brother spoke to his sister like that? So unapologetically dominant? Not wanting the situation to escalate between Karan and Avni, Mishti intervened quickly.
“Let’s just get inside, Avni,” she said quietly. “We’re already late.”
Avni shot her a look, then huffed under her breath, clearly annoyed, but she let it go. She slid into the backseat, and Mishti followed, settling beside her.
Rajat took the front passenger seat next to Karan who pressed the accelerator. As the car moved, his eyes lifted briefly to the rearview mirror, glancing at Mishti sitting behind him. For Mishti, it was hard to tell exactly when he was looking because of the sunglasses he wore.
But every time she felt that warmth seep through her body, she knew. He was looking at her. Yet, she stared out of the window, refusing to acknowledge the man in the driver’s seat. She focused on Avni’s chatter, responding when necessary, nodding, smiling at the right moments.
Throughout the ride, Karan didn’t say a word, nor did he stop looking. Mishti even shifted slightly, breaking the angle. Yet his presence filled every inch of the space. She knew this was deliberate. He wasn’t chasing her loudly anymore. He was doingsomething far more dangerous…reminding her of what he once meant to her.
CHAPTER 34
Jaipur Local Market
The local market was loud, chaotic and alive.
Colours spilt everywhere. Stalls crowded close to one another, fabric fluttering in the air, bangles clinking, vendors calling out prices, bargaining voices overlapping in a language that felt raw and real.
Avni and Mishti were completely absorbed in it.
Mishti moved from stall to stall with excitement, touching fabrics, lifting dupattas to the light, holding them against herself to imagine how they would fall. She picked up jhumkas, compared their designs, and tried to decide between oxidised silver and gold-toned pieces.
Avni was no less delighted. For someone who had grown up away from this world, the market fascinated her. She laughed easily, tugged Mishti along, and stopped suddenly at stalls that caught her eye. The two women forgot everything else as they walked, shoulder to shoulder, happily.
Rajat and Karan followed a short distance behind. Although Rajat chatted with Avni whenever she turned back to include him, Karan had fallen quiet. His eyes had not left Mishti for even a second. Not when she smiled softly at a vendor. Not when she frowned in concentration while choosing between two similar pieces. Not when she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear,unaware that the smallest gestures had started bothering him, in a good way.
Plus, seeing Avni so genuinely happy with Mishti, the ease between them, the sisterly bond so noticeable, stirred something deep inside Karan. The comfort they shared made him realise that if Avni couldn’t have that closeness with her brother, at least she was receiving that love, that warmth, that pampering from her sister-in-law.From Mishti.
Mishti helped Avni select a set of bangles. She held Avni’s wrist gently, sliding different sets up her arm, stepping back to judge the look, then changing her mind and trying another. Rajat stood close, smiling, teasing Avni as she rolled her eyes at him.
Finally, it was Rajat who slipped the bangles onto Avni’s hand carefully, letting their fingers brush for longer than necessary. It was quite romantic in its own way.
Mishti blushed without meaning to and turned her face away, pretending to look at another stall. A sudden hollowness spread through her chest. She had always wanted moments like this in her own life. To be adored openly. She wanted that kind of attention. That kind of love.
If only…
She sighed, and when she turned back, her gaze collided with Karan’s, who stood a few steps away, watching her intently. Her heart raced, as if it knew he had seen everything. As if it knew he had watched her look at Rajat and Avni, and somehow understood exactly what she had felt while witnessing that moment.
The very next second, while she was still standing at the bangle stall, Karan moved toward her.
Her throat went dry.
Mishti swallowed, suddenly nervous, wondering if he was coming to fulfil the wish, she hadn’t even allowed herself tovoice. She looked away quickly, fiddling with bangles at the stall, touching them without really seeing them, pretending to be engrossed.
Karan stopped right beside her.Before she could turn, before she could warn him, before she could ask him not to touch her, he spoke to the stall keeper instead. He picked up a golden bangle, studded with delicate pearls, looking strikingly elegant and timeless.
“Pack these for me,” he said calmly.
The stall keeper immediately wrapped them up. Mishti exhaled slowly in relief, but also hated herself for wondering if he would slide them onto her wrist. She didn’t know why she had even hoped for that.
