She just stared at him. Seriously? Did he really expect her to be soft with him after everything that had happened?
Karan read her thoughts even in her silence.
Without waiting for a response, he swiped his key card, unlocked the door, and walked inside.
She followed him in, still frustrated.
“Anyway,” she said, “you’re wearingthisfor the ceremony. Change and come fast.”
She placed the sherwani bag on the bed.
Karan turned, looked at it, then back at her.
“Excuse me?” he said. “I’m already dressed for the ceremony.”
Mishti exhaled hard, as if explaining anything to him had always been the hardest task.
“Avni thought you’d wear something traditional today,” she said. “You’re the bride’s brother. So stop being so cold anddetached and wear this instead. Rajat had already got it made for you based on your measurements. Don’t argue.”
She didn’t realise that while she was saying all this, Karan had closed the distance between them. It was only when she felt something cool and metallic, something almost weightless, brush against her skin that she broke their eye contact and looked down instantly.
Karan had been fastening a delicate, golden waist chain around her waist. She froze in shock, before she lifted her gaze and met his eyes.
Karan was already looking at her.
His eyes said everything his lips didn’t, while his fingers continued their work, fastening the chain around her waist. Goosebumps rippled across her body when his fingers brushed her bare skin, enough to steal her words and to make her shiver.
He got her a waist chain? Why?
Suddenly, she recalled Komal suggesting she wear one earlier, and Karan was in the same room that time, listening.
The next second, he tugged her closer using the very chain wrapped around her waist and leaned in, against her ear. “The last one hour…” he murmured. “I was busy picking the best of these chains in the store. For you.”
Another shiver ran through her at his words.
He had gone through all that trouble? Driven to a store, searched through options, chose the best…just forher? What was wrong with Karan Wadhwa? He was never like this. What game was he playing now? Was this another way to pull her back? To bring her home again? Whatever it was—it was working. Because she was helplessly enjoying this attention. The kind she hadn’t asked for, yet secretly craved.
When he finally pulled back, they both noticed it at the same time…the hook hadn’t fastened properly. It felt loose. Karandidn’t hesitate. He got down on one knee, holding the waist chain around her.
Mishti felt light-headed, close to fainting, seeing him like this, on his knee before her, his face dangerously close to her bare waist.
Even Karan lifted his gaze once, locking eyes with her. The next second he leaned closer, his lips nearing her skin, and she knew exactly what was coming.
She shut her eyes the moment his lips brushed her waist as he tried to secure the hook with his teeth. She tucked in her stomach to control the storm of butterflies raging inside her. Her hand moved on its own, pressing hard against his shoulder blade, partly to steady herself, partly to stop herself from melting further.
Within a few seconds, she felt it. The hook was finally fastened. But his lips didn’t move away immediately; they lingered, continued that sensual assault…grazed and hovered just a little too long near her belly button.
She knew he was not doing this on purpose. He was losing his control. But she just couldn’t prove it.
When Karan finally showed some restraint and pulled away, she opened her eyes and looked down at him. He rose to his feet, gently swiping his tongue over his lower lip once. Mishti stepped back instantly, her expression giving her away. She was caught between shock and the urge to remove the waist chain and hand it back to him. But Karan, who had always been too good at reading her, caught it immediately.
“I’ll wear the sherwani,” he said calmly. Then, pointing at the chain now gleaming against her waist, he added, “But if you takethisoff… I’ll change again.”
That sounded like a deal.
Mishti forced herself to breathe, swallowing everything that moment had stirred inside her.
“You and your pathetic ways of blackmailing me,” she muttered. “Some things will never change.”
