Rajat hugged Karan warmly.
Avni went to VK first, taking his blessings, and then turned to Mishti, hugging her tightly and excitedly telling her how happy she was, and how unreal it all felt.
Mishti couldn’t even say she knew that feeling. Because in her marriage, the engagement was never done. They got married directly with a few pre-wedding rituals.
Yet, now, she pushed those thoughts away when Avni turned to Karan as he congratulated her softly. Avni nodded in acknowledgement, accepting his wishes, but without warmth. Itpricked him, and it hurt Mishti too, but neither of the two could change that at the moment.
Soon after, the newly engaged couple moved away, mingling with the guests and accepting congratulations as the evening continued.
****************
An hour later
Karan stood at the far end of the canopy, speaking quietly into his phone. It was a business call, the kind he couldn’t afford to ignore even in the middle of a celebration. When he finally ended the call and turned around, his gaze instinctively searched the crowd and found Mishti.
She was a little distance away, engaged in conversation with a group of women. But his eyes didn’t stay on her face for long. They drifted down. To her waist.
The waist chain was still there, catching the light, gleaming softly against her skin.
Only he knew how many pieces he had rejected before settling on this one. How many times had he said no before this particular chain had made him pause. He had known, the moment he saw it, that it would look beautiful on her. Not just beautiful—right.
The strange thing was, this urge to buy something like that, to surprise her, to think about what she would like before thinking about himself, was completely new to him. He had never cared enough to do this before. Never felt the need.
And yet now, he hadn’t been able to stop himself. What surprised him even more was the fact that he liked doing it.
That fleeting sense of satisfaction he felt watching her wear something he had chosen felt dangerously close topeace. The very thing he had been chasing for years. And somewhere, deep down, he already knew the truth. Her absence in his life had made him realise that.
That peace had never existed for him without her.
Not once.
Accepting that truth had been difficult, almost unacceptable. Especially knowing how wrong it all was.
Because the reason he had married Mishti had never been love or need for companionship. It had been revenge.
Mishti hadn’t been wrong to question him, to throw that truth in his face recently that despite knowing she was innocent despite knowing she had no idea what her father had done or how deeply it had destroyed his family, he had still dragged her into his darkness. He had hurt her, even broken her heart in the process.
Seeing her today, smiling, genuinely happy, so controlled with her emotions, letting herself be affected by his subtle flirting yet strong enough not to give in easily, one truth struck him.
Mishti was meant to have all the happiness in the world.
This woman had endured far more than she ever deserved. She, too, had lost her mother far too young. She had grown up with a half-brother who never truly cared, never showed concern, never bothered to be present. And then she had married a man like him, a man who never allowed her to feel loved.
And yet…
She had fallen in love with him. She had dared to dream of a happy married life with him.
His eyes stung as the memory resurfaced of the day he had lost control, the day he had seen that cake in his room, her confession written so simply and so bravely on it.
I love you.
And how badly he had crushed her, how he had told her it was impossible. That he would never want her to fall in love withhim. That he himself would never fall in love with her, because no matter what, she carried the blood of the man he despised.
How mercilessly he had shattered her heart that day. Broken it into countless pieces without a second thought.
And yet…Mishti had risen. Quietly, without noise or accusation, she had gathered those broken fragments, glued them back together, and in the process, found herself again.
He didn’t know if she still carried feelings for him. Or if she had already unloved him completely. But there was one truth he was certain of now.
