“It’s about me.”
The laughter faded. Glasses stopped mid-air. Mishti’s smile stilled. As though some instinct in her had sensed the ground beneath her feet was about to move.
“I had no plans to say this tonight,” he said. “And I won’t pretend this is the right moment. There will never be a right moment for what I’m about to say.”
Rajat’s grin had faded completely now. Avni had straightened in her chair, her brows drawn together. VK was already guessing what Karan was about to say. But he stayed quiet.
Karan inhaled once, deeply.
“My marriage to Mishti was never out of love,” he said.
Mishti’s fingers curled slowly in her lap as his gaze shifted toward the people sitting on that table, who probably knew this but never once had questioned his intentions.
“I married her for revenge.”
A suffocating silence followed. Avni’s hand slid into Rajat’s, knowing what this was about.
“Everyone sitting here on this table already knows that by now,” he added, still not looking back at Mishti yet. “I knew exactly whose daughter she was,” he continued. “I knew what it would cost her. And I chose to do it anyway.”
His jaw clenched.
“I used my marriage as a weapon. Against her father. Against her family. Against anyone connected to the man who destroyed mine.”
Mishti was very still when he finally looked at her again. He read the pain in her eyes, which had darkened not with tears, but memory.
“I did not just marry her for revenge.” He swallowed. “I lived that revenge every single day.”
“I was aware Mishti was innocent. That she did not know even what her father did. Yet, I emotionally neglected her. I kept her away from me deliberately. I locked her out of my room, my life, my reasons. When she demanded answers, all she got from me was silence, and cruelty. I let her believe she was unwanted, unworthy, invisible in my life. I never allowed her to feel chosen, desired, or loved.”
A faint tremor ran through his breath as he looked away again.
“She asked me why,” he said. “More than once. She deserved an answer every time. And every time, I chose not to give her one. Instead, I just kept reminding her, directly and indirectly, that this marriage was never about love.”
Mishti’s throat tightened. She lowered her chin a fraction, unable to bear reminiscing about those days.
“She had dreamed of a real marriage, a real partnership. But I brutally shattered her dream. And despite that, she endured it all quietly, with dignity and without any complaint,” he went on. “I watched her hold on to her faith, to her prayers, to her belief that goodness still mattered, even when I gave her no reason to believe in me.”
He swallowed, turning to the family, who were no longer merely listening. They were absorbing. Faces pale. Eyes wet. Some in disbelief. Some were ashamed of having known parts of this and said nothing.
“I used Mishti to hurt her brother,” Karan said. “I knew Daksh never cared about her. But she loved him. And I still went ahead and destroyed his empire, knowing exactly what it would do to her.”
Mishti’s fingers pressed into her palm now, her nails biting her skin.
This time, when he looked at her again, his eyes burned.
“Despite living under the same roof, the distances between us kept growing with time,” he continued. “Sometimes, I told myself I was protecting her by keeping her away from me. I told myself I didn’t want her to develop feelings for a man who was only going to hurt her.”
A bitter exhale escaped him.
“And when I realised she already had… I still didn’t stop.That’s on me.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw, but he still didn’t look away. He couldn’t.
“Every time we came close, I knew it wasn’t good for her. I knew it would give her hope. And I still let it happen.That’s on me.”
Tears rolled down her face at his words, his honesty.
“I took everything from her,” he continued. “Her peace. Her sanity. Her right to know why her own husband treated her like a stranger. And all the while, she still gave me everything selflessly. She adjusted. She stayed. Always telling people that‘Karan’ iss duniya ke sabse acche pati hai. (Karan is the best husband in the world)”
