His head bowed slightly, hands dropping to his sides. It was an unconscious gesture to ask forgiveness from her, yet it sent a sharp ache through her chest.
She shook her head faintly. “Karan…”
“No,” he said, stopping her gently, looking up at her again. “Let me say this.” His voice steadied, but the emotion did not fade. “I have done many things I cannot undo. I have said things that still haunt me when I look at you. But today, watching you choose me over him…despite everything… it broke something in me.”
His hands cupped her cheeks again with awe rather than possession. “You are not a weak, submissive woman that I thought you were.” His thumb brushed her skin tenderly. “And I am ashamed that it took me this long to see it.”
Mishti’s tears flowed freely now, but she did not pull away.
“I am proud of you,” he said, almost smiling in tears. “Proud thatyouare my wife. Proud thatyouare my better half.” His lips pressed briefly to her forehead, lingering. “You proved Karan Wadhwa wrong. And I have never been happier to be proven wrong in my life.”
She leaned into him, her hands sliding to the back of his palms, stroking them gently.
His anger had faded, but the guilt remained as Karan rested his forehead against hers.
“I am sorry,” he said. The words came out slowly.
His hands then slid to her waist as he went on. “I am sorry for every night you cried silently. For every time I made you feel small in a house that should have felt safe. For making you question your worth in this marriage when the fault was always mine.”
She shook her head, but he stopped her gently, his thumb brushing away a tear.
“Let me finish,” he whispered. “Because if I don’t say this now, I will regret it for the rest of my life.”
Mishti’s lips trembled.
“I broke you in the name of revenge,” he continued. “And you still chose kindness. You still chose love, choseme,even though I do not deserve that grace. And through all this, somewhere along the way, without my permission, without my control, you became myhome. My weakness and my strength. And I fell in love with you.”
Mishti’s heart stuttered as he pulled back his head, but his arms were still wrapped around her waist.
“I love you, Mishti,” he said again, softer this time, as if tasting the truth of it. “Not as a husband bound by vows. Not as a man trying to compensate. Not even because you stood between me and the man who destroyed my world. I love you becauseyou are you, and I’ve never felt this feeling for any other woman before.Only you.”
For a moment, Mishti could not breathe. Her mind pulled her backwards through time, through all those moments she had tried so hard to forget. The early days of their marriage, when he had always said to her coldly, brutally, that he hated her. He had said it so easily back then, as though it cost him nothing. As though her presence in his life was an inconvenience he could not wait to erase.
And now… now he stood here, holding her as though she was something precious, confessing with a vulnerability she had never imagined he possessed. Those three words Karan just confessed to her, without anger, without any restraint, shattered something deep inside her. It felt so intense, so overwhelming, like her heartbreak was healing itself all at once.
A sob escaped her then, as she pressed her forehead into his chest, clutching his shirt tight.
“I love you too,” she whispered finally. “I have loved you even when it hurt, Karan. Especially when it hurt. And I was waiting for you to love me back someday.”
His arms tightened around her, holding her as though the world could not touch her anymore, only he was allowed to do that. Only him. Karan kissed her hair, her temple, her forehead slowly, taking his own sweet time to feel her up. Even Mishti stayed wrapped against him for a long moment, her cheek pressed to his chest, listening to his heartbeat slowly steady beneath her ear.
After a beat, she drew back just enough to look at him.
“You are not angry anymore?” she asked. “About me not telling you… going there?”
“I am.” His lips curved, just slightly. “And my fingers are already twitching.”
She frowned faintly. “Twitching?”
Before she could process the meaning, Karan leaned in. His mouth brushed close to her ear.
“To spank you,” he murmured. “So that you remember not to lie to me again.”
She pulled back instantly, eyes widening.
“Karan!”
The sound of her voice did something to him. He laughed under his breath, a low, husky sound that had no humour in it at all. His hand slid from her waist to her lower back, drawing her in despite her protest.
