“But my only intention was to make you see how wrong you are. How wrong it is to give up a sister like that.”
He paused for a few seconds.
“I made that mistake too,” Karan admitted. “I failed to see Mishti’s goodness. And I paid for it, Daksh. All these months she wasn’t with me, I repented hard. Don’t make the same mistake.You still have time. If you ever want to fix things between you and Mishti, do it now. Before it’s too late.”
And with that, Karan turned and walked out of the house, laying the truth bare, hoping it would lessen at least some of the distance between his wife and her brother.
Back in the present, as Karan finished revealing everything, Mishti was still reeling in shock.
“How did you even know about that land?” she asked him. “The one I gave to Divya?”
“My sources informed me when they started tracing Daksh.”
Mishti was stunned. But now that everything was out in the open, the fact that Karan had gone to Daksh for her, had tried to reason with him, still caught her off guard. It only showed her, yet again, how deeply he loved her, and she would always be grateful for the steps he had taken for her sake.
Daksh finally reached her and shook his head, with guilt heavy in his eyes.
“How could you be so selfless?” he asked, looking at Mishti. “Giving away whatever little you had… to me? To a brother who never even cared for you his entire life?”
Mishti turned to him, her eyes still brimming with tears. “You didn’t care,” she whispered. “But I could never stop thinking of you. I’m born this way, Bhai. Once I love someone, once I believe they are mine, I can go to any extent to protect them, no matter what they give me back in return. I just… can’tunlovethem.”
Daksh pulled her into a fierce, crushing hug. His arms trembled around her shoulders as everything he had buried for years finally broke free.
“I’m sorry,” he choked, his voice muffled against her hair. “I’m… so damn sorry, Mishti.”
She stiffened at first, then helplessly melted into him.
“For the first time,” he continued, pulling back just enough to look at her, “I actually see you. And I hate myself for how long it took.”
Mishti’s lips quivered, but she said nothing.
“I never deserved you as a sister,” he confessed, his voice cracking. “I wasn’t a good man. I wasn’t a good brother.” A bitter, broken laugh escaped him. “Hell, I didn’t even treat you like family.”
Her breath hitched.
“I used you like a commodity,” he said, looking down, embarrassed, “by marrying you off to a man like Karan just to save my business.” He exhaled. “You have no idea how disgusting that makes me feel now.”
Tears spilt freely down Mishti’s cheeks.
“I kept telling myself I was doing what was necessary,” he went on, shaking his head. “But the truth is… I never understood what having a sister really meant. Maybe because somewhere deep down, I kept telling myself you weren’t my real sister.”
Yes. She knew that, too.
Daksh sucked in a breath, as if bracing himself. “I hated Dad,” he admitted quietly. “After Maa died… I hated that he moved on too soon. I hated that he married your mother. And even without realising it, that resentment was passed on to you over the years.”
Mishti sobbed openly now.
“I punished you for something you never did,” he whispered. “And you still stood by me.”
He reached up, wiping her tears with trembling fingers, his own falling right after.
“I’m sorry,” he said again, softer this time. “I don’t deserve your forgiveness. But I needed you to know… I finally understand what I lost by not being your brother when you needed one.”
His voice broke completely now.
“I was so blind… so stubborn. I failed to protect my only sister. I’m sorry, Mishti. I’m really sorry for what I did… or rather, for everything I never did for you. And that regret,” he said, barely holding himself together, “is going to stay with me for the rest of my life.”
Mishti sobbed. “I’m sorry for what happened to you, too.”
