Her lips parted in surprise. Before she could answer, he repeated. “Are you in love, Mishti?”
She stood there, tongue-tied, her heartbeat loud in her ears as she fisted his shirt over his chest.
“As far as I know,” Karan went on, “I am the only man in your life. You never had boyfriends. No flings. No past love stories. No ex. And feeling something like that with me is impossible. So, tell me, how do you know so much about love when you have never experienced it yourself?”
His grip loosened slightly.
“Stop giving me bookish wisdom,” he said. “And let me handle this practically.”
Saying that, he stepped back.
“Komal and Abhimanyu will never have my blessings,” he said flatly. “No matter what they decide in the future. Whether they break up or get married. I don’t care.”
With that, he turned away from her and walked out of his cabin, needing air. But Mishti remained exactly where she was, unable to even breathe properly for a few seconds. His last question echoed in her head, refusing to fade.
“Are you in love, Mishti?”
That single sentence raised goosebumps along her arms. She pressed her fingers lightly against the edge of the desk, steadying herself, because suddenly her thoughts felt too loud, too many and too overwhelming.
Was she in love? With Karan?
How could she be in love when he treated her like that? How could she have feelings for Karan when she still did not know why he married her? He never gave her space to breathe emotionally, never gave her the reassurance a wife usually sought from her husband.
And yet.
Could she really start feeling something this strong for a man who openly said he hated her? A man who pushed her away with cruel words and cold silences, even while his actions often betrayed him? Because there were moments when he cared. Moments when he stood up for her without saying it aloud. Moments when he noticed things about her that no one else ever had. Moments when he did things for her and then acted as if they meant nothing.
He was just not ready to accept any of it. Not to her. Not even to himself.
Karan was the only man in her life. The only one she had lived with, even if they slept in separate rooms. The only man she had admired the way she did, secretly. From her college days till now, no one had occupied her thoughts the way he did. No one had made her feel this anxious and this aware at the same time.
No matter how often Karan hurt her with his actions or his anger, she had never once wished him harm. Not even in her darkest moments. Instead, she prayed for him, for his safety, for his health, for his peace, even when he was the very reason she lay awake every night with a heavy heart.
Whenever physical attraction pulled them closer, her heart had leaned in willingly, hoping, aching. Every time he stepped back after giving her a glimpse of something intense, she was left standing there, dreaming with open eyes about what could have been if he had not withdrawn. If he had not turned away just when things began to feel real.
She had told herself many times that it was just her duty. That it was simply the responsibility she carried as his wife. That this concern, this longing, this constant awareness of him was nothing more than the role she was playing because they were married.
But standing alone today in that cabin, with his question still ringing in her ears, she could no longer ignore the truth pressing against her heart.
It wasn’t just duty.
It was the onset of love.
One-sided love.
Tears slipped down her face the moment that realisation settled in her heart. For most people, discovering that they were in love was supposed to be the most beautiful feeling of their lives, something to be cherished and celebrated. But for her, it felt nothing like that.
Because she knew her future was not painted in soft colours or gentle promises. If she truly was falling in love with a man like Karan, then she had slipped into a deep pit, one where the air was already thinning, where breathing itself would soon become difficult.
And yet, she knew she would stay there.
She would struggle, adjust, and learn to survive in that darkness, all the while holding on to a fragile hope. A hope that someday, the man she loved would finally see what stood right in front of him. That he would understand her love, feel it, accept it, and return it to her with the same intensity she carried in her heart. Not in fragments or half moments, but fully, deeply, infinitely more than she ever dared to ask for.
CHAPTER 23
Wadhwa Mansion – Same Night
Abhimanyu lay awake on his bed, unable to sleep, no matter how hard he tried to shut his eyes or steady his breathing. What had happened at the office kept replaying in his mind. He never thought Karan would get to know about Komal and him like this, when he wasn’t prepared. His brother’s reaction hurt him, though. Not because of anger alone, but because of the distance it created between them. He knew he had made a mistake by keeping this from him for so long. He should have spoken earlier.
