CHAPTER 15 #2
Mishti gently but firmly pushed his hand away and nodded once. “Fine.”
The single word unsettled him more than any argument would have. “I know I don’t matter to you. Time and again, you have always made it clear you don’t like me having around,” she continued. “But I will prove that trusting me with this project was not a mistake.”
Her spine straightened as she met his gaze without fear this time. “Because whether it is relationships or professional responsibility, I never lack commitment.”
With that, she turned and walked out of the room, leaving Karan standing there, still surprised with her cold defiance.
***************
After his conversation with Mishti, Karan headed straight to Kanika’s cabin, but it was empty.
Her assistant stood up the moment she saw him.
“Where’s Kanika?” he asked angrily.
“She’s in the new cabin,” she said, hesitantly. “The one assigned to Mishti ma’am.”
Karan was not very surprised and already sensed where this was heading. Kanika never retreated when her pride was wounded. Still, the knowledge that she had gone into Mishti’s space was enough to sour his mood.
He turned on his heel and headed straight there and pushed open the door. What he saw inside blazed his anger all the more.
Kanika stood at the centre of the cabin.
The entire room, which was decorated to welcome Mishti today, was in disarray.
All the files, folders and stationery from the desk were lying on the floor now.
The flowers, even the small gifts that Rajat and Abhimanyu had insisted on for Mishti’s welcome, had been swept aside without mercy.
Some lay overturned, others scattered, as if the room itself had offended her.
Kanika muttered something under her breath, glaring at the empty desk.
“What the hell is this?” he demanded.
She spun around to face him. “What do you think it is?” she shot back. “She took my project from me. Do you really think I would let that go quietly?”
His temper snapped. Karan crossed the room in two steps and caught her by the elbow. “She did not take anything from you,” he said, gripping her arm firmly. “The decision was mine, Kanika. And I had my reasons.”
She yanked her arm free, laughing in disbelief. “Your reasons?” Her gaze narrowed. “Why do I feel those reasons have nothing to do with your so-called hatred for her?”
His other hand curled slowly into a fist at his side. “What do you mean?”
Kanika did not hesitate. “You are not seeing it, Karan,” she said bluntly. “Mishti Goel is pulling you away from the very purpose you married her for. When she is around, your attention follows her. Your eyes seek her out, whether you admit it or not.”
She stepped closer, her voice rising with conviction.
“You say she does not matter to you, but she does. Ever since she entered your life, she has been on your mind. You would not let your own brother dance with her. You cannot stand your best friend making her smile. You are possessive, territorial, behaving like a caveman every time someone so much as looks at her.”
“That is because she is my wife,” Karan snapped, cutting her off.
Heavy silence filled the cabin as Kanika stared at him, visibly trying to absorb what he had just said.
“If I am possessive or territorial, it’s not just for her, it’s for everything that belongs to me. Mishti now belongs to me. Whether I want her or not, she is still mine. And I don’t care what you or others think, that’s turning me into.”
Karan did not regret what he just said. He glared at Kanika without hesitation.
“And you do not get to decide how I behave around her,” he continued. “What exists or doesn’t exist between Mishti and me is not your concern. It is between us.”
Kanika stared at him, visibly shaken.
“Karan, but—”
He did not let her finish.
“I heard you,” he interrupted. “I heard every word you said to her before the meeting today. Telling her to leave me. Telling her to walk away from this marriage.”
The colour drained from Kanika’s face. She swallowed hard, in complete shock. She had not imagined, not even in her worst fears, that he had been there, listening.
Karan took a step closer, commandingly.
“How dare you do that behind my back?” he snapped. “Mishti is my wife. She will remain my wife for as long as I decide. That decision belongs to me. Not to you.”
Fierce anger flared in Kanika again. But before she could respond, he continued to warn her.
“And do not feed her lies about us again. You and I both know the truth. We are friends. Nothing more. You are Rajat’s sister to me, and that is where it begins and ends. There has never been anything else between us, Kanika.”
Her disbelief hardened into defiance
“That is a lie,” she said sharply. “You know I like you.”
Karan did not flinch. “And I do not like you that way,” he replied evenly. “I have told you this before. So, stop telling Mishti that we had or have something between us, or that there was any kind of physical intimacy between us. Because you and I both know it’s not true.”
Kanika let out a short, humourless laugh and clapped her hands once. “Wow, that’s the height of hypocrisy,” she said bitterly. “So when you twist things about us and say what you want to her, it is acceptable. But when I add to it, suddenly it is wrong?”
“Yes, it is wrong,” Karan answered without hesitation. “I will tell Mishti what I choose to. I don’t want you interfering in my personal matters.”
That was enough. Fury flashed across her features. She couldn’t tolerate hearing beyond this. Karan’s gaze briefly shifted to the state of the room she had wrecked in her jealousy.
“And one more thing,” he added. “Stay away from my wife. And stay out of this cabin.”
That was the breaking point. Kanika turned sharply for the door, and so did Karan, but the moment they did, they froze. Because standing at the doorway was Mishti. And the look on her face was enough to confirm she had heard everything.
Her eyes moved from the disordered room to Kanika’s rigid posture, and finally to Karan. There was shock there, yes, but something else too. Something softer.
All this time, she had believed the lies he had woven about his relationship with Kanika. She had carried them quietly, letting them wound her in silence. And now she got to know the truth. That whatever he had told her existed between Karan and Kanika had never been real.
She did not know why Karan had chosen to lie to her earlier. But what mattered now was that despite his anger, the distance and the cruelty he often wrapped himself in, he had been loyal to their marriage.
To her.
She stood there, taking it all in, her lips trembling despite her effort to remain calm. Her heart betrayed her again, lifting with a fragile hope that her marriage could have a future.
Kanika brushed past her, pausing only long enough to cast one final, venomous glare in her direction. But Mishti did not respond. She did not even acknowledge it because her gaze was fixed on her husband.
Karan looked like a man who wanted to undo time itself, to erase what Mishti had finally heard. For the first time since she had known him, he seemed unsure of how to deal with a situation.
Mishti stood rooted where she was, staring at her husband. Not because she expected an explanation. She knew him too well to believe he would offer one willingly. But she waited because some part of her refused to let the moment pass unanswered.
When Karan finally strode towards the door, intent on leaving, brushing past her without so much as a glance, her instinct took over. She caught his arm firmly, stopping him.
He turned his face towards her. She too looked at him. For a few charged seconds, their eyes searched each other, reading truths, like deciphering what to say.
Mishti broke the silence first.
“How could you lie to your wife about something like that?” she asked. “You and Kanika were never involved. So why make me live through that trauma? Why make me question my husband’s loyalty?”
The next moment, Karan turned fully towards her and gripped her upper arms, pushing her back against the door behind her. The impact made her gasp, but she did not look away. Neither did he.
His face was close. Too close.
“Because I enjoy watching you suffer,” he said harshly.
Once again, his words were deliberately cruel.
“And only because I am not betraying you with another woman does not mean you stand the chance to come close to me. Remember that.”
He released her abruptly and turned away, ready to leave.
But Mishti was not finished.
She caught his arm again, pulling him back with unexpected strength. He looked at her once more, irritation flashing across his face, but she did not flinch.
“The certainty with which you say you will never give me my rights as your wife,” she smirked, “that confidence will shatter one day, Karan. It will break into pieces so small that you will not even be able to gather them back together.”
Karan stared at her for a moment longer, then he shrugged her hand off, turned, and walked out without looking back.
Only then did Mishti release the breath she had been holding, and her eyes drifted to the cabin around her. The overturned files. The displaced decor. The thoughtful effort Rajat and Abhimanyu had put into welcoming her now lay in disarray. She felt pity for them.
Yet, amidst the wreckage, something good happened today. At least she had learned the truth that there was no third presence in her marriage. No hidden woman was standing between her and Karan. There never would be. She vowed.