CHAPTER 32 #2
Avni wasn’t like this with anyone. She was gentle, kind, and affectionate.
So why was she like this only with Karan?
What kind of history did they share? Why was VK the one who had raised her and not Karan, her elder brother, like he should have?
So many questions swirled inside Mishti’s mind. But she chose silence for now.
Avni turned to Karan fully. “How dare you bring her to your suite?”
“Watch your tone, Avni,” he warned. “You’re talking to your elder brother.”
Avni let out a short, mocking laugh. “Funny, isn’t it?” she shot back. “You always have to remind me who you are to me. Because honestly, I hardly remember it myself.”
The bitterness in her voice only rose. Thankfully, Rajat stepped in, sensing the tension spiral.
“Avni, come on,” he said calmly. “Karan didn’t know which room Mishti had checked into. She fainted in his arms. Where else was he supposed to take her if not his own suite?”
He then glanced at Mishti gently. “What matters is that she’s fine now.”
Mishti avoided his eyes. Her anger at all of them burned quietly. At Karan. At Rajat. At the fact that they had known where she was all this time and were watching her life unfold from a distance.
Avni shrugged, clearly unconvinced, but she softened as she turned back to Mishti and took her hand in hers. “Come. I’ll drop you off to your room. And then we’ll order something to eat.”
She gave a faint smile to Avni, who continued, “You know, whenever I’m angry, I get hungry. And right now, I’m starving.”
Mishti managed a small, tired smile in return.
Without once turning back to look at Karan or Rajat standing behind her, she walked out of the suite with Avni.
****************
Night – Jaipur
The entire day had been mentally exhausting for Mishti.
It was not the physical fatigue of travel, ceremonies or jet lag.
It was because of seeing Karan again. Then the realisation that he had always known where she was, that even after all this time, he still found ways to assert control over her life.
And then came the bitter truth that almost every man she had trusted deeply had failed her. Betrayed her. Including VK.
She had looked up to the old man as family. And even though she now knew he was family in a way she had never imagined, the trust she once placed in him no longer existed. She did not trust anyone anymore.
After returning from Karan’s suite, Mishti had not stepped out of her room even once.
Both meals were ordered in. She ate alone, as she always did now.
She did not want to disturb Avni either.
This was her wedding. Her days were already overflowing with responsibilities, smiles, rituals and expectations.
Then again, Avni was Karan’s sister. That truth still sat unsettled inside Mishti, and she did not know how to look at Avni without feeling that fracture inside her chest.
Close to midnight, unable to sleep, she stepped out onto the balcony of her room.
It overlooked the vast gardens of the resort.
At this hour, everything was dark and quiet, almost deserted.
The moon hung full in the sky, casting a pale glow over the grounds.
The breeze was colder than it had been during the day, enough to make her fold her arms around herself instinctively.
She stood there for a long moment, recalling her earlier call with Komal this evening.
Komal had urgently called her after she had learned about Avni’s wedding through Abhimanyu, happening in Jaipur.
The coincidence of both Mishti and Karan being in the same city had worried Komal immediately, and she had called Mishti to inform her.
Even to ask her whether Mishti knew that Karan even had a sister, one who was marrying Rajat.
And then Komal had gone silent on the other end of the call when Mishti told her the truth.
That Avni was the same woman whose wedding she had flown across continents to attend.
Her boss was none other than Rajat’s father, and Avni was Karan’s sister, which she got to know only after coming here today.
Komal too was stunned at the coincidence and furious when Mishti told her how Karan, Rajat, and Abhimanyu had always known where she was, and how VK had kept that truth hidden all along, standing quietly with them, supporting their silence.
Komal empathised with her, calling it sick of these men to hide something so crucial from their partners. Not just Karan, even Abhimanyu never mentioned Avni to Komal.
Mishti knew there had to be a reason behind it, too. With Karan involved, secrecy like this was never for the sake of secrecy alone. She did not doubt that. And yet, she hated it all the same.
She told Komal everything. About meeting Karan again here in Jaipur. About the shock of discovering how much had been kept from her. About how deeply it had hurt her. How angry it had made her feel.
That was when Komal asked her something she had not expected.
She asked her what exactly had hurt her?
When she had already been longing to go to Mumbai once, even if only to see Karan from a distance…
then why had seeing him here bothered her so deeply?
Wasn’t it a good thing that despite knowing exactly where she was, he had never interfered in her life for eleven long months?
That he had never moved on? Didn’t that mean something good for her now?
That thought had crossed Mishti’s mind, too.
It brought with it a faint sense of relief that Karan had never stopped looking out for her, never moved on with someone else.
And yet, she could not ignore the other truth either.
That he had still hidden Avni, about the bond they shared.
Still controlled the narrative. And most importantly, what did he want now?
How far was he willing to go to keep her with him again?
And the question that frightened her the most was the one she had not answered even to herself.
What did she want? Was she ready to go back to him… If he chose to chase her relentlessly from here?
She hugged herself, rubbing her palms over her upper arms as the night breeze turned colder.
And that was when she saw him.
Karan.
He stood at the darker edge of the garden, still dressed in the same shirt and trousers, no jacket.
His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, his broad shoulders still carrying that air of control he never truly lost. He held a bottle of whisky in his hand and drank straight from it, alone in the shadows, unbothered by who might see him.
It was one of his old habits—drinking late into the night when stressed, or when anger refused to settle. And though Mishti had always hated that habit of his, she had never once stopped him either.
The very next moment, almost as if he sensed her gaze on him, Karan lifted his head and looked up.
Mishti stiffened as even from that distance, his eyes found her. And that single look was enough to send an unexpected warmth rushing through her body.
He did not look away.
Neither did she.
Whatever she had built in London.
Whatever distance she had put between them.
Whatever past she had tried to bury.
Karan Wadhwa was still very much present in her life. And she was still standing exactly where he could see her.