CHAPTER 34
Jaipur Local Market
The local market was loud, chaotic and alive.
Colours spilt everywhere. Stalls crowded close to one another, fabric fluttering in the air, bangles clinking, vendors calling out prices, bargaining voices overlapping in a language that felt raw and real.
Avni and Mishti were completely absorbed in it.
Mishti moved from stall to stall with excitement, touching fabrics, lifting dupattas to the light, holding them against herself to imagine how they would fall. She picked up jhumkas, compared their designs, and tried to decide between oxidised silver and gold-toned pieces.
Avni was no less delighted. For someone who had grown up away from this world, the market fascinated her. She laughed easily, tugged Mishti along, and stopped suddenly at stalls that caught her eye. The two women forgot everything else as they walked, shoulder to shoulder, happily.
Rajat and Karan followed a short distance behind.
Although Rajat chatted with Avni whenever she turned back to include him, Karan had fallen quiet.
His eyes had not left Mishti for even a second.
Not when she smiled softly at a vendor. Not when she frowned in concentration while choosing between two similar pieces.
Not when she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, unaware that the smallest gestures had started bothering him, in a good way.
Plus, seeing Avni so genuinely happy with Mishti, the ease between them, the sisterly bond so noticeable, stirred something deep inside Karan.
The comfort they shared made him realise that if Avni couldn’t have that closeness with her brother, at least she was receiving that love, that warmth, that pampering from her sister-in-law. From Mishti.
Mishti helped Avni select a set of bangles. She held Avni’s wrist gently, sliding different sets up her arm, stepping back to judge the look, then changing her mind and trying another. Rajat stood close, smiling, teasing Avni as she rolled her eyes at him.
Finally, it was Rajat who slipped the bangles onto Avni’s hand carefully, letting their fingers brush for longer than necessary. It was quite romantic in its own way.
Mishti blushed without meaning to and turned her face away, pretending to look at another stall. A sudden hollowness spread through her chest. She had always wanted moments like this in her own life. To be adored openly. She wanted that kind of attention. That kind of love.
If only…
She sighed, and when she turned back, her gaze collided with Karan’s, who stood a few steps away, watching her intently.
Her heart raced, as if it knew he had seen everything.
As if it knew he had watched her look at Rajat and Avni, and somehow understood exactly what she had felt while witnessing that moment.
The very next second, while she was still standing at the bangle stall, Karan moved toward her.
Her throat went dry.
Mishti swallowed, suddenly nervous, wondering if he was coming to fulfil the wish, she hadn’t even allowed herself to voice. She looked away quickly, fiddling with bangles at the stall, touching them without really seeing them, pretending to be engrossed.
Karan stopped right beside her. Before she could turn, before she could warn him, before she could ask him not to touch her, he spoke to the stall keeper instead. He picked up a golden bangle, studded with delicate pearls, looking strikingly elegant and timeless.
“Pack these for me,” he said calmly.
The stall keeper immediately wrapped them up. Mishti exhaled slowly in relief, but also hated herself for wondering if he would slide them onto her wrist. She didn’t know why she had even hoped for that.
She looked away again and continued selecting her own bangles. That was when Avni frowned.
“Karan Wadhwa shopping for bangles?” she mocked. “That’s… wholesome.”
Karan looked at her, with pride clear in his voice. “You’re forgetting I have a wife. And I can shop for her whatever I like.”
Rajat glanced at Mishti, hiding his smile, while Mishti wasn’t sure what game Karan was playing now. He was shopping for her while she stood right there beside him? Wha did it mean?
Avni merely shrugged and turned back to Rajat, dragging him toward another stall. Mishti, who had finished choosing her bangles, stepped forward to pay, but Karan instantly paid for her purchase as well.
She immediately stopped him. “I can pay for my own things.”
The stall keeper looked confused, unsure whose money to accept. Karan didn’t argue and let her pay instead. As she did, the stall keeper smiled and said, “Sahab, the bangles you chose for your wife are the finest piece we have. I’m sure she’ll love them.”
“I hope so, too,” he said, turning to Mishti.
Once again warmth flooded her entire body. Unable to stay there any longer, she grabbed her bag of bangles and walked away briskly.
“Madam, your change,” the stall keeper called after her.
She didn’t turn back or stop.
Karan knew exactly what she was running from, and a slow smirk curved his lips. He told the stall keeper to keep the change, took the bag with the bangles he had chosen, and followed her.
***************
The final stop of their shopping spree was an exclusive lehenga boutique, the most reputed one in the city.
Avni and Mishti were still undecided, moving between racks, debating colours and designs, unable to settle on what to buy.
While they were occupied, Rajat walked up to Karan and let out a long breath.
“Gosh,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “The one thing I am never doing again is accompanying her shopping.”
Karan frowned. “You wouldn’t dare. She’s my sister. I’m not letting you marry her if you can’t even do what she enjoys doing.”
Rajat chuckled but then something struck him. His amusement faded as he studied Karan more closely.
“All right,” he said slowly. “Forget Avni for a moment. What’s going on with you? Why are you here?”
Karan’s body stiffened, but Rajat continued, “Karan Wadhwa, who doesn’t spare time for anyone except spreadsheets, business calls, and deals, is following his wife everywhere quietly. Unable to take his eyes off her.”
He stepped closer and punched Karan’s chest lightly.
“What’s happening, bro?”
Karan did not respond.
His gaze had already drifted past Rajat, to Mishti, who was holding up a red bridal lehenga now, softly arguing with Avni, who looked determined to make her try it on.
Rajat turned, followed his line of sight, then looked back at him knowingly.
“I’ve seen you live with her,” Rajat said seriously. “And I’ve seen you live without her. Trust me when I say this, your version with her beside you is the best one.”
Karan frowned as their eyes met.
Before he could say anything, Rajat added, more gently now, “Although I don’t think she’s willing to even give you a second chance. And this time, I’m with her.”
Karan rolled his eyes and looked away, unwilling to continue this conversation.
But Rajat was not done.
“You just want her to come back with you to Mumbai,” he said. “But have you thought about what happens after that?”
Karan’s eyes snapped back to him.
“Are you planning to give her the same loveless life all over again?”
Karan glared at him.
Rajat raised both hands in surrender. “Fine. Figure it out yourself.”
With that, he walked away to take a few calls, leaving Karan standing there alone, his mind heavy with Rajat’s words, his eyes still glued to Mishti, as if looking away from her was no longer something he knew how to do.
For the first time, he wondered not how to bring her back, but whether he even knew how to keep her if she stayed.
Mishti, on the other hand, told Avni that she wasn’t going to try the bridal lehenga. She had already bought a few others, and she didn’t see the point of this one. This was meant for a bride.
“I know it’s for a bride,” Avni said at once, unfazed. “But I want to see you in it. I mean… someday you’ll be someone’s bride too, right? And I can’t wait for that day. Please try it on for me. And yes, pull the veil over your head, cover your face the way brides do, until the groom lifts it.”
At that, Mishti let out a small chuckle, “Why would I come out like that for you?” she said lightly. “It’s silly.”
“I know it’s silly,” Avni laughed, grabbing her hand.
“But it’s just for a picture together. I’m going to try the other bridal lehenga and come out too.
Then we’ll click pictures—like two brides,” she said excitedly.
“Waiting for their respective partners to unveil them. I’ll even caption it that way. What say?”
Mishti’s smile faltered for just a fraction of a second. Waiting for the groom to unveil her face? Her mind went back to her own wedding night—how she had sat there, dressed as a bride, veil drawn, heart pounding with nervous hope. Waiting for Karan to come. Waiting for him to lift her veil.
But nothing like that had happened.
Their first wedding night had been the most bitter and shocking moment of her life.
Avni’s expectant gaze pulled her back to the present.
Mishti swallowed, steadying herself. She knew wearing this would only drag those bitter memories back to the surface. Yet, Avni’s insistence left her with no room to refuse. She finally gave in, picked up the lehenga, and walked into the spacious dressing room.
She took her time while putting on the bridal lehenga, as memories of her wedding flashed in her head, when she had been getting ready just like this.
Back then, she had stared at her reflection with questions trembling inside her—what kind of marriage awaited her, what kind of man she was walking toward.
A man she had never spoken to. A man whose eyes had barely met hers during the other rituals.
A man she had believed she could grow into, slowly… patiently.
If only she had known then.
If only she had known why he was marrying her.