CHAPTER 37
Engagement Day
Karan knocked once on Avni’s room door. VK had sent him. What he hadn’t expected was Mishti to open the door.
And certainly not like this.
She stood there in a pastel green lehenga, fully dressed for the ceremony. The colour hugged her skin like it belonged to her. For a second, Karan even forgot why he was there.
Mishti froze too, especially when his gaze swept over her slowly, before dropping, and lingering at the sliver of bare skin at her waist. The open curve. The quiet provocation of it.
He exhaled stepping closer. “Are you planning to cover that with the veil?”
Mishti frowned. “What?”
Karan’s eyes flicked back to her waist before returning to her face. “I don’t want others looking.”
Her jaw clenched instantly.
“I don’t care what you want. The only problem I have,” she said sharply, “is you looking at me like that.”
A beat passed as she held his gaze. “And nothing is getting covered. You don’t get to decide how I dress anymore.”
Karan shook his head, controlling his anger, even as his voice stayed maddeningly calm. “Where’s my sweet, innocent wife gone?” he asked. “The one standing in front of me feels like my sister’s replica. Always ready to pounce back and argue.”
Her cheeks burned from the fact that Karan had never spoken to her like this before.
Karan then stepped closer, until her back brushed the doorframe, his presence boxing her in without actually touching her.
“I want my Mishti’s sweetness back,” he said softly, and the very next moment his gaze dipped to her lips.
Mishti swallowed. My Mishti? Did he just call her his?
Even the way he was looking at her felt… intimate. Like he was peeling back walls she’d learnt to build carefully over time.
Still, she held on to the last thread of her restraint.
“In case you haven’t noticed,” she said steadily, lifting her chin, though her breath betrayed her, “Mishti’s sweetness still exists. But only for others. It doesn’t suit your taste buds anymore, no matter how much you try these playful tactics on me.”
“Is it?” His brows arched in challenge.
“It is!” She nodded confidently.
Before he could respond, Avni’s voice floated from inside the suite.
“Mishti? Who is it at the door?”
Karan didn’t wait for her answer.
He stepped past Mishti, his shoulder brushing hers, just once, intentional enough to steal her breath, and walked inside, leaving her standing there, with her pulse racing.
Inside, Avni and Komal were fully dressed and ready for the ceremony. Even Avni looked surprised when she saw Karan walking inside, and then Mishti, who followed him.
“VK uncle wants the engagement rings,” he said. “He told me they’re with you.”
Avni nodded and immediately turned toward the closet to fetch them.
Komal, meanwhile, drifted toward Mishti, holding up another pair of jhumkas. “These would look really nice with your lehenga,” she said, trying to get her attention.
But Mishti barely heard her. Not while Karan was still in the room.
Komal then suggested, almost thoughtfully, “You know, a waist chain would go so well with this lehenga.”
Mishti shook her head lightly. “I forgot to buy one the other day when we were out,” she said. “It’s fine. It doesn’t look bad without it.”
Komal nodded in agreement. Karan’s gaze, however, dropped to his wife’s waist again, and he swallowed.
It wasn’t looking bad at all. Just bare, and he knew exactly what that did to him.
Avni returned with the engagement ring boxes and handed them to Karan without saying a word. He took them, gave a brief nod, and walked out.
Only after he had left did Avni turn to Mishti.
“I thought he’d wear a sherwani at least today,” she said casually. “But of course, the man’s in a suit. As usual.”
She then lifted another necklace and held it against herself. “Anyway… how’s this?”
Mishti nodded blankly as her thoughts had already drifted elsewhere.
It was Karan’s sister’s engagement. And just like Avni had expected, Karan should be wearing a sherwani.
Avni would like it too, even if she was not openly admitting it.
That’s it then. The decision was made. She would convince Karan.
**************
An hour later
Mishti knocked on the door of Karan’s hotel suite, with the sherwani bag clutched in her hand. It had been her third knock, and now it was starting to worry her. That’s when the elevator door opened on the floor and Karan stepped out with a small box in his hand.
He looked just as surprised to see her standing at his room door. The moment she saw him, even her irritation spilt out.
“Where were you?” she demanded. “I’ve been looking for you all over the hotel for the past hour. No one knew where you were. It’s your sister’s wedding rituals happening, and you are missing without telling anyone. Who does that?”
Karan frowned slightly and walked toward her. The moment he got too close, she instinctively stepped back.
“Why were you looking for me?” he asked evenly. “To say sorry?”
Mishti’s jaw dropped. “Why would I say sorry for?”
He shrugged, his gaze still roaming over her face.
“For not being very kind to me anymore,” he said quietly. “Ever since we met again.”
She just stared at him. Seriously? Did he really expect her to be soft with him after everything that had happened?
Karan read her thoughts even in her silence.
Without waiting for a response, he swiped his key card, unlocked the door, and walked inside.
She followed him in, still frustrated.
“Anyway,” she said, “you’re wearing this for the ceremony. Change and come fast.”
She placed the sherwani bag on the bed.
Karan turned, looked at it, then back at her.
“Excuse me?” he said. “I’m already dressed for the ceremony.”
Mishti exhaled hard, as if explaining anything to him had always been the hardest task.
“Avni thought you’d wear something traditional today,” she said. “You’re the bride’s brother. So stop being so cold and detached and wear this instead. Rajat had already got it made for you based on your measurements. Don’t argue.”
She didn’t realise that while she was saying all this, Karan had closed the distance between them. It was only when she felt something cool and metallic, something almost weightless, brush against her skin that she broke their eye contact and looked down instantly.
Karan had been fastening a delicate, golden waist chain around her waist. She froze in shock, before she lifted her gaze and met his eyes.
Karan was already looking at her.
His eyes said everything his lips didn’t, while his fingers continued their work, fastening the chain around her waist. Goosebumps rippled across her body when his fingers brushed her bare skin, enough to steal her words and to make her shiver.
He got her a waist chain? Why?
Suddenly, she recalled Komal suggesting she wear one earlier, and Karan was in the same room that time, listening.
The next second, he tugged her closer using the very chain wrapped around her waist and leaned in, against her ear. “The last one hour…” he murmured. “I was busy picking the best of these chains in the store. For you.”
Another shiver ran through her at his words.
He had gone through all that trouble? Driven to a store, searched through options, chose the best…
just for her? What was wrong with Karan Wadhwa?
He was never like this. What game was he playing now?
Was this another way to pull her back? To bring her home again?
Whatever it was—it was working. Because she was helplessly enjoying this attention.
The kind she hadn’t asked for, yet secretly craved.
When he finally pulled back, they both noticed it at the same time…the hook hadn’t fastened properly. It felt loose. Karan didn’t hesitate. He got down on one knee, holding the waist chain around her.
Mishti felt light-headed, close to fainting, seeing him like this, on his knee before her, his face dangerously close to her bare waist.
Even Karan lifted his gaze once, locking eyes with her. The next second he leaned closer, his lips nearing her skin, and she knew exactly what was coming.
She shut her eyes the moment his lips brushed her waist as he tried to secure the hook with his teeth.
She tucked in her stomach to control the storm of butterflies raging inside her.
Her hand moved on its own, pressing hard against his shoulder blade, partly to steady herself, partly to stop herself from melting further.
Within a few seconds, she felt it. The hook was finally fastened. But his lips didn’t move away immediately; they lingered, continued that sensual assault…grazed and hovered just a little too long near her belly button.
She knew he was not doing this on purpose. He was losing his control. But she just couldn’t prove it.
When Karan finally showed some restraint and pulled away, she opened her eyes and looked down at him.
He rose to his feet, gently swiping his tongue over his lower lip once.
Mishti stepped back instantly, her expression giving her away.
She was caught between shock and the urge to remove the waist chain and hand it back to him.
But Karan, who had always been too good at reading her, caught it immediately.
“I’ll wear the sherwani,” he said calmly. Then, pointing at the chain now gleaming against her waist, he added, “But if you take this off… I’ll change again.”
That sounded like a deal.
Mishti forced herself to breathe, swallowing everything that moment had stirred inside her.
“You and your pathetic ways of blackmailing me,” she muttered. “Some things will never change.”
Karan merely shrugged and began unbuttoning his shirt.
Her eyes widened in shock again.
“What?” he asked, holding back a smirk, “I’m just obeying my wife. Changing into the sherwani she got for me.”
Mishti huffed angrily, spun around, and walked out of the room without looking back. The man had gone completely rogue and shameless.
***************