It’s all done. Mihir has shifted to their new house with Ruhi and her two brothers without Mishti having to say anything or conjure up strategies to let her stay in this house, while Aisha has finally left Mishti’s side to go and visit Vivek’s mother who is ill and in the hospital. But there is an even more important task that is pending, sitting in front of her with her head hung low and hands fiddling with each other. 

Tara doesn’t dare to make any eye contact with her and Mishti doesn’t insist.

Raghav had been wary of leaving Tara alone like this, without any moral or physical support, but ultimately had discerned that the matter was solely between her and Mishti. He had no right to interfere and so he didn’t.

No one did.

And yet when Samrat gets up from Mishti’s side to give her the space to talk, she is quick to hold his hand. 

He looks at her and finds her gazing at him hopefully.

“I’m – I’m right here. You’ll be more comfortable –” Mishti shakes her head before he has the chance to complete the sentence, her grip tightening around his, desperate.

“No?”

Mishti shakes her head again.

Samrat gives her a small smile and sits back beside her, manoeuvring their hands, so that hers is clutched inside his. 

It’s then that Mishti looks at Tara, properly, trying to bereft her heart of any prejudice and negative feelings. It isn’t a difficult task to do when the girl is tearing up in front of her, making her lips wobble as well.

“Tara.” She murmurs, quiet and the girl looks up at her with wide, scared eyes. Mishti feels bad for her, doesn’t even want to know the answer to the question that she has been wondering all along, but if she wants to strip her nights of the nightmares that have been haunting her for the past four months, then she needs to ask that.

“Why did you do it, Tara? I just want to kn –”

Mishti isn’t able to finish up her question before Tara breaks down, crying in her hands, shoulders shaking. 

The sight easily makes Mishti tear up who looks at Samrat defeatedly, who in turn gives her a small smile and loosens his grip over her hand, pushing her to make a choice. 

She does. 

Mishti goes and sits beside Tara, gently pulling her hands away from her face, making her look her in the eyes. “Please, tell me.”

Tara shakes her head. “I’m sorry, Mishti. I d-didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to betray you guys. But I – I was left with no option. B-Believe me, please –”

Mishti nods her head immediately. “I do believe you. But please tell me the reason –”

“I was lied to, Mishti,” Tara says suddenly and then looks at Samrat with scared eyes. He immediately schools his expressions. 

“Don’t be afraid, just say the truth.” He says as gently as possible, though unable to erase all hints of bitterness from his heart, making Tara look down in her lap. 

She gulps. “The day I had got to know that Vineeta Agnihotri was the one who – who killed my parents, I went searching for her. I couldn’t find her for days, but when I did and the moment I did, I realised I had walked myself into a trap. She had greeted me so casually like she had been knowing that I would come to her. And as soon as I did, she told me to do it. To betray you and the rest of you, to tell S-Samrat about you. I had refused.” Tara looks up and when Mishti gives her an encouraging nod, she continued. 

“I had immediately refused but then she told me that whatever I had known about my parents wasn’t right. That my mother was still alive, waiting for me. She’d tell me where she is if I do it.” She lets out a bitter and teary chuckle. “The hopeful child in me, the orphan whose wish had been nothing but to see her parents… her mother just once more, believed that what she was saying was true.” She shakes her head to herself, wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. “And yet I didn’t comply. You guys had done so much for me, you all were my family. I couldn’t betray you.” Tara holds her hand, looking at her with tear-filled eyes. Mishti strokes the back of her hand. 

She looks at Samrat with the same scared gaze before continuing. “But then she said that if I won’t do it, she’ll kill me. She’ll kill me like she had killed my father. I was – I was terrified. I didn’t have much to live for, but I didn’t want to die. On one side was the threat and on the other side was my hope to see my mother again. In any case, I didn’t want to die. I was – I was left with no option. I had to do it.  I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Tara reveals, crying over their intertwined hands, her entire frame shaking while Mishti looks at her shocked, a feeling of numbness taking over herself, her heart cracking not for herself but Tara.

This time it is Samrat who interrupts, voice stern.

“Did you find her? Your mother? Is she alive?” he asks, and the question has another wave of fresh tears accumulating in Tara’s eyes as she shakes her head. 

“No, she was lying. My mother was long dead. I went in search of her just to hear the same truth, just to get my heart broken once again. I didn’t want to live anymore. I couldn’t. Not after betraying Mishti, my friends, not after hearing about the same painful death of my mother.” She cries.

Samrat gets up from the chair with a clenched jaw, his hands fisting at his sides. “I never thought she would do something like that. My mother.” He scoffs bitterly, running a hand through his hair. “She’ll get what she deserves. I’ll make sure she does.” 

The comment has Mishti looking up at Samrat, seeing the way his face has hardened to hide the pain stabbing in his heart. Before she can say anything to him or Tara, the latter interrupts, wiping up her tears.

“I don’t know about her but – but I’m not entirely innocent,” Tara says quietly, her gaze flitting between Mishti and Samrat and finally settling on the latter. The words have Samrat unclenching his hands and taking a seat yet again in front of the two girls. 

“What do you mean?” 

Tara doesn’t look him in the eyes when she confesses. “I had applied for the job of your chef as Preeti Ahuja to rob you. I was a thief. I – I had tried to leave the occupation many times in the past but my hate against the police and my circumstances forced me to do the job, I had to live somehow. But I know that it doesn’t give me any right to rob off the innocents. You can – You can send me to the police. I’ll happily bear the punishment.” She looks at Mishti, swallowing thickly yet unable to control the way her voice wavers. “I’ll go through whatever you had to go through because of me. I’m ready to –”

“No, Tara.” Mishti is quick to stop her, her expressions urgent. “No one should go through what I went through there.”  

She turns to face Samrat. “Samrat, please don’t say anything to the p-police. They are bad. T-Tara will not do it anymore. None of us will. Samrat –” She doesn’t want all those things happening to Tara, her sister. 

“Relax, Mishti.” Mishti in turn gets interrupted by Samrat who keeps a comforting hand on hers, one that Mishti quickly grasps in her hold. 

He gives her a calming smile.

“I’m not going to file any complaint against you.” Samrat turns to Tara and says, “I’ve known this for a long time, that you were a thief. I could have got you convicted anytime but I didn’t. It’s not because stealing from people is right but because I know that the situation you were in, the circumstances that led you to choose this path in your life was all because of me …my mother. Had she – had she not killed your father –” He looks at Tara and then at Mishti whose hands trembles in his hold.

“Had she not done what she did, your lives would have been different. Your father…what he did wasn’t right.” Samrat says and Mishti shuts her eyes in acknowledgement while Tara sits there her head low. “He cheated. Had two families and maybe the outcome would still not have been very favourable but at least, at least your mothers…” he heaves a sigh. “Had it not been for my mother, yours would have been with you. Both of you.” He says, letting out a wet chuckle. “So, the only person who deserves punishment is Vineeta Agnihotri, my mother. Had papa been here, amongst us, he too would have done it. I know he would have.” 

“Samrat…” Mishti murmurs worriedly, making the man in question look at her, who pulls his hands away from hers in favour of wiping his eyes and giving the two sisters a half-smile. 

“I’m fine, just that you guys have nothing to worry about. Especially you.’ He says to Tara and then laughs. “I’m sure the young man over there would slice me in half if I said anything to you.”

Both Mishti and Tara turn around at the same time to find Raghav standing outside the house, visible through the glass window, looking at his watch, talking rounds. 

“I'll keep your secret, Tara. Just don't involve yourself in this ever again.”

Tara shakes her head vigorously. “Never.” The girl in question then lets a small, teary smile surface her face and turns to look at Mishti one last time. 

“I’m sorry, Mishti. I hope you’d be able to forgive me someday.” She says but Mishti just engulfs her in a bear hug, smiling as the girl quickly reciprocates.

“I’ve already forgiven you. One can’t stay angry with their kin for long, now can they?” she smiles and so does Tara. 

Samrat does too. 

And Raghav soon would.