11. Karan’s POV: (BONUS CHAPTER)

Pov:-

It all started with a joke.

A stupid joke I cracked to lighten the mood, maybe even tease her a little but the way Khushi's face changed in that second, I knew I'd crossed a line I couldn't see.

She didn't say anything. Just turned away, her eyes cold, her steps calm but final. I watched her go, weaving through the glitter and noise of the party, moving like she didn't belong there. And before I even knew what I was doing, my feet moved after her.

I found her on the terrace.

There she stood, her back to me, her lehenga shimmering like a soft whisper in the moonlight. Her hair danced in the night breeze as she stared up at the sky like it had answers none of us would ever understand.

I should've said something right then. Maybe apologized. Maybe not. But before I could step forward, I heard footsteps. Someone else came up behind me.

And then… I saw him.

Ron.

My younger brother.

 What was he doing here?

Before I could even open my mouth, I watched him walk past me like I didn't exist. He walked straight to her Khushi.

And then I heard it.

"Tai?"

What the hell?

Why would he call her that?

My head snapped up. Khushi turned around like she'd seen a ghost. And then she ran to him. She didn't even hesitate. She ran to Ron like he was a missing piece of her soul, throwing her arms around him, crying like she hadn't cried in years.

It didn't make sense.

Ron didn't know her that way. And Khushi? She wasn't close to him. They barely even spoke before today.

So why was she hugging him like that?

Why did she look so… broken and whole at the same time?

I stayed in the shadows, unsure if I should interrupt. But then I heard more.

"I still remember your old face, Tai," Ron said, sitting down beside her.

Old face?

"You smell the same," he added.

What the hell were they talking about?

I stepped forward, slowly, and asked the first thing that came to my mind: "Start talking."

They froze.

Khushi looked at me, her eyes wet but fierce.

Ron looked nervous.

And then… the truth spilled out like it had been dying to escape.

"I'm not the real Khushi Joshi," she said. "I'm Khushi Patil. I died. This body belonged to another girl."

And then Ron joined in. "I'm not Ron Roy. I'm Ron Patil. I died too."

What…?

I thought they were joking.

I waited for the punchline.

But there was no joke.

Only pain.

Only memories I didn't share.

Only a story that sounded insane… and yet somehow, I believed them.

Not because I understood it. Hell, I didn't.

But because the way they looked at each other the way they clung to those names they believed it. They weren't faking it.

They weren't pretending.

And as much as I hated to admit it… it made sense in a twisted, haunting way. The way they connected. The secrets in their eyes. The scars they carried that no one else could see.

I was shaken. Confused. A little angry, maybe.

But more than anything I was scared.

Because I liked this Khushi.

And I loved this Ron.

I didn't care what souls lived in their bodies.

They were mine.

My people.

Maybe not by blood.

But by choice.

By loyalty.

By whatever this madness was turning into.

So I sat with them.

Listened.

Watched.

And when Khushi opened her notebook that night and wrote the words Operation Patil Destruction,

I knew something had changed forever.

They weren't just survivors.

They were warriors.

And me?

I wasn't sure what I was anymore.

But I knew one thing...I wasn't letting them fight alone.

Not this time.