🎉 How was the last chapter? Do you think Nandini will finally break her silence?

🛎️ New to Nandini and Rajeev’s world? No worries! Catch up on Dil ke Karib (Chapters 1–25) on my website before diving in. Her story is just getting started… 💔✨

🔥 Don’t miss:
Married to My Brother-in-Law, In Love with His Brother — dropping Mon–Fri at 9 PM
Dil ke Karib — continuing Mon–Fri at 9 AM

✨ Two stories. Two time slots. One unforgettable journey.

Now, let’s dive back into the latest chapter… 👇

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Chapter 26—The Weight of Knowing

Truth, when it finally arrives, doesn’t shout. It just sits beside you and refuses to leave.

Nandini leaned into him — not for comfort, but to breathe.

And Rajeev let her. Quietly. Still.

She had said what should never have needed saying. And now the truth hung in the air between them: undeniable, ugly, irreversible.

Vikrant.

His cousin. His blood.

The man Nandini feared. The man he had been trying to protect her from was the one she had been seeking refuge with all along.

He didn’t speak. Couldn’t.

His mind was already racing — not with disbelief but with a dangerous, cold clarity.

Vikrant, behind closed doors, had broken something sacred. Not just Nandini’s peace. Her dignity. Her voice.
And worse — if word got out that he was the one who tainted her before marriage, Everything Rajeev had been fighting to protect would crumble.

Their silence hadn’t just been pain.

It had been armor.

"You were the only one who ever saw me."

And now he saw everything.

The hidden tremble in her hands. The forced smiles. The nights she couldn’t sleep.
Not weakness — but endurance. An unbearable strength forged in shame.

Nandini was asleep in his arms, her breathing steady and calm. He knew then that he would do whatever it took to protect her, even if it meant sacrificing his own reputation.

Rajeev stood up slowly. Gently removed her hand from his sleeve.
She didn’t stir — just breathed. As if even rest had always been something she’d earned, not been given.

He pressed his palm to her head briefly — a quiet promise.
Then turned and walked out.

His steps were soft and measured. No drama. No slammed doors.

Anger didn’t need an audience.

In the back of the house, the air was warm and still.
Vikrant’s cycle was there — dust on its seat. Rajeev stared at it longer than necessary.

If people found out what Vikrant had done…

Not only would Nandini be judged, whispered about, and cast out — again —
She would be blamed for being a victim.
And Rajeev knew what that looked like. In their world, the truth could be more dangerous than the lie.

He had married her to protect her. But protection had limits when your own blood was the threat.

He found Vikrant near the courtyard, shirt half-buttoned, sipping tea like nothing had happened. Like he hadn’t rewritten Nandini’s life with cruelty and silence.

Rajeev didn’t speak right away.

He just walked up and slapped the tea from his hand.

It shattered against the ground. The sound was sharp. Final.

“Are you insane?!” Vikrant barked, backing up.

Rajeev’s voice was flat. Controlled. “You know what you did.”

"What do you mean?" Vikrant scoffed as he brushed his hand in the air, feigning the burning anger rising in his chest.

"You and I both know what I mean, don't we?" Rajeev replied, his eyes narrowing as he took a step closer to Vikrant. "Don't play dumb with me." The tension between them was palpable, the air thick with unspoken words.

“You’re believing her? I am your family. Your bhai.”

Rajeev moved closer, grabbing him by the collar — not to strike, but to pin him still.

“You're not my Bhai, Vikrant. You lost that title the moment you tainted someone's pure love." Rajeev's voice was cold, cutting through the tension like a knife. "You're dead to me now."

Vikrant tried to push his arm off. "Dead… to you, Rajeev? I may have lost your respect, but I am not dead to anyone. Do you think Massi will keep Nandini if she knew her truth, or will the villagers shun her? You know the consequences of revealing the truth." Rajeev's grip tightened, his eyes filled with anger and disappointment.

Rajeev’s jaw locked.

That was the trap, wasn’t it?
If he said nothing, Nandini stayed safe.
If he said something, she became the scandal.

And Vikrant? He’d walk away, again, untouched.

Rajeev dropped his hand and stepped back.

“I won’t expose you to this world,” he said, voice low. “But I will never let you near her again. Ever.”

Vikrant smirked, but Rajeev saw the twitch of fear behind it.

“You’re not her savior,” Vikrant said. “You married my shame and call it honor?”

Rajeev's fists clenched at the insult, as punching Vikrant seemed like the only way to silence him. “Say her name with disrespect again,” Rajeev said, deadly calm, “and you’ll regret it. She’s worth more than you’ll ever comprehend.”

"If I ruin my reputation to protect hers, you have no idea what I can do to make sure you never cross her path again." Rajeev's tone was cold and threatening, leaving Vikrant with no doubt that he meant every word he said.

Vikrant smirked, touching his jaw. “Let’s see how long you can protect her,” he muttered, walking away — like the game had just begun.

Rajeev turned and walked away.

Not because the fight was over — but because for now, silence still protected Nandini better than noise.

But something in him had shifted.

A vow.

When he returned to her, he paused in the doorway, just for a breath.
What if she saw the storm in him and mistook it for doubt?
What if, after all her courage, he was the one who failed to stay steady?

But the doubt faded the moment he saw her — calm, waiting, and still choosing to trust him.

Nandini was seated in the bamboo chair, a blanket loosely wrapped around her shoulders now. She looked up, searching his face — for regret, maybe. Doubt.

He gave her none.

Just walked to her. Sat at her feet.

And took her hand — not to hold it.

But to ground it.

“We’re still us,” he whispered. He didn’t know what tomorrow would bring — but tonight, she had chosen to stay. And so would he.

She looked at him — tears, fear, a faint flicker of something like belief. “Then don’t let him take that too.”

Maybe trust.

Outside, the wind began to stir.

The rain hadn’t come yet.

But it would.

💬 Author’s Note

This chapter is Rajeev at war — not just with Vikrant, but with himself.
With the question of how far truth should travel and how much silence can shield.

He’s a man torn between justice and protection, love and danger — and that tension is everything.

💭 What would you do in Rajeev’s place?

Would you keep the truth quiet for her sake…
Or expose it and risk her reputation to burn it all down?

Drop a ⚖️ if you felt the weight of his dilemma.

And tell me:
What’s your take on the line between protecting someone and speaking for them?

Let’s talk.

— Shaar Shree 🖤