my mistake

The Twin Secrets

It was late at night. Shraddha was sitting on the couch kept in the balcony. Intense anger filled her eyes, but she had absolutely no way to express it—Rhythm had stolen her voice before leaving.

She thought to herself in pure frustration, *'When will this man return, and when will I finally get my voice back?'*

Right then, as if he had read her exact thoughts, Rhythm materialized and stood directly in front of her. The moment she laid eyes on him, Shraddha’s fury boiled over. Without thinking for a single second, she launched an attack on him—pushing him forcefully and throwing punches.

However, Rhythm brushed her off with a swift jerk. Looking highly annoyed, he snapped, "Hold on a minute! What on earth did I even do? Why are you behaving like this?"

Shraddha frantically gestured with her hands, demanding her voice back. Rhythm let out a heavy sigh, and with a sharp snap of his fingers, he restored her voice instantly.

The very first words out of Shraddha's mouth were, "I swear I will kill you! Just let my voice return completely first!"

Rhythm threw a cold, mocking look at her threat. "Where you actually need to speak, you stay completely silent. But in front of me, your tongue runs as fast as a pair of scissors!"

Ignoring his sarcastic remark completely, Shraddha shot a direct question at him. "The person whose identity you have stolen... is his family doing well?"

Rhythm froze. A brief flicker of uncertainty crossed his eyes. In a low, measured voice, he replied, "They are fine for now. But nothing can be said for sure. I need to fully understand the truth about the real Rhythm first, only then will I be able to play his role perfectly."

In reality, the Water Protector had spent the last two days trying desperately to analyze the Oberoi family. He needed to figure out what kind of a person Rhythm actually was—was he good or evil? Was he connected to some dark, deep secret?

Shraddha was about to probe further when Rhythm gave her a chilling warning. "If you utter a single word about that man Kartik again, it will not end well for you."

But Shraddha refused to back down. She paused and asked firmly, "Just tell me this much. You didn't hurt Kartik, did you?"

A strange, cryptic glint appeared in Rhythm’s eyes. A faint smile touched his lips as he murmured, "I didn't do a single thing to him. But who knows, maybe he made a terrible mistake in his past, and now he is simply facing the consequences of his own actions."

Saying this, he drifted into a deep, silent thought. On the other hand, even though Shraddha had received an answer, the dark suspicion in her mind refused to fade—*Was Rhythm secretly the one behind Kartik's condition?*

As Shraddha stood there completely lost in her thoughts, Rhythm lightly tapped his own forehead, and then playful tapped her head, saying, "Do you seriously not trust me at all?"

"No, I don't trust you one bit," Shraddha shot back instantly.

Rhythm let out an irritated breath and muttered, "You keep repeating the exact same thing over and over again. Stop looping the same line, understand?"

After taking a moment to think, Rhythm shifted his gaze back to Shraddha and said, "Alright, forget about all that. Tell me something, all this property is registered under your name, right?"

Shraddha, whose mind was entirely consumed by thoughts of Kartik, suddenly looked visibly shaken. Her expression morphed into deep anxiety as she asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Rhythm stated matter-of-factly, "Don't you think those official property documents should be safely in your own possession?"

A memory flashed in Shraddha's mind. A long time ago, at her mother’s strict insistence, she had handed over all her property documents to her mother. Recalling this, Shraddha looked at Rhythm and said, "I have given them to my mother."

"Go to your mother's room right now and bring those documents. I want to check them once," Rhythm commanded smoothly.

Shraddha immediately protested, "No, I cannot just walk into my mother's room like that. Entering without informing her doesn't feel right to me."

Rhythm leaned in slightly, his voice persuasive. "Shraddha, you don't need to ask for permission to enter your own mother's room. You can easily go inside and fetch those documents."

Slowly falling for his convincing words, Shraddha finally gave in. She quietly walked into her mother's bedroom and began searching through the wardrobe for her property files. Locating the documents, she quickly scanned them to verify—they were indeed the property papers.

She turned around to leave, but her eyes caught another file lying in the corner. Curiosity getting the better of her, she picked it up to check. Inside, there were several other papers. Without stopping to read them thoroughly, she continued searching through her mother's wardrobe.

Soon, she spotted a distinctive yellow-colored file. Pulling it out, she muttered to herself in a low whisper, "Oh Mom... I have no idea why you keep so many different files hidden here."

The moment she lifted the yellow file, a few photographs hidden underneath slid out. Shraddha picked up the pictures, and as she looked at them, her heart skipped a beat. Shocked, she whispered to herself, "Who... who is this? She looks exactly like me. An absolute identical match!"

The photograph captured two tiny baby girls who looked precisely identical, roughly around two years of age. Staring at the picture, Shraddha tried to rationalize it, thinking it must be an edited photo. Shaking off the chill running down her spine, she pocketed the photograph to take with her.

Kartik had been shifted to the ICU. Inside the room, Riya and her father, Ketan, stood by his bedside. Riya sat on the sofa, looking completely lifeless, staring blankly into space.

Noticing her complete lack of reaction, Ketan gently placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. The touch instantly triggered Riya. She flinched away aggressively, glaring up at her father.

Ketan looked at her with a heavy, guilt-ridden expression and sighed, "Riya... I did absolutely everything exactly the way you asked me to. But look... look at the terrible state Kartik is in right now."

The fragile emotional wall Riya had built around herself instantly crumbled. She burst into violent tears, throwing her arms around her father's neck. Sobbing uncontrollably, she cried, "Dad... I snatched her love away from that Shraddha. I was so incredibly happy! But look at him now... look at what has happened to my Kartik!"

Ketan wrapped his arms around his daughter, trying his best to offer solace. "Riya, don't you worry about a thing. Everything will be completely fine. Kartik belongs to you and you alone. And as for Shraddha... I will do exactly what you want me to do with her."

Riya abruptly stopped crying. The sorrow in her eyes instantly vanished, replaced by an icy, murderous venom.

Staring blankly ahead, she uttered words that chilled the room: "Kill her, Dad. Kill her. I cannot bear to see her alive anymore."