Perfection doesn't exist

"Perfection doesn't exist. It's a mask people use to conceal their ugly truths. Never trust someone who only ever smiles at you"

-J.M Darhower

Hanging up the phone, Ronobir sighed irritably, he had made yet another failed attempt at contacting Pari she was touring the Mediterranean to let go of her problems, Ronobir couldn't roll his eyes hard enough at hearing this.

He shoved his chair away from the desk and got up as he unbuttoned the top buttons of his dark blue dress shirt. With Salim still nowhere to be found; Rishabh breathing down his neck about the Russian's obsession with Shruti; and Pari eluding him, he was having the worst week of his life.

To make things worse he couldn't stop thinking about Ayesha; after what the Russian man had pulled trying to hurt Shruti and Mishti, whether he wanted to or not he had been forced to do something in retaliation, and she had been the one to pay the price. She had been executed and her scared eyes had been haunting Ronobir for days, an innocent girl caught in a war she didn't ask to be any part of, just like Mishti.

Ayesha's murder only reaffirmed his decision of letting Mishti go, once everything was over with Salim he was going to find a way to give her the life she always wanted. Safe and far away from all the violence that surrounded him.

The thought of letting her go soured his mood even more; with a heavy sigh, he pushed open the door of his home office and headed in the direction of the kitchen. He hadn't eaten breakfast and perhaps some food would help him cool down so he could stop torturing himself.

As if God himself had put her in his path, when Ronobir reached the kitchen he didn't find Mrs. Sudha, but Mishti instead. Covered in flour and with chocolate stains on her cheeks, she had placed Shanaya on a stool with a cooking book in her lap while she mixed things in a bowl.

"And what is this?" he asked with a quirked eyebrow and the beginnings of a smile forming on his lips.

"Oh I didn't see you there," Mishti said a bit flustered as she tried to remove a lock of hair from her forehead and managed to get even more chocolate batter on her forehead.

"Ronny bhaiya!" Shanaya squealed when she saw him and bestowed on him the widest of smiles.

He chuckled and walked further into the kitchen, "What are you making?" he asked as he leaned his elbows on the stool across from them.

"Chocolate fudge cake!" Shanaya grinned and directed her eyes to Mishti, "Aren't we Mishti?"

She smiled back at the girl and leaned down to bump her forehead against the kids', "We are at least trying to." Ronobir felt his heart warming at the sight of the two of them together and for the briefest of instants wondered what would become of him when Mishti went out of his life.

Was he only going to live with the notion of what it feels like to have light in your life? Would his nights go back to being cold, hollow, and lonely?

"Fudge cake? One of my favorites."

"I know!" Mishti answered with a small smile playing on her lips while her eyes were still trained on the batter in front of her, "Contrary to current appearances, I'm pretty good in the kitchen, but this recipe is proving to be very difficult for me."

"Is that so?" Ronobir said with a chuckle. "It's Mrs. Sudha's recipe isn't it?" Mishti nodded at him, "Well I happen to be very good in the kitchen as well, Mrs. Chatterjee," he said as he rolled the sleeves of his shirt upwards. "I could make this recipe in my dreams."

Shanaya's brown eyes shot up to him, "Would you be our helper, Ronny bhaiya?" she asked with a bright and happy smile.

He leaned towards her and pinched her nose softly, "You are going to be my helpers, sweetu." The girl giggled at the attention from him and Mishti felt her heart melting at the sight of the two of them together.

"Ronobir Chatterjee, a master in the kitchen," she teased him. "It shouldn't be fair to be good at everything, you know."

He smiled at her, his eyes twinkling with delight as he moved towards her, "Nobody said life is fair, dear wife," he leaned down to place a kiss on her cheeks and took the spoon out of her hands, "Now let's see where you are having problems."

Ronobir spent the rest of his morning making a cake with Mishti and Shanaya, every time he was with Mishti she seemed to surround him with her bright, cheerful aura making him forget everything wrong in the world.

They laughed and joked, there were a lot of kisses and tender touches. Never before had he got to experience moments like this and if he was being honest with himself, he had never thought he needed them either. Ronobir had seen Rishabh and Shruti being affectionate with each other since a young age and had seen their love grow but not even once had he desired something like that for himself.

Until she had arrived and taken over his heart and enflamed his senses. Her soft touch and gentle eyes had slowly but surely driven themselves deep into his soul and shaken his entire perspective on life.

He had once read that the most robust trees take root in the darkest places on earth, that's what makes them strong, so following that example he had allowed darkness to reign over him, to swallow him whole so that one day he could be invincible. But then she came into his life, and like a hurricane of light she blasted away the coils that had locked his heart protecting it from hurt since a young age, she had cast away all the darkness from his life with her light.

The last thing he wanted now was for her to encounter that darkness; she was sunshine, she was pureness and she would be happier without him. The thought threatened to dampen his mood but she laughed at something Shanaya said to her and all his fears were forgotten.

She always managed to do that, Mishti had snuck under his skin and now there was no way of getting her out of there.

"You're so serious today, why?" she asked circling his waist with her arms from behind and resting her face on his back, "What's wrong?" she asked as she slowly peppered kisses on his back and her fingers caressed his chest, as she ran her nails through his chest to his stomach. He felt a tingle electrify his senses at her touch and he closed his eyes enjoying her soft touch.

He breathed in raggedly and held her hands that were resting on his stomach; there was nothing in the world that thrilled him more than the feel of her body against his. "Nothing is wrong my daring," his eyes were trained on the little girl whose eyes were fixed on the growing cake inside the oven and his mind went back briefly to another young child whom he had loved with every fiber of his being.

Another child was taken away from him because of who he was. Who he was always going to be.

"You promised me, no more secrets Ronobir," she whispered and he felt her kiss against his clothed back.

"I swear I'm not hiding anything darling," he lied and turned in her arms so he could face her, "You are so beautiful," he whispered almost in awe as he removed a bit of dried chocolate from her cheeks.

"I hardly think I can be called beautiful right now," she complained as she tried to remove the rest of the chocolate and flour from her face but he stopped her hands and pinned them down at her sides as he embraced her again.

"You are always beautiful, my treasure!" he leaned down his face and kissed her lips softly, their taste was of sweetness and comfort. He closed his eyes and lost himself in the kiss, the passion igniting as it always did between them, he growled as he felt her teeth bite his lower lips. It took everything in him not to push her onto the counter and drive himself into her until nothing remained between them but the feeling of being one, but the presence of Shanaya stopped him and he pulled away leaning his forehead against hers as they both breathed hard to get their heartbeat under control. Mishti was everything he never knew he wanted or needed and now that he had her he had no idea how he was going to find the strength to let her go.

Hours later, Ronobir leaned back on the black leather chair of his office and stared at the papers that were scattered on top of his big mahogany desk. "How certain are we of this?" he said in a clipped voice as the rush of something resembling exhilaration started buzzing in his veins.

"As certain as we can be," his brother answered.

"We've been pulling strings everywhere Ronobir and finally someone came through, we finally have what we wanted," Arya Sareen said with her chin raised in evident pride, after all, it had been her allies who had given them the exact location of Salim Kamali's hiding place, where he had been since he stepped foot onto American soil again.

"Veer Kriplani is on his way," the younger Chatterjee informed him and Ronobir nodded, his mind still fixated on the pictures scattered in front of him. The glory was so close he could feel it on the tips of his fingers, there was nothing more he wanted than Salim's head on a spike and it seemed like he was finally going to get his wish.

The beast inside of him was raising his head again, bloodthirsty and ravenous. Waiting for the revenge that was promised so long ago.

"Good, we'll wait for him to start developing an attack plan," Ronobir said as he raised his eyes and found the ones of his friend and brother staring at him, "All of us want a piece of the prize this time." For various reasons, everyone wanted the chance to plunge a stake in Salim's heart, he just hoped he was the one who would give him the coup de grace.

"We can't leave anything to chance this time Ronobir," Arya said in a steely tone. "We might not get another shot after this."

"Don't worry Arya; I don't intend for that rat to escape us again." The older blonde nodded solemnly at him. She trusted him blindly and knew that Ronobir Chatterjee never broke a vow.

When after a few minutes, Ronobir's phone rang and he saw the name of his father-in-law on the screen, he asked for privacy so he could take the call. "Have you thought about what I said?" If someone had told Ronobir a couple of months ago that he would be resorting to Ishaan Khanna for advice, he would have called them idiots and laughed at their faces.

But the man had changed, something about burying his oldest child in the ground had twisted the man and Ronobir knew that the only thing that mattered to him now was to keep the rest of his family safe.

"Good night to you too, Ronobir," the man on the other side of the phone replied drily.

Ronobir chuckled, "I think we're both past formalities, Khanna," he said nonchalantly. He didn't want to make small talk with his father-in-law and he sure as hell wasn't going to breathe a word about having found Salim's whereabouts. The older man had been too unstable lately; Ronobir couldn't trust him with that kind of information. The Khannas deserved justice, and revenge for what Salim took from them but it wasn't going to be Ishaan who would meet it, Ronobir was going to do it and it was all going to be because of Mishti.

He was going to deliver that man's heart on a silver platter to her.

"I think I might have an idea. A way to keep them safe," Ishaan said bringing him back to the reason for his call. Ronobir's overwhelming need to keep Mishti safe had led him to trust the one man he never thought he would.

"I'm listening!"

"Not yet. I want to make sure it'll work first," Ronobir jaw's clenched at the words.

"Why to call then?" he asked in a clipped tone.

"I just wanted to let you know I've been working on it," the other man said calmly. "And for you to be prepared, if you're willing to do whatever it takes, you must know that giving her up is one of the rules."

"Of course, I know that," Ronobir bit out. "If I want her safe it has to be away from me." It pained him to say it but it was nothing but the truth.

"I'm glad we understand that," Ishaan told him. "I'll be in touch Ronobir." With those as his parting words, the Khanna boss disconnected the call and let the brown-eyed man wallow in grief as the hole in his chest started to enlarge.

His sweet Mishti; how selfish he had been when he had ripped her away from the only place she had known. How cruel of him to wish for her love, to steal it from her knowing what happened to the people that loved him.

If Ronobir could find a way to go back in time he would have done things differently, he would have let her be free and live a life away from him and all the cold darkness that surrounded him. She was a singing bird destined to whither away locked in the cage he prepared for her, that's why he had to set her free.

Let her fly away.

Ronobir was so lost in his thoughts that when the door of his office slammed open he almost jumped out of his chair. Frantic eyes moved towards the door and he found his best friend and consigliere at the threshold raising a folder in front of him, "You need to see this."

"What's going on Rudra?" Rishabh asked as he and Sikander trailed behind him. He had rushed alarmingly fast into Ronobir's office, grabbing the attention of the two men who had been having drinks in the living room.

"Take a look!" the lawyer dropped the folder on Ronobir's desk. A frown appeared on the Boss's face as he leaned down and started skimming his eyes through the contents.

"Where did you get these?" Ronobir asked, a vein ticking in his jaw as his eyes blazed with every new sentence he read.

"One of Veer Kriplani's guys just delivered to me, I have no idea where he got them," Rudra answered as Ronobir took one of the papers in front of him and bunched it in his hand before throwing it across the room with a howl.

Even Rishabh felt the need to take two steps back when his brother rose from his chair, eyes burning so deep it seemed flames would come out at any second, "Sikander we are on lockdown," he barked at his friend, "Make sure you have guards everywhere, no one leaves or enters this house without my permission, no one. No exceptions."

Sikander nodded somberly, "Got it Boss!"

"Get Ishaan Khanna on the phone and tell him not to let Veer Verma out of his side but not to breathe a word why," Sikander raised a questioning brow and Ronobir snapped at him, "Just do it!"

The man stormed out of the room to comply with his Boss's demands right away.

"What the fuck is going on?" Rishabh asked as he looked between Rudra and Ronobir.

"I was right the whole fucking time," Ronobir muttered.

"Rudra?" Rishabh directed his attention toward the lawyer who seemed to be more in control of his emotions.

Rudra sighed as he dropped himself on one of the leather chairs placed in front of Ronobir's desk, "Veer is Salim's half-brother."

Rishabh's eyes widened in alarm and shock as he stared at the older man, "What? How is that possible?"

Ronobir took one of the books on his desk and threw it across the room, "Son of a bitch!" He started pacing the room length as his head worked a mile a minute trying to figure out how they could have been so blind as to miss what was under their noses the entire time.

Rudra shook his head in complete astonishment, "I have no idea; I don't know how they pulled that one. Born and raised in New Orleans, nobody knew about Veer's ties to the Russian Mafia, nobody."

"And how did he manage to stay with the Khannas?" Ronobir asked.

"No clue, Ronobir!"

"Damn it!" he shouted again. His body almost vibrated with the force of his anger. Rishabh shook his head, still refusing to believe that they had let something as huge as this slip unchecked, "Are we sure of this? We ran extensive searches on him."

"I don't think you need any more proof than this," Rudra said gesturing towards the desk. Rishabh walked towards it and picked up the photo that was resting on top of the folder. An unmistakable Veer of around nine years holding Faiz Kamali's hand while Salim stood on the other side of him; his hand on the child's shoulder.

"Damn it!" Rishabh whispered.

Sikander came back into the room which made Ronobir stop his incessant pacing, "Boss."

"Yes?"

"Ishaan says Veer is gone. He and Pari are supposed to be traveling but it's been days since he last spoke with them." A collective sense of dread settled on the people in the room.

"Damn it, Pari!" Ronobir shouted, once again berating himself for being so stupid. It was obvious that Pari knew something and yet he hadn't tried hard enough to learn what it was. The burning question that remained now was whether Pari was a victim or an accomplice. "No one leaves this house. Am I understood?" his people nodded as he headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Rishabh asked.

"To tell Mishti," he bit out.

He was fuming as he walked up the stairs. The idea of that man anywhere near Mishti, touching her or her silly crush on him was enough to make him want to kill someone. How was it possible that the Russians had been as conniving and clever as to plant a mole for such a long time? With what purpose?

The anger coursing through his veins was so strong that not even the sight of his young wife wearing the adorable cupcakes pajama shorts he loved so much was enough to abate the fire inside him

"Are you okay?" she asked as he stormed into the room and took her into his arms immediately. His hold on her was so strong Mishti joked he was cutting off her air supply but he didn't budge, he buried his face in her grape-smelling hair and thanked whoever was up in heaven for the chance of having her safe in his arms, he had never been more grateful for something as he was for having her here with him right now, thankful that the son of a bitch, Veer hadn't managed to sink his claws into her.

"Ronny, what is going on?" Mishti asked once he pulled away and cradled her face in his hands.

"We need to talk, my treasure," Mishti nodded as he led her towards the bed so they could sit there, she could see all his muscles were bunched up and she wondered what could be so disturbing to make him so worked up.

She sat cross-legged on the bed and stared at him, he took both of her hands between his and squeezed them softly, "What is going on Ronobir?"

He took a deep breath and his eyes were filled with sadness and pain as he looked at her, "What I'm going to tell you is going to sound unbelievable, but it is the truth and I have the proof to show it to you. You know I've never lied to you."

Mishti nodded, "Of course."

"Veer is Salim's half-brother. We guess that they've been working together for a long long time, he's the mole in your house."

Mishti stared at him open-mouthed for a few seconds trying to understand what her husband had just told her, "The mole? You mean... Bappa!" Mishti released her hands from Ronobir's and stood up.

"Mishti?" his voice was laced with pain as he spoke.

Mishti started pacing the room agitatedly as her hands twisted nervously in front of her, "Did he kill Ansh bhaiya?"

"It's what makes sense," Ronobir said nodding.

Mishti covered her mouth with her hand trying to contain the sob that wanted to break free, " Devaa."

She didn't doubt her husband's words for a second. Despite everything that had happened, she knew that Ronobir would never lie to her, she trusted him more than anything, which is why she believed blindly in what he was saying.

"I'm sorry, darling!" he said softly as he stood up and walked towards her.

He took her in his arms as she finally surrendered herself to the despair that wanted to eat her whole, "How is this possible Ronobir? I've known him since I was a kid. His mom worked with us until she passed away. We've always protected them. How could they do something like that?" her voice broke down as she spoke; the idea of that kind of evil inside someone was too much for her to bear.

She guessed that in a way Pari had been right and she was still a little girl, too naïve to live among the wolves.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he stroked her hair in an attempt to calm her down. Her body shook with sobs as she clung to him for dear life; her small hands fisted his shirt at the front as she buried her face in his neck.

"He was Ansh's friend, he loved him like a brother," she cried against his skin. "How could he do that?"

"There's more," Ronobir said and Mishti wondered what could be worse than what he had just told her. "He's gone, been missing for days and Pari is with him."

Mishti broke apart from him and looked at him with wide tear-stained eyes, "What?" She shook her head, "No, no no she would never do that. She would not harm Ansh"

It was no secret that Mishti and her sister didn't get along, that over the years, a rivalry had grown between them, and that they had too many differences but despite all that, Mishti knew her sister was not capable of doing something so monstrous. Pari loved Ansh and would never do something that could harm him.

"Then maybe he has her," he said softly as if he was talking to a wounded animal.

Her eyes were frenetic and scared as she looked at him, "Ronobir we have to do something, we can't let him have her," she cried.

"Don't worry about that my love. I will get your sister back," he drew her onto him and let her sob into his chest, "But I need you to promise me something."

"Anything," she whispered.

"You won't do anything reckless or stupid. You will stay put in the house for as long as I tell you." His hold on her tightened as he spoke, the idea that she could get herself in harm's way again was enough to bring him to his knees.

"Yes, yes I promise," she nodded against his chest.

Mishti still couldn't fully understand what was happening. Her mind couldn't comprehend how the man she had known since she was little, the one who had played with her, joked with her, the one her brother considered one of his own could be so evil as to kill him.

And she couldn't help but make the comparison. Veer, the man whom she had believed she loved, the one who was always kind to her and made her feel so safe, had been a monster in disguise, waiting for the right moment to attack. And Ronobir, the man she thought a monster and whom she at one point hated was now the one who truly protected her and had shown her more love than anyone before.

The world was truly a masquerade she thought bitterly.

"Oh Ronobir, this is too much," she cried against his chest and felt his hold getting tighter.

"I'm here darling, I'm here," he said softly as she cried against him.

In the months since Ronobir had married Mishti, he had experienced an entire gamut of emotions more than he had ever felt in his whole life before her, and now as he held her, feeling her pain and her sorrow, he swore to do whatever it took to protect her from the dangers of the world.

Mishti Khanna was not going to shed another tear because of the darkness in which they were trapped, the quicksand that was pulling him down, the one that he couldn't ever escape from but he would make sure that she would.