Naina, her brother, and her friends left the buffet room, leaving a stunned silence in their wake.
Manik stood, staring at the door through which Naina had disappeared, tears streaming down his face. His mother approached him, her voice filled with a mix of anger and bewilderment. "Manik! What have you done to Naina? Her brother... and how did she get pregnant? If you were in a relationship, why didn't you tell me? I arranged a marriage for you!" Manik remained silent, listening to her distraught questions.
"What did you do?" his mother pressed again. Manik hesitated, then, in a raw confession, he revealed what he had done to Naina six years ago. The truth shocked everyone. His mother slapped him hard across the face. "I didn't teach you this! How could you do that to an innocent girl?" she cried, then stormed out of the room. Jaya and Anjali approached him, their faces pale with shock and guilt. "If you loved Naina so much, why did you take that step? And we, like idiots, were indirectly helping you!" They, too, left the room, along with Kavita.
Only Kabir remained. Kabir, who understood the depths of obsession and possessive love, having experienced some degree of it with Anjali, though in a very different context. He sighed, walked over to Manik, and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Everything will be fine," he said gently. "Give everyone some time." Manik, finding solace in his cousin's brotherly embrace, hugged Kabir back. Kabir then led him to his room.
Jaya's Haldi event began, and everyone tried to enjoy her special day, but Jaya, Anjali, and Kavita were consumed by guilt. Manik attended for a few hours, applying haldi to Jaya as an elder brother would, but the weight of his actions soon overwhelmed him, and he retreated to his room. He continued to work, trying to distract himself, but his mind constantly returned to Naina and his children. He was happy Naina was alive and that he had three children, but the pain of not being able to touch them, to claim them, was unbearable.
Meanwhile, Naina had returned to her suite. Her children were playing when Aditi and Aryan approached her, their young faces filled with a question. "Mom, why don't we have a father?" they asked. They saw their cousins with their fathers and yearned for the same. Naina was unable to answer. She tried to deflect, urging them to play. Naina's adoptive mother, who had just entered the room to check on her daughter, overheard the heartbreaking question. Her face clouded with worry, and she quietly left, unheard by Naina or the children, and went to her own room.
Manik's mother, despite her anger at Manik, desperately wanted her grandchildren and Naina as her daughter-in-law. She knew Naina had suffered immensely. A few hours later, without telling anyone, she went to Naina's adoptive parents' room. She explained, "I understand my son made a terrible mistake. But these kids need a father, and Naina will suffer humiliation from the outside world. They will call her a mother with children but no husband!"
Naina, who had decided to go talk to her adoptive parents, knowing they must be worried about her, overheard the entire conversation from outside their room. She quietly left, unnoticed by them, the words echoing in her ears.