Karna was standing in front of Dusshala as she fiddled with her fingers.

"Will you tell me now?" He asked. "Why are you telling me to hide it? Why can't I kill Jaydrath? I am not ready to send you there, knowing he hurts you", he said to her. 

Dusshala looked down. "B-bhrata shree, can we talk about this later?" She asked.

"Either you tell me now or I will tell everyone what is happening", he warned her. Dusshala widened her eyes and broke down crying. "Please don't tell anyone, jyesht", she begged and folded her hands.

Karna panicked and pulled her in a hug. "Sister, please don't cry. I didn't mean to make you cry. What's wrong? Tell me", he said.

"I-I...", she stammered.

Karna lifted her up in his arms and made her sit on the couch. He kneeled down in front of her. "I am your elder brother. If you won't tell me, who will you share your misery with? Tell me", he said.

"Don't you trust me?" He asked and Dusshala looked at him. "I do...", she said.

"Bhrata shree, I love him. I don't want to get away from him", she confessed honestly. "He's my husband and I want to be with him", she added. "Even if I would want to go, no one will accept me. I will bring dishonour upon my family by staying here", she said.

"But...you can never be a burden on us", he said. "You are the only sister among us. We want you to be safe. Kauravas, Pandavas and me, we want you to be away from all kinds of pain", he said. "You are the darling daughter of this household. If we can't keep our own sister, safe, what type of warriors are we?" He asked.

"I know you all love me", Dusshala smiled sadly and kept his hand on her cheek. "But...please try to understand, bhrata shree. I don't want to live here and make my family watch me living alone. No one would accept me and at the end, seeing me lonely will pain them. Even if someone accepts me, there will be always some kind of hostility with me. The people will think that I am not good as my marriage ended. Even if I am not a burden, they won't like watching me like this. Arya will not sit silent and try to harm me and my family. He's not the one to sit silently. And...what about my kids? When they will come, won't they suffer? At least if I stay with my husband, they won't face any insults or taunts. I can bear abuse for them. We can't help it. I am a woman and you know at the end, women suffer. Arya will remarry and I will always live alone", Dusshala said.

"Please don't tell anyone, bhrata shree. I beg you", she said in fear he would tell anyone and bent down to touch his legs.

"Dusshala", he exclaimed and stopped her. He hugged her as she cried and caressed her hair. "Don't be scared, sister. I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to", he said and looked back at her, cupping her face. "I hate that women are so helpless in this world. I wish that in future, a time comes when women can proudly walk out of their households if they are harmed by their husbands. They don't need to be dependent on anyone", he said, as his voice cracked.

"Bhrata shree, please don't feel sad. I know you are capable enough of protecting me. And once everyone know what is happening, they will do everything to protect me", Dusshala said. She held his hands in her's. "Please don't feel sad. I know you won't sit quietly and will do something to keep me safe, without telling the truth", she said.

"Of course, I will", Karna said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I am not sending you back. I am calling you here by any excuse. I will make sure you don't stay much in Sindhu. Otherwise, I will keep visiting it", he said.

Dusshala chuckled and nodded.

Karna hugged her and kissed her hair. "Please don't hide anything from me, sister. Next time, it should be me who should know the truth. I shouldn't hear it from anyone else", Karna said.

Dusshala nodded again. "Ok", she grinned and Karna smiling, caressed her hair.

"I guess, you would like to accompany me in Urvi's swayamvar", he said. Dusshala raised her eyebrows in amusement as his face got flushed.

"She has practically threatened me to come so that she can choose me", Karna said, shyly. Dusshala awed at him making him want to jump down from the window.

Warriors are not supposed to be soft.

She laughed loudly at his red face. "So...", she wiggled her eyebrows. "If you want, we can go now only so that you can have quality time with her, you know", she said.

Karna face palmed. "Stop it", he whined. She laughed even louder hearing him.

She made grabby hands and Karna bent down, making her sit on his back. He chuckled. He loved pampering her. Duryodhan's friendship resulted in the most beautiful things, he became a brother.

Amidst this fun, they got really lost. That they forgot, their little secret can come out as the doors were opened.

Both didn't notice a person standing there, till now.

Dusshala gasped and widened her eyes when her gaze fell on the man. She felt her heart drop. Karna turned around and his face paled.

This was not needed. This was not what they both wanted.

"Arjun", Karna muttered out, when he found the voice to say his name.

"B-bhrata shree", Dusshala stuttered seeing his face, morphed in anger and his red eyes, which only spoke death for Jaydrath.

"I am killing him", Arjun declared and warned her if, she dared to stop him from doing that.