It had been less than an hour since Karan returned home from the hospital. Though everyone had fussed over him, the house had finally calmed down. Almost.
Bhavesh had been assigned the role of temporary nurse along with Arnav, but after noting that Karan was acting normal—a subjective conclusion at best—and also realizing that the kitchen still held leftover kachoris, he'd left the room without an ounce of guilt.
Which meant Arnav was now alone with Karan.
The silence in the room was thick. The air, awkward.
Karan, or rather Karna, sat stiffly on the bed like a warrior awaiting interrogation. He eyed Arnav warily from across the room, watching the boy lean comfortably against the wall with his phone in hand, utterly uninterested in anything else.
That was the last straw.
"You. Arjun."
Arnav blinked up. "What?"
Karna narrowed his eyes. "Do not act ignorant. I recognize that face even in this yug. Same sharp jaw, same irritating smugness."
Arnav stared blankly, then gave a slow, amused blink. "Dude. Are you… calling me Arjun again?"
Karna stood abruptly. "Stop giving me strange names.How dare you stand there, disrespecting me, your sworn enemy, while staring at that... that blinking tray!"
Arnav looked down at his phone. "...You mean my phone?"
Karna threw up his hands. "That glowing demon-device! Is that what people stare at instead of listening now?"
"I mean… kinda, yeah," Arnav replied casually. "Also, can we go back to the part where you called me your sworn enemy?"
"You are! You mocked me in battle, you humiliated me always, you—"
Arnav let out a long groan and tossed a pillow at him. "Okay, okay! Chill, Karan. You're not in Kurukshetra. You're in Noida. In 2078."
Karna caught the pillow mid-air with reflexes that surprised even himself.
He scowled.
"I know what I saw. You're Arjun. Don't you dare try to deny it with this modern tongue of yours."
Arnav sighed dramatically and put his phone down, finally giving the conversation the attention it deserved. "Alright. Say I am Arjun. Then what? You planning to challenge me in the drawing room? Or throw the TV remote like a gada?"
Karna blinked. "...Gada?You practiced that?"
Arnav chuckled. "Right. You probably don't know what a TV is either. Or a charger. Or YouTube."
Karna looked visibly surprised. "You name your weapons now?"
Arnav was about to explain but stopped himself. He scratched his head. "You know what, never mind. Point is—you're back home, you're safe, and you're acting way too dramatic for someone who just survived a minor accident."
Karna's eyes flashed. "Minor? You dare call my return to this strange yug a minor incident?"
"I dare," Arnav said, reclining on the chair and crossing his arms. "Because I've had three hours of sleep, one cup of chai, and a lecture from Maa on responsibility. If you keep calling me Arjun, she's going to assume I dropped you on your head."
Karna's jaw tightened. "You insolent—"
Arnav cut him off with a yawn. "I'm bored now. You seemed more normal with Shaurya. Want me to call him?"
Karna considered. On one hand, Shaurya did talk too much. But on the other… at least his voice didn't sound like Arjun's.
"Yes. Summon him," he said stiffly, with the dignity of a dethroned monarch trying to manage modern chaos.
Arnav stood, stretching. "Great. I'll go fetch the clown."
---
Five Minutes Later,
Shaurya burst into the room like a storm in flip-flops.
"KARAN BHAIYYA!! You summoned me like a rishi calling a devata! How's your brain? Still intact? Talking weird stuff?"
Karna sighed. "You talk too much."
Shaurya plopped down on the bed next to him. "You say that now, but you'll miss me when I'm gone."
"I doubt that."
"I brought you snacks!" Shaurya held up a plate triumphantly. "Bhavesh was guarding them like a rakshas. I stole these from right under his nose."
Karna blinked at the samosas and murmured, "What sort of ration is this?"
Shaurya grinned. "Welcome to Earth's most sacred cuisine—oily, spicy, and mood-lifting."
Karna sniffed it suspiciously, then whispered under his breath, "Vasudev, I do not understand anything…"
And that's when he heard it.
A calm voice in his head, clearer than the chaos around him.
"You have gotten,what you wanted at your last moments,Angraj."
Karna sat up a little straighter. The voice… unmistakably him. Krishna.
He clutched the edge of the bed, heart pounding. Shaurya was still talking, but it all became background noise.
He wasn't hallucinating. He wasn't mad.
He was Karna, reborn. And he had to figure out everything.
---
Meanwhile…
At the Verma house across the street, the atmosphere was calmer—at least on the surface.
Yash had just arrived to speak with Radha, and by extension, her daughters and niece.
Diya and Sia were sitting on the couch, finally settled after the chaos of the day. Rhea was pacing like a restless tigress.
"So he's completely okay now?" Diya asked Yash, concerned.
Yash nodded. "Physically? Yeah. But... there's something off."
Sia narrowed her eyes. "Off how?"
"He called Arnav Arjun. Called Shaurya Sahadev. He's been serious and formal since waking up. Keeps saying strange things like 'sworn enemy' and 'this yug'."
Rhea stopped pacing. "So... he's just being extra dramatic?Did they get his head checked up?"
Yash exhaled slowly. "I don't know. Maybe. But it felt… different."
Radha came from the kitchen, wiping her hands. "Girls, he's home and safe. That's enough for now."
Sia didn't respond, her eyes fixed on the floor.
Something flickered in her expression.
But she said nothing.
Not yet.
---
Back in the Malhotra House…
Karna was finally alone.
Arnav had left, Shaurya had been dragged away for talking too much, and Bhavesh had returned only to declare, "Bhai, I'm too full to talk," before leaving once more.
Karna sat in his room, surrounded by devices and lights and people who looked like familiar ghosts with strange names.
He closed his eyes.
"Vasudev… you said I must learn. Then teach me. Please."
But silence followed.
Only the soft buzz of the fan above answered him.
For now.
---