Disguised Darling|✓

Episode 8

“So, you still haven’t told us what you were doing there,” Mihir states impassively, staring at Tara who sits across him, ignoring the way Ruhi nudges her shoulder against his to calm him down and warn him to not go too out of line.

Cute.

“Where?” Tara asks knowing fully well what he's talking about.

“At the bureau. You applied to go to Samrat’s house as his personal chef, but as far as I remember you never had that cooking streak in you.” Mihir says, letting out a not so discreet scoff, seriousness quickly replacing it, trying to avoid Ranveer’s favourite movie, Jab We Met, that plays in the background.

The collective gazes focused on her for a change, make Tara nervous, all with her legs clamping together at where she is sitting on the couch, her hands fiddling together. 

Mihir resists the urge to smirk.

“It’s – it’s nothing much, just thought that I should, you know, try to…. try my hand at something new –”

“You’re lying,” Mihir comments plainly, cutting the girl’s answer short and the way Tara immediately flushes red with embarrassment, not meeting his gaze, tells him and everyone else that he is right. But that doesn’t mean he’ll continue to make someone uncomfortable. 

Raghav won’t let that happen.

“It’s ok if she doesn’t want to tell us anything right now, Mihir. What matters is that Mishti is there in her place and our task is going on smoothly.” He says, voice assertive, and glance concerned, trying to dissipate the tension in the air.

But Mihir shakes his head, not backing away from keeping his point forward. “That is the point, Raghav. You need to understand where I’m coming from. Everything comes back to Mishti. I don’t think that it was by mere coincidence that my sister got sent there instead of Tara.” He says, his scrutinizing gaze fixed at the girl who is still refusing to meet his eyes. “I think the agency knew... I think they knew Tara was there to rob him…..just like us, weren’t you?” 

And just like that, Mihir drops the bomb, silencing the already silenced room, making everyone’s jaw drop, including Raghav’s.

The accuser watches as Tara’s eyes widen, her fiddling hands going still, as well as her whole body.

“Were you, Tara?” Mihir presses.

“Mihir….” Ruhi chides from beside him, and so do both the brothers, “Let it be–”

However, the supporters are cut off by a lowly spoken voice. “Yeah…” Tara murmurs, bringing the silence back in the room, shushing everyone up.

But then with a sudden surge of confidence, Tara looks Mihir straight in the eyes, flicking her chin up as she nods, agreeing to the claim. “Yes, I was there to rob him but surely that shouldn't bother you: me being a criminal, because as far as I know, you guys are the same. You just do it under the instructions of the agency while I do it at my own will.” She says sharply, knowing that she has hit a nerve when Mihir glares at her, looking not so intimidating as before, seeming rather disarmed. 

Even the siblings trio seem hurt at the jab because Tara knows that they were forced to turn into criminals, but they know that Mihir cornering like this wasn’t right as well. She did it to protect herself.

Mihir clenches his jaw, averting his gaze to the ground not wanting to look the girl in the eyes. “Yeah, that’s not a problem, we are all the same.” And with that he storms off the room hurt visible in his eyes that Ruhi senses immediately, following him outside the house while the two brothers are left gazing at the girl who looks ashamed, to say the least.