Anuj's claim to affection (A Karna-Arjun what-if story)

The worst wedding ever

Karna's pov

"What?" said Karna incredulously. "Of course I am my parents' biological son."

"Have you ever asked them?" Yudhishthir demanded.

"No, I have not!" said Karna, affronted. "Have you asked yours? Do people generally ask this of their parents?" 

He turned to Vrushali, whose jaw was hanging open.

"What exactly do you want?" Karna asked Yudhishthir brusquely.

"The--the thing is," Yudhishthir fumbled. "I learnt something rather disturbing today. Arjun--er, seems to think--you were born to our mother--which--which makes you our brother--"

Karna stared.

"--and," Yudhishthir hastened to add. "Lord Krishna confirmed it. So I guess it is true."

"Your mother?" asked Vrushali, since Karna was still silent. "The Queen Mother?" 

Yudhishthir nodded.

Then all three of them were silent again, because honestly, what was anyone supposed to say?

"So, er--" Vrushali caught Karna's arm and rubbed it in what she must have meant to be a soothing manner. "Have Radha Maa or Father ever mentioned anything of this sort?"

"No," said Karna, quite rudely, and immediately regretted taking that tone with her.

What right did Yudhishthir have of coming up with nonsense like this on his wedding anyway that made him speak harshly to his wife-to-be?

"You are mistaken, Yuvraj, kindly excuse us," he said in a lofty voice, and pulled at Vrushali's hand to leave.

Vrushali pulled him back.

"Are you not going to confirm?" she asked.

"No. I bear no responsibility to the beliefs of the Crown Prince's family."

"If you are the Queen Mother's son, you kind of do," pointed out Vrushali.

Yudhishthir's look, in general, was a bit wild, like he had rampaged in a forest for days. He did not usually look like this. He also looked genuinely disconsolate. 

Duryodhan would look the same if Dussashan had been in the infirmary for four days, Karna supposed.

He did not even want to consider what Yudhishthir was saying might be true, but under the combined gazes of his wife and the Crown Prince, he gritted his teeth and led the way over to his parents.

"I have a stupid question, Radha Maa," he said. "And I am only asking because the Crown Prince wishes me to and I do not want to strike up an enmity with him."

"Yes?" said Radha Maa in astonishment.

Karna tried to keep up his confident demeanor. "I--I am--" He failed. "--I am your son, right?"

Adhirath and Radha were supposed to have laughed at the question.

Their silence, hence, was as good as an answer.

*****************

The next hour was a blur.

Later, Karna remembered Radha Maa crying and assuring him she was in mother in every sense but the biological one, Adhirath stoically describing how they had found him floating him a wicker basket in the Ganga, Vrushali's eyes shining with unshed tears as she put a fiercely protective arm around his shivering shoulders.

He remembered Yudhishthir pacing in the background, his brows knitted together: a harsh and unforgiving intrusion amidst Karna's family falling apart.