Zoya went and stood beside Aditya trying to talk to him while he conversed casually with some of his guests from Zosh... Ever since he had saved her from the riot situation, she had seen a subtle change in his behaviour...He had stopped taking her calls, texting her later that he was busy with something or the other... It seemed like an invisible barrier had fixed itself firmly between them...Even today when she had been invited for the Janmashtami celebrations at home he was taking meticulous care of avoiding her...
Aditya looked to his side to see Zoya looking expectantly at him smiling...His heart lurched at the way she looked at him...Maybe she wanted to tell him that she realised what Arshad meant to her when they were hit by the crisis that day..He could bear to stay away for her sake but he would not be able to endure Zoya telling him about her feelings for Arshad...
He would always be a friend to her...she had made it clear that day when she had inquired about Arshad right after he had been injured... She might not be in love with Arshad but she definitely liked him enough to prioritise him over her best friend...
Anjana had told him that Arshad and Zoya had brought him home and after a while had gone back together...
He had been so immersed in the depth of his own feelings, he had not even stopped to consider even once that Zoya might have wanted different things from life... Who was he to impose his feelings on her?!
Was it imperative that she love him back just because he had fallen in love with her?...What if the situation was reversed?...He knew he would not accept a proposal if he was not in love...even if it came from Zoya...
He smiled back at her, while he reminded himself that it was best to maintain distance...Just as he was about to leave Zoya held his wrist...He froze..
Turning to her, he gently removed her hand from his...Zoya looked uncertainly at him...
"Aditya how are you?"
"Zoya I need to..."
"Zoya..." Arshad came and held her by her upper arm... "I need to talk to you... its important..."
Zoya looked at Aditya silently asking him to wait...
Aditya looked at the fingers enclosed around her upper arm and anger surged inside him...But he would not react...Not this time..
Arshad led her away from the crowd to a secluded part of the mansion...
"Arshad I was just about to ask him about his injury...You..."
"Aditya made the call that day..."
Zoya stared at him for a few moments before realising what he was implying...
Arshad saw the flicker of comprehension on her face and he continued nodding...
" Yeah, he was the one who told me there was an emergency..."
Zoya looked down, frowning, her lips pursed...It was a few moments before she spoke again...
"You did not speak to him about this, did you?"
"No I haven't yet...I wanted you to know first..."
It seemed weird to Zoya that Arshad instead of confronting Aditya would come tell her about it right after he came to know...
She let that thought go for now...
"I want to make a request...please let it be between the two of us for now...I know he risked your life even if it was not intentional and it was a huge mistake but you haven't talked to him about this but I need to before anyone esle comes to know of this..."
"Do you want me to come with you?..."
"No I need to do this myself..." She said staunchly...
There were some things that Arshad could not be a part of...One of that was a conversation meant for the two of them...
She came back to see the guests had started pouring in and the house was visibly crowded...She spotted Arjun and inquired about Aditya. He told her that Aditya had gone to his room to fetch his phone...
She walked up the stairs thinking about the man who had risked his life for her not once but a number of times...
Ever since he was back from Paris she had seen a completely different side to him... The wittering Aditya that annoyed the hell out of her was long gone even before he had left India, but now that hyper, angry Aditya had been replaced by the responsible .level headed man who had politely asked her once what she was doing at 12 in the night outside his house...and had even gone to the extent of declining her for their ice cream date citing reasons that it was too late for them to go out together...
Then what made him flip again??
She stopped at the threshold of his room and took a deep breath...She did not why but the thought of confronting him made her a little breathless, especially after the way he was behaving with her ever since the riot...
She peered inside but he was nowhere to be seen...And then he saw her coming out of the washroom...
He looked towards the door and saw Zoya standing there, looking at him with an odd mix of confusion ,trepidation and anger? Was she angry?
"What are you doing here?" he asked...it came out a lot more curt than he had intended it to be...
Her eyes flashed with anger, this time he was sure, and she came striding towards him...
"You made that phone call to Arshad telling him there was an emergency at the hospital?! Why would you do such an inane thing!"
She expected him to shout at her, tell her he had some xyz reason...That he was looking out for her in some way...What she did not expect was for him to look at her resignedly regret evident on his face...
"I am sorry Zoya...I really should not have done it..."
Her anger flared further...
"Why are you apologising to me? You should be apologising to Arshad...you put his life in danger...He could have been killed!!!!...or gravely injured..."
His heart twisted painfully at her words, the naked concern in her voice for Arshad but he agreed immediately...
"I know...I will apologise to him...I have been meaning to for the last couple of days but something or the other came up...Actually I intended to tell him too that I was the one who made that phone call..."
She could not take this lifeless Aditya anymore...better a screaming shouting crazy Aditya anyday over this acquiescent one...
Without realising what she was doing she held on to the collars of his kurta...
And that elicited a response she was glad to have found in his eyes after what felt like eons...surprise...
She hissed scrunching the fabric under her palms...
"What is wrong with you? Do you even realise what could have happened to you that day? I did not get hurt. Arshad did not get hurt...You saved him too at the hospital...!!! Who got hurt at the end? You did!!!"
He tried to pry her hands free from his kurta but she was in no mood to leave him...he fidgeted...her proximity was distracting...
"I was responsible for him being there in the first place...so I should have been the one to make amends ideally!!!So I did nothing great if i saved him at the hospital..."
Her hands tightened on the collar even more...bunching up the material..
He would have to change his kurta if she continued doing that...he thought absent mindedly...
"Do you even realise what I went through looking at you unconscious in a pool of blood...your head...the blood just would not stop...I was scared to death..." she said choking at the memory...
She had been this close to losing him that day...
The burst of happiness that he felt at her admission was doused by the pessimistic side of his mind reminding him that Zoya would feel exactly the same way for anyone close to her...She considered him her best friend...She was bound to worry for him...
"Zoya would you please leave me...And I said I am sorry...It won't happen again...The good thing is Arshad is fine..." he said while unsuccessfully trying to open her fists and free his Kurta from her death grip again...
"I know he is fine...This is not about him...this is about you...about us...Why are you being so understanding...? What has changed in these couple of days?.." she said gritting her teeth...glaring at him...
Reality sunk in Zoya...he wanted to stay...
Instead he looked at her honey brown orbs that were sparkling with anger...He had to give her the truth if not the whole, a part of it...
"You make understanding sound like a quality I am not capable of!!! Zoya I put things in perspective...I need to get back to work...You deserve a happy life...And Arshad will give you just that...I am happy for you..." he said and Zoya immediately let go off him and frowned...
"What are you going on about?" she said as he turned around to get his phone from his side table...
"He is a good man Zoya...He loves you... he said so himself...And you like him, care for him too... I saw your concern for him that day..."
She looked at him incredulously...
"He was in the middle of a riot...Who would not be concerned in such a situation Aditya? What has that got to do with your change of behaviour suddenly or my decision of not marrying him... What happened to my best friend...?"she asked, rather implored...
Aditya closed his eyes...Zoya really was dense in the matters of the heart, he thought frustrated...the anger, jealousy that he had so diligently tethered inside, bobbed precariously at the rim of his patience level...
He loved her...She did not...It was painful enough...now her words gave him hope from time to time only to plunge him into despair again...
The 'friend' word grated on his nerves nowadays...
"Zoya its time you get another best friend...someone who is going to stay around..." he said turning to look at her straight in the eye...
It felt like he had slapped her...She gathered herself...
"What do you mean?" she said her heart slamming against her ribs...his voice had held an ominous undertone to it...
"I am leaving for the States...I applied in a foreign airlines company sometime back and they responded last week...I was contemplating on taking up the offer and I am sure now... My training starts next week..."
"You are leaving?" she said as if in a trance
"Yes... but we will be in touch...Zoya people are waiting downstairs...I need to go..."he said while his heart broke into a million pieces looking at her desolate form...
With that he left, leaving her alone in the room...
The last time when she had come to know he was leaving she was hurt...she had felt betrayed...
This time she felt like someone had caught hold of her lungs and was twisting it mercilessly cutting off the supply of air... The sheer anguish she felt at those words he spoke so nonchalantly surprised her...Aditya seemed like the most brutal man in the world for her right now...
And for the first time she questioned herself as to why she was feeling betrayed like she had never felt before...
Hellooo everyone!! The Janmashtami slapfest had me rolling my eyes and i thought why not present to you my version of the promo minus the slap ofcourse...
This blatant slapping anyone anywhere in Hindi tv soaps is annoying to say the least... so yes we can all be civil and berate Adi for what he had done...hehehe...
hope you all like it...do let me know your feedback by leaving your comments...
Typos ke liye maafi š
love
juhi
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Anupamaa
