The sight that welcomed Aditya as he almost broke the door to the room that had his Zoya locked up sent shivers down his body...he almost retched from the sight...
He was greeted with a vision of Zoya in Rajveer's arms, her lipstick smudged, her arms bearing the red finger marks of being held intimately by a man Zoya would die than prefer coming in contact with, and that day he realised he had failed his Zoya miserably, his wife, the woman who was willing to put her self respect, her dignity at stake for him was being slowly killed day by day and HE was the sole reason for it...
His temper, his impulsive natire had landed Zoya in such a situation and he wanted to hurt himself for being the cause of pain in her life...
This wasn't about Zoya or her family...she was bearing the brunt of being the daughter in law of the Hooda family, for being irrevocably in love with him...the morass that was the Hooda family despite all the outward glitter had finally swallowed and claimed her and had forcefully pulled her down into the slough and she was losing herself in the imbroglio that being part of the Hooda family came with...
He was going to deal with Rajveer later, first he had to set Zoya free from this, from the bond that would slowly claim her essence...As Rajveer gave a lascivious smirk and whistled while he made his way out, Aditya stopped himself from thrashing the man's face with a herculean effort...
He looked at Zoya's face, her eyes downcast as if she was ashamed of the scene that had unfolded in front of him few minutes back...
And at that precise moment his resolve hardened... it would break him, would make his life a barren patch of nothingness but he would endure it for her sake...as he kept on looking at her waiting for her to look up at him he realised now came the most difficult part...convincing her that he was disappointed in her, he was disgusted with the prospect of being in close proximity with a woman who had shared her body with someone else...
He braced himself for the heartbreak that would manifest on her face at what he was about to say...
"How could you?" he said in a choked whisper... trying to sound as repulsed as he could...
The revulsion in his tone made Zoya look up immediately and what she saw made her swallow hard, her eyes widening slightly...
Aditya's face was a mask of abhorrence and fury, not directed at Rajveer but at her...
And her discomfort gave way to rising panic looking at his face...
"How could I what?" she asked him scanning his face again and again...This was not her Aditya... he would not react in this way...he would understand...
"You slept with him!! you...you gave yourself to him!!" he said, his eyes were red and had taken a frenzied look...
"I did not!!!...and...wait...why...why am I explaining anything to you... Are you really accusing me?" she finally found her voice as the realisation dawned on her that Aditya was blaming her for everything that had happened...
Her tormented face and eyes that were asking him a hundred questions almost weakened his resolve but then for a fleeting second his eyes fell on the top shelf over Zoya's head and when looked back at her, his eyes were as heated as firestones...
"Yes I am Zoya...Rajveer is no one to me but you, you are my wife!!! do you even realise the meaning of that term...you did not think twice before coming here and surrendering yourself to that vile man!!"
He scrunched up his face... "He touched you...He must have touched you all over..." And he looked away...
She was unable to wrap her head around everything he was saying...
She stepped back a little as if the poison of his words were burning her...
"Nothing happened between me and him...Of All people Aditya..." she said in a shattered defeated voice... "I never ever thought that you could be so selfish and lowly...after everything we have been through together..." she said, still searching for her Aditya in the visage of this man she no longer recognised...
"I did all of this for you!!!!..." she screamed... "you hurt yourself, you were suicidal and I had no way out...Did you want me to sit and see you wither away???..."
Aditya clenched his jaws... her tears and her wrecked countenance made him want to hug her tight, soothe her and never let her go...but this was important... Rajveer was dangerous, the only way to keep her off harm's way was to send her away... and make it realistic so that the cunning man had no inkling of the reality...
"Me dying would have been better than watching you in this state with my enemy Zoya...you've let me down... And I will not be able to accept this" he shook his head..."I am done...we are done... I will file for divorce as soon as possible...you don't show me your face ever again Zoya..." He bit out...
He glared at her trying to make her believe just how much he hated her...
Tears after tears rolled down her cheeks and she walked past him and then she stopped in her stride...
"You know Aditya I have been proven wrong the second time...Abbu was right...The only difference is in your case I had full conviction that he was wrong...But now I know what a poor judge of character I am..how terrible it was when I chose you over abbu...what an awful mistake you were in my life... Yash could not ruin me...but you did for good... You know why?"
He kept his back to her while his heart screamed in pain, her words cutting deep...he kept quiet while her words lacerated his soul...
"Because I have loved you more than I could love anyone ever...And now neither will I be able to love nor trust anyone ever again...I cant wish ill for you Aditya...I hope you find peace after I am gone..."
With that parting shot she was gone, from the apartment and from his life...
He made sure she was out and then with the same rage he slammed the door to the apartment shut and came out...
It was only after he had walked a considerable distance that he allowed himself to be consumed by the pain that throttled his entire being...for everything that had happened in the past 48 hours...
He weeped like a baby sitting at the foot of a tree on a deserted street, his face buried in his hands, and for the first time he cried, for his father, and not, because of him...he sobbed for the father who had wholeheartedly accepted his Zoya when his mother had been caustic towards her...he remembered his last scathing exchange with Harsh, and his heart cried out...He did not get a chance to apologise to his father for all the times he had behaved badly with him, for all the times Harsh had forgiven his selfish attitude...and now he was gone and Aditya Hooda would never get closure...would never get to tell him that he had loved his father despite everything, despite all the acrid arguments...
His body shook with the agonising silent regret for all the things that could be and were now reduced to unfulfilled desires for a lifetime...
He was free because of the deal Zoya made with Rajveer and now he could not sit back and mope...there were lots of things to do... He had to find out his father's killer and he was almost sure Rajveer had something to do with the gruesome murder...Harsh had been stabbed a number of times and the nature of the wounds suggested it was an outburst of anger that made the killer delirious as he/she stabbed him even after Harsh had been dead...
He had to put Rajveer behind bars before he could think of going to Zoya and explaining to her why he said all the abominable things and why he took such a step...
The murky history of his family had always brought him misery but this time it had snuffed the life out of him separating him from the one person who meant everything to him...
Aditya Hooda was broken but he would rise again...He would not let the evil win this time... And he would make sure no harm came to his family again...
Hola Everyone...it is a take on aditya and Zoya after that whole episode with Rajveer And HH's death... I am disappointed with a lot of things but the last nail in the coffin was the total ruination of AH's character... He was so lovable and his character trajectory got in the dumps after he meant all that he had said...So this is my version...
I hope you like it...
Love
Juhi
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