'love will come
and when love comes
love will hold you
love will call your name
and you will melt
sometimes though
love will hurt you but
love will never mean to
love will play no games
cause love knows life
has been hard enough already'
It was around midnight when Noor Siddiqui heard her sister sobbing from the other side of the bed. It hurt to see her sister like this, but there was absolutely nothing she could do. Aditya had sworn her to silence. If only her genius sister could realize why she felt this way, it would be great.
It had been a week since Aditya had spoken to Zoya properly. She asked him to grab coffee one day and he made an excuse. She asked him to go to the movies with her, he came up with some bogus reasoning as to why he couldn't make it. Day by day, she felt her best friend drifting away from her life and it felt like she was losing a part of herself. Her nights were spent attempting to call him, which he usually declined and her days were spent in an effort to meet with him, which had become awfully difficult as she had no reason to be in the Hooda house anymore.
You see, Aditya had fallen hopelessly in love with her and seeing her with Arshad on the night of his parents' anniversary party was the final nail in the coffin. He saw the way her parents adoringly looked at them, heck, even she seemed happy. That's when Aditya had a momentary realization: what if he was actually the third wheel between Arshad and Zoya's love story? To think about, Zoya had never showed interest in him other than a friend. And from that moment on, Aditya decided he would no longer fight for Zoya to refuse Arshad's proposal, he would not throw her into an awkward situation by confessing his love, but he would take the backburner from now on. If the last year had taught Aditya Hooda anything, it was that fate had a way of working things out. Albeit, he wouldn't expect Zoya to come running into his arms. But he was tired. Tired of having to face his fear that Zoya might reject his proposal, that she might choose Arshad or that Yash had damaged her too much for her to ever love again. He didn't have the energy to smile every time he saw her when his heart sank into his stomach at the thought of never being able to have more than a friendship with this woman. He didn't have the energy to laugh at her silly Urdu taunts when he knew he may not be at the receiving ends after Arshad claimed a spot in her life.
What Aditya didn't know was that Zoya's heart, which remained guarded in all kinds of protective layers, had started opening itself in his presence. Zoya may have convinced her mind that she just loved Aditya as a friend, but who was to convince her heart? As weeks passed by, she missed his daily antics in her life. She couldn't eat noodles because they didn't seem as tasty as when Aditya fed them to her. Her coffee and chips only ended with her dialing Aditya's number and turning off her phone before calling him, telling herself, that if he cared, he would call or at least answer.
As Zoya got up for the umpteenth time that night, she decided to plug her headphones into her earring, music was usually a soother for all ailments.
"AAPI, IT'S MIDNIGHT AND FOR GOD'S SAKE ADITYA ISN'T DEAD, WHY ARE YOU LISTENING TO TUM BIN?" Noor yelled, as she was abruptly wakened by the music she deemed fit for a funeral home.
Zoya looked at her little sister, puzzled before realizing she had forgotten to plug in the headphone to her phone, her sister had heard the first song on her missing-Aditya-playlist.
"Wh-what do you mean I was just listening to the radio? Aur toh...Aditya kahaan se agaya beech main? Not everything is about Aditya." Zoya pretended to be unbothered, though her facial expression gave away how bad of a liar she was.
"This is it." Noor grabbed her sister by the wrist, and dragged her out of the room whilst grabbing her phone.
**
"Have I made you sleepless, my love?" Arjun asked as he received a rather late night call from his Noor.
"Shut up Arjun, I'm coming there with aapi now, I need you to get Aditya and meet me outside. I'm f***ing sick and tired of these two adult babies."
All poor Arjun wanted was a minute of romance with his girlfriend as she huffed and puffed at him on the phone and assigned him with a daunting task. Part of him wished he hadn't even picked up her call.
**
Before Zoya could realize what was happening Arjun and Noor had locked her into a room with Aditya Hooda. Her Aditya. It had been weeks since she had last seen him. His joyful demeanor was now replaced with a cold, unfamiliar one.
Before Aditya could say anything, Zoya ran into his arms, he didn't want to hug her back. No, he wasn't going to give himself any false hope. His resolution broke when he felt his arms get wet with Zoya's face pressed against them.
"Why are you doing this to me, Aditya?" She asked silently, her usually chirpy voice had seemed to disappear. The broken woman who clung to him as if her life depended on him reminded him of the Zoya who had just received divorce papers from her husband, the Zoya who attempted to commit suicide, he couldn't afford to see her like that again.
Without a second thought, he instinctively wrapped him arms around her.
"I'm sorry, Zoya, I didn't mean to hurt you, I really didn't. Please don't cry."
As his strong, muscular arms wrapped around her small, petite frame, Zoya finally felt at ease. The kind she longed for so badly during the past week. It was absurd how all the tension seemed to melt. All her wounds didn't feel like wounds in his arms, they felt like a chance to start afresh. She felt sukoon in his embrace. And in that moment Zoya Siddiqui knew, her relationship with Aditya wasn't just platonic, she felt more. She wanted to be the center of his attention. She wanted to be the woman who got to claim a place in his life. She wanted to be his.
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