Chapter 1:
Mahi: "Maa please. Mujhe iss baare mein aur koi baat nahi karni hai, ye kitni baar kehna hoga aapse? Aur vaise bhi, aap kabse Zoya ki hitayshi banne lagi? Bada pyaar jaag raha hai apni Bahu ke liye?
Mrs Arora: "Mahi! Main Zoya se nafrat karti thi aur karti rahungi. Voh hi kaaran hai ke mera beta aaj mere paas nahi hai, lekin tum jo kar rahi ho vo theek nahi hai. Jaan pooch kar usse nuksaan pahunchaana, apne bhai ki company ko barbaad karne ki koshish. Mahi iss badle ki aag mein tum hum sab ko jala rahi ho.. aur ye main tumhe karne nahi dungi. Apne bete ko khoya hai maine, ab jitni bachi kuchi zindagi hai, usmein mujhe thoda chain to de do!
Mahi: "Oh please Maa, aapke ladle bete ne to koi kasar chodi nahi, humein barbaad karne ki. Company, property sab uss Zoya ke naam kar diya.. Main jo kar rahi hun apne future aur aapke chain ke liye hi kar rahi hun. Mera bas chalta to ab tak to usse maar chuki hoti main. Lekin nahi kar sakti... Mujhe to laga tha ke vo khud us company ko barbaad kar degi, business to chalaana aata nahi hai usse. Aur upar se vo Aditya Hooda! Mujhe laga tha ke vo bhi Zoya se nafrat karta hai, vo to company ko duba ke hi maanega. Lekin na to usse kuch hota hai, na vo mere ki plan ko safal hone deta ha. Magar koi baat nahi, ek baar Zoya saare papers pe sign kar de.. uske baad usse duniya se na sahi, iss ghar se dhakke maar maar ke nikaalne mein jo maza aayega.. ussi mein mujhe sukoon milega!
Mrs Arora: "Mahi tumhe kya ho gaya hai... tum aisi to nahi thi---
Zoya: "Mahi...
Both Mahi and Mrs Arora turn around at the sound of Zoya's voice. Zoya looks at the two of them with tears streaming down her eyes, while Mrs Arora looks down unable to meet her eyes with Zoya's questioning glance and Mahi looks uncomfortably around the room. How had she been this stupid? Zoya was in the house and she had openly said her true feelings out loud.
Mahi: "Zoya... tum...
Zoya: "Bas Mahi. Humne sab sun liya hain. Humein laga tha ke aap sach mein humein samajhne lagi thi. Humaari dost thi. Lekin humein hi galatfehmi huyi thi. Hum... aap...---
Zoya turned around and left from there, unable to form any more words and unable to take in the toxic surroundings anymore. She had tried. She really had, to get Yash's family to accept her. She knew that if she was one part of Yash's heart, his mom and sister were the second. She had thought that maybe, just maybe, they could come together and complete Yash, even if he was not there anymore. And with Mahi's support, she had actually begun to dream that maybe her wish would come true, that they would be a family. She couldn't have been further away from the truth. Maybe Aditya was right. Maybe she was a bewakoof'.
Zoya made her way to the place where she had built her shrine, where she felt her Yash the most. Zosh. Zoya and Yash. Atleast here they were together. Forever. Zoya stepped into the empty office, of course it would be empty. Who in their right minds would be in the office at 8:30 PM? She made her way straight to Yash's... uh, Aditya's... oh, screw it YASH's cabin. Aditya never spent any more than 5 minutes there anyway! She sat down on the chair, Yash's chair. Even though Aditya had been thorough in his removal of EVERY picture of Yash from the cabin, he hadn't done anything to the cabin per say. The simplicity of the design screamed YASH. Though not a lot, yet every corner of the office had its details, which Yash had chosen himself. Zoya would know. After all, she had picked all of them with him. She leaned back against the chair, trying to lose herself in the memory lane, but the scene from an hour ago kept coming to her forebrain again and again. MAHI? Mahi tried to sabotage her? Mahi tried to destroy her brother's company? Mahi wished to be able to kill her? Mahi? She just couldn't hold it in anymore, the thoughts, the betrayal, the hurt, the failure. She pulled feet on to the chair and wrapped herself around her legs. And then, she let go. She cried for the millionth time, for her lost love, for her lost family, for her failure as a wife who couldn't keep make her husband whole. She cried until there were no more tears to cry.
Tired, she leaned forward on to the large table, accidentally bumping against the glass top, and pushing a button that had been hidden just above the chest of drawers, hidden from the world, and visible to only the one who knew about its existence. Surprised and intrigued, she pushed against the button, and gasped in surprise as a small square on the table top rose to uncover a secret compartment on the table. Zoya reached inside and brought out what seemed to be some papers and a photo album. As she flicked through the papers and the album, her breath stopped, and her world came to a stand-still. And suddenly, all of the worries, hurt and betrayal that Zoya had felt 5 minutes ago reduced to a minuscule, for these pieces of processed trees had singlehandedly managed to ruin Ms Zoya's life once again.
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