Enduring Ally

Chapter 51: Getting Back to You, My Love

Aditya and Zoya realized that they are standing so close from Vikram's reaction and step aside from each other. Zoya hurried towards Vikram while she took hold of the baby, Vikram said, "Zoya, I think he is hungry... Just feed him and..." he stopped and added, "I didn't know you had company", he said while looking at Aditya and Aditya stood there looking at them in confusion. "It's okay..." she said awkwardly. Vikram nodded and she added, "I'll just be back after feeding him. If you have any important thing to do you can leave".

"Zoya... You knew that without him my day won't even pass... I'll just wait here..." Vikram said behind her as she got inside her bedroom and closed it behind her. Aditya who witnessed everything looked petrified at Zoya, Vikram and at the baby in her hand until Zoya gets inside the room.

Vikram looked at Aditya and stepped forward towards him. "Hi, I'm Vikram..." he extended his hand to Aditya as he said. Aditya took his hand as he said, "Aditya..." Vikram blinked twice and asked, "Blimey... Are you The Aditya Hooda, DMG's MD?"

Aditya nodded and Vikram immediately said, "It's a real pleasure to meet you here, Mr. Hooda! I was wondering you looked familiar" Aditya smiled and said, "Please call me, Aditya". Vikram smiled and said, "You should know that you're my inspiration to form my company and you're kind of role model for so many of us who studies CA here".

Aditya gave a naive look as Vikram praised him. "Vikram, I didn't do anything. I just took my job seriously and sincerely, that's all", Aditya said sheepishly. Vikram smiled and said, "Come on, Aditya. Don't be so down to earth, just take the credit". Aditya didn't respond as he didn't know how to react to his comment.

Vikram after a pause, asked, "How do you know, Zoya?" Aditya looked at the bedroom with confusion and said, "I'm Zoya's ex... I mean... Zoya was my..." He cleared his throat and said, "I mean... Zoya used to work for DMG... I'm her ex-boss".

"Oh!!! She never mentioned it before... I wonder why she left India's No.1 firm..." Vikram mumbled but it was more audible to Aditya. But he reacted as if he didn't hear it. Aditya opened his mouth but then closed it. He looked at Vikram and finally he asked, "Are you Zoya's ...?" but he couldn't complete the word he intended to ask.

"Oh!!! No... No..." Vikram said as he understood him. "I'm Zoya's college friend Radha's Husband... But we know each other from their college days. Zoya and Yash helped us to get married. She disappeared after Yash's death suddenly and a year back she reached to us and said that she needed a place to stay and a job to survive... Radha and I helped her move to this apartment and we're taking care of her and her son..." Vikram added.

Aditya's mind worked faster as he took the information in. Then he asked, "Who's the father then?" Vikram sighed and said, "No one knows except her... She didn't tell us about him... All she said to us that she didn't want to talk about him ever again... So, we didn't probe her much due to her health condition... She was so weak for months..."

Aditya's hope rose a little bit and smile escaped in the corner. "How old is her son?" he asked when he realized it could be his son. Vikram took a minute and said, "Actually, he born early... In nine months... So, he would be now, two months and 25 days..."

As Vikram was saying, Aditya's mind started calculating the months between the child's birth and their night together. Now, Aditya was sure that the baby is his son and a broad smile appeared in his face. Vikram looked confused before he could ask him Zoya opened the door and entered the living room with the baby. She handed over the baby to Vikram and looked at both of them and her mind was filled with one big question whether Vikram told Aditya anything about the baby that would have given him the confirmation that the baby is his.