Dead in the Water - AdiYa FF

Chapter 32

Story till now:

Aditya and Zoya have come to Udaipur for their wedding, while Zoya misses Roshnaq's presence. Waseem calls up Zoya, and tries to trigger her emotions and remind her about her vulnerable and unstable side, and the uncertainty of Aditya accepting that reality. This leads to Zoya having a frantic breakdown, while Aditya gets to know about the dark past of Zoya, which he was not a part of...

Now:

Zoya opened her eyes slowly, and it took some time for her eyes to adjust to the surroundings. She slowly realized that she was at the hotel room at Udaipur, for her wedding. She attempted to move, while her palm hurt like hell. Wincing in pain, she lifted her palm and saw a bandage cloth tied around it. She looked at her palm, and the event that happened a few hours ago flashed in her mind. She got a call from Waseem. She didn't want to recollect what all he spoke, and at the same time, she couldn't remember them too that clearly. All she understood after looking at her palm was that, the call didn't go well; which was pretty much expected.

She rested her other fist on the bed, and tried to get up, while she saw Aditya sitting at the single sofa in the room, opposite her bed. Aditya looked at her with a blank stare, without any expression in his face, while Zoya recalled Aditya entering the room during the episode she was facing; a situation in which she never wanted him to see her. Those were some of the darkest phases in her life, and she never wanted Aditya to know such a side of Zoya; a side that might scare him or make her look with sympathy rather than love. But he did see it, and this time it was Waseem behind it. She didn't know if she could hate Waseem any more than the hatred she already had.

"Coffee?" Aditya asked Zoya, interrupting her thoughts. Zoya looked at Aditya, unable to decide how to behave and talk to him after all that. Aditya was so quiet, and she didn't understand what did he even decipher after seeing her that way some time back.

"Adi...don't you...have anything to ask?" Zoya asked, while Aditya got up from the sofa and walked towards her, and sat opposite her in the bed.

"Yes." Aditya said, "I just asked you something. Coffee?"

"Adi..." Zoya said in a low tone, "You know...what I mean."

"Yes, I do." Aditya said, while he took Zoya's injured hand in his, and looked back at her, "But, what's there to ask about it?"

Zoya looked on with a confused face, as she said, "Adi...what you saw...it's not that I am...I mean...please don't...Waseem Siddiqui...he called me and...that's why..."

Aditya moved forward to Zoya and locked his lips on hers, as Zoya closed her eyes instantly, as a drop of tear trickled down her cheeks. Aditya's kiss always had some sort of a healing and soothing power. She almost forgot whatever happened just then, and this was just something that she needed following that horrific episode she went through.

Aditya slowly retreated from the kiss, and moved his fingers through her hair, and held her cheek, as he brushed off the tears with his thumb.

"Did you find anything different in this kiss?" Aditya asked with a smile, while Zoya slowly shook her head in denial.

"That's all about it. Nothing has changed. And nothing can ever change the way I see you and love you. No matter what happens, what you went through or will go through, you were, are and will always be my beloved Zoya; the one who is worth living for, and to die for. That woman, who fell in love with me, thus making me the luckiest man alive on earth."

Zoya felt a lump on her throat, while Aditya said with a smile, "No matter how much strength and health my heart has, but I will still love you more than my heart can hold."