Dead in the Water - AdiYa FF

Chapter 35

"I don't know what to say. I am totally confused."

Mrs. Mishra looked down at her table with a worried look, while Aditya and Zoya sat opposite her.

"Ma'am, I am damn sure...something is odd...I..." Zoya stammered while she tried to cool herself down, as she added, "I just want you to share with me some...details about Aadhya. Can you...can you tell me about..."

Zoya struggled to breathe, due to the high amount of pressure she was going through, while Aditya held her hand, as he asked Dr. Mishra, "Mrs. Mishra, can you tell me about the way you found Aadhya?"

"Aditya," Mrs. Mishra took a deep breath, "I found her on the bus from Lucknow to Mumbai. I got on the bus somewhere in between, and I saw a small baby wrapped in a towel lying in a seat all alone, unattended. I asked people around, and no one knew anything about the guardian or parents of that baby. Realizing that someone had abandoned her, I took the baby with me and brought her to the home."

Zoya quickly took the bracelet and showed it to Mrs. Mishra. She asked in a restless tone, "This bracelet...how did this come with...Aadhya's things? Do you...have any idea?"

Mrs. Mishra took that bracelet from her hand, and looked at it, as she said, "This bracelet...yeah. This bracelet was hooked onto the towel Aadhya was wrapped in. I just decided to keep it with her things, as I had no idea about it."

Zoya seemed shaken hearing it, as she looked at Aditya. She didn't even know what to comprehend with all that information. Aditya expected the worst and at the same time, the possibility of that having happened gave him chills too.

"Is anything wrong, Aditya?" Mrs. Mishra asked looking at their restless faces.

"Well...we are...not in a state to say anything, right now...even we are confused..." Aditya closed his eyes, as he stood up, "We will explain to you later, Ma'am."

Aditya helped Zoya get up from there, and they walked out, while Mrs. Mishra wondered what could be wrong.

***

"Adi...I just can't believe what I just heard..." Zoya said as Aditya was driving, "Adi, are you thinking what I am thinking? I mean...could it be that Aadhya is..."

"And more importantly, the fact that Waseem Siddiqui could have a part in this...just..." Aditya gritted his teeth, as he banged the steering wheel.

"Adi, what do we do now? I am just blank...I don't even know how to process all these emotions I am going through now." Zoya said as tears filled her eyes.

Aditya placed his hand on her head and stroked it, as he said, "Relax, Zoya. First, we need to prove things. We need to see what we can do about that."

***

Aditya stopped the car in front of his house, and Zoya got down and rushed inside. Arjun stood by the door and asked her concernedly, "Bhaabhi, what happened? What did Mrs. Mishra say?"

Zoya just moved past Arjun and looked around and saw Aadhya sitting on the floor and playing with a kids' drum. She looked up and saw Zoya, and hit the drums with an excited look. Looking at her, Zoya came towards her, while the conversation she had with her mom 3 years back, echoed in her ears:

"Ammi...is it a girl or boy?" A worn-out Zoya asked Roshnaq, lying in the hospital bed, with a smile.

"Girl." Roshnaq said in a plain tone, looking down at the bed.

Zoya smiled, "Adi would have been happy had he been in my life now..." Zoya said and took a deep breath and looked at her sides and looked for the cradle.