Meri Dil Ki Dua- Adiya Short Story

Starting Again

Part Six

They arrived back at the reception desk and Aditya grabbed a few more brochures. The receptionist smiled at them both. Zoya gave her a puzzled look.

Why was she giving them such a goofy smile?

Oh no she had kissed Aditya before, her lipstick rubbed off on his face?

She leaned over and turned his face to look in her direction.

He frowned at her.

"Kya hua Zoya?"

He was usually the spontaneous one. This was all very unexpected for him to deal with all of a sudden.

She muttered something about meeting him by the cottage before scampering off.

" Bheegi billi turned tigress overnight?," he pondered aloud as he watched her leave.

Tina the receptionist called out to him.

" Mr. Hooda, is your wife upset with you? Should I make some suggestions for ..."

Aditya turned alarmed.

"Shush!"

"Tina please don't call her my wife. The thing is she has some health issues. Whenever someone reminds her she is married she gets uptight and thinks she is doing a disservice to me," Aditya half lied.

" Oh so sorry to hear that sir. Have you brought her here to recover? Here this one! She may like a massage it will help her destress," the young girl offered.

" Thanks so much Tina," Aditya said with a fake smile.

No was allowed to touch Zoya like that. He wouldn't let them.

He dumped the brochure in the dust bin as he entered their cottage.

He spotted Zoya in the kitchen brewing some tea.

Aditya sighed.

He longed to tell her the truth. But he also hoped she would realize the truth on her own so that he could be free from this burden. It had been a matter of less than a week since she had been discharged from the hospital.

Up to now everything that had happened , he suspected it was because she was trying to find her life again.

Yash betrayed her again. He came back to find her after he caught up to her on her flight to Seattle. All of it was luck and planning together.

Now she had kissed him. He could tell she may have had some flashbacks but he could not force her to remember any sooner than she had so far.

In fact he was waiting to finish their conversation from before.

She finally turned to face him.

" Do you always do that?"

He snapped out of his reverie.

" Be all good to me and give me my space?"

"It is the gentleman's thing to do," he retorted.

" Then be the gentleman and tell me why you treat me like a stranger when we are far from it," she declared.

Aditya looked at her stunned.

She opened her phone up to pull up instagram.

It was an older picture from some months ago.

Their friend Aman had taken it on their wedding day. They had ran off and finally married.

Wasim was willing to forgive Aditya if he could bring Zoya back recovered. He had not promised to accept him as his son-in-law.

" Zoya.."

"Abbu probably told you to hide this right? He didn't want us to be together probably. Sorry he has always been one. I don't know what caused me to forget Aditya. But I am sorry for hurting you. I should have never left with Yash that day. After all this you came and found me. Abbu should be ashamed. He has no idea how lucky we are that you are my husband."

Aditya sighed with relief as he walked over to her.

" You don't know how much better I feel that you realized this on your own," he admitted.

Zoya took a sip of her tea.

" Would you like some tea my husband?"

" Yes begum jaan," he replied.

She sat the mug down and then sat down across from him.

She grasped his one hand.

" From now on, we will live like husband and wife. It may take me time to become familiar to you again..."

" Well I don't think it will take that long. You already kissed me in a public place," he hissed.

She pouted and turned timid.

He smiled indulgently at her.

" Relax, take your time. I will not rush you to do anything or remember anything that does not come naturally," he assured her.

She gazed at him.

"How did I get so lucky?"

"That is where you are wrong. I am the one who is lucky," he retorted.

They had a quiet dinner that night.

Zoya felt tired and nodded off soon after.

Aditya gazed at her hoping she was not straining herself too much. He gently picked her up and placed her on the bed. He took off her shoes and then tucked her in.

Moving her hair out of her face, he wondered if she would ever remember and how she would deal with whatever trauma caused her to loose her memory in the first place.

He didn't know the whole ordeal. However what he knew of it send chills down his spine whenever he thought of it.

Shrugging off the eery feeling, he smoothed down the blankets and went off to change for bed.

After sleeping for a few hours, he got up to workout.

Zoya awakened to see him not in the room. She decided to freshen up and then go plan their day today.

Twenty minutes later she stepped into the shower but felt a strange feeling and then a vague sense of dread filled her.

Hearing some commotion , Aditya knocked on the bathroom door.

" Zoya tum theek ho?"

She caught her breath and opened the door and ran into his arms.

" I remembered something, I dunno why I felt so short of breath!," she cried.

"Shh! Relax deep breath in and out. You are having a panic attack, Breath with me Zoya," he said trying to calm her down.

He wrapped her robe around her quivering form and held her in the bed until her breathing relaxed.

Once she felt better, she pulled away from him.

" Sorry I don't know why I freaked out so much."

"it's fine. I am going to shower, unless you did to finish first?"

" I am good. I will just get dressed," she muttered.

He gently kissed her forehead before he started to get up.

She grabbed his wrist.

" Sorry for being so clingy."

"It's fine. I am here now, just for you."

She let him go and watching him enter the bathroom.

Zoya took a deep breath.

" Why can't I just remember and get over whatever happened?," she pondered.