Bepannaah: Against All Odds || COMPLETED

2. Another Blow!

Aditya had no recollection to whatsoever of how the hell had he walked the distance between Zoya's home and his house. He didn't even realize he had a packed suitcase ready for him to leave the country, and that he had left it outside Zoya's door only, as he walked backed to his house, in no control over his feet.

He didn't know who opened the gate, or if it was already kept open. He didn't know if his parents were in the drawing room, or in their bedroom. He didn't know anything until he reached his room, and staggered till the bed, finally falling down on his knees. He knew it would be tough, he was prepared for heartache when he had stepped out to go meet Zoya for the last time, but this feeling was much more than what he had anticipated it to be. He felt like a dozen knives stabbing his heart, like burning acid poured over his raw wounds.

Whoever said heartbreak was cliche, was definitely fooling around. Especially when somebody's heart breaks twice within a year.

No matter who said what, Aditya knew that in some twisted way, he had loved Pooja. Maybe not the way she wanted to be, clearly not how she fantasized love to be, but in his own way he had. He had loved her when he saw her on their marriage altar, he had loved her when he lay quietly in her lap for hours and he had loved her when she smiled at him. And knowing that he fell short on her expectations, that he killed her though unknowingly, had cost Aditya his believe in himself.

Nobody really understood why he wanted to escape his loved ones, and settle somewhere afar. Zoya did stop him, but even she didn't know the guilt that forced Aditya to stay away from people he loved. The fear that he might ruin them, like he ruined Pooja; the fear that he might hurt them, the belief that he was selfish, that his self centredness was responsible for hurting people he claimed to love, Aditya was in a place that was very toxic for any human. Honestly, Zoya had gotten over her past, Aditya hadn't. He was still stuck there, standing alone, only his baggage was now increased to ten fold.

Zoya had come like breath of fresh air to him, who was suffocating under his layers. And after pulling him up a little, she had eventually ended up pushing him down, furthermore. Right now, he was just a man robbed of his ability to love, to trust, to feel confident in his own skin, to breathe.

When it began to become tougher for him with every second, he began to gasp for air, leaning forward and a shrill cry finally escaped his parched lips, calling out the only name he knew would hold him and never push him away like everyone else.

" Maa-in-law!", Aditya cried out, calling out for Sakshi, begging for her to take her in his warm embrace once, to hold him before he collapsed forever. He knew in his heart that without Sakshi he would have never gotten over Pooja's death, and now to get over Zoya too, he needed her. He needed the women he loved more than his own mother, the women he could bare himself to.

With shaking hands, he tried to video call her, his heart beating erratically as the pain became too much to handle. But when the connection could not be established, it only made Aditya cry more. He desperately needed Sakshi in that moment, the heaviness in his chest was killing him every moment. He felt short of oxygen, gasping as his shoulders shook from the intensity of his cries, his entire body shaking under its effect. With nimble fingers, he dialled her number again, hoping at least a voice call could be connected, but nothing in the world would have prepared him for the surprise he got.

The phone began to ring, but somewhere in his own room.

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Zoya stood with her head bowed down, tears running down her eyes, as her Abbu sat on the sofa glaring at her, taunting in between and downright accusing her for choosing someone else over her Abbu. Zoya listened to everything he had to say, letting him take out all the anger because this time she didn't want to loose her father. She wanted a happy end to her love story, a scene where both her father and Aditya would be present.

She clutched the hem of her lehnga tight as Aditya's face crossed her mind. He had looked so broken when he left that it scared her. It was the same look that she had had on the eve of Aditya's birthday, when she found out Yash wanted to divorce her. She desperately prayed that Aditya won't take any wrong step like she did. She wanted him safe and sound, she wanted to wipe every tear that he had shed, she wanted to love him like never before.

Once her Abbu got up and left for his room, Zoya exchanged a glance with Noor before running upstairs to fetch her phone. She needed to make sure he was alright. She wanted to hear his voice once, her heart was beating crazily for some reason that she could not lay a finger on.

She called him, once, twice and thrice but he won't answer his cell phone. She left a message, asking him to revert back, but it didn't make her worry any less. Noor watched her Appi in anticipation, but when she saw Zoya starting to weep again, she ran to her while Zoya fell down on her knees.

" He told me we would never meet again, won't we?", Zoya asked Noor, as Noor sat beside her and held her by her shoulders.

" He told so because of your happiness Appi. He thought you are happy with this marriage, and hence he decided to let you go, though it was clear how brutally it crushed him", Noor wiped Zoya's tears, trying to enlighten her. A sad smile formed on Zoya's lips.

" My Kohinoor has grown up, so soon!", She patted Noor's head, and then tried calling Aditya again. If it wasn't this late at night, she might had rushed to Hooda Mansion right then, but she knew better to enrage her already on fire father.

His cellphone was ringing. Then why the hell wasn't he picking up?

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Aditya pulled himself up towards his bed side drawer as the phone continue to ring. Confused, he opened it to find a cell phone in his drawer, that rang as 'Adi' in the caller name. It took him complete two minutes to realize it was the same phone he had picked up from that barren hilltop at the night of his parents anniversary.

Aditya frowned, as he cut the call. Wasn't his mother in law in London? Then how come her phone lying on the ground like that and it has been days since it was here. He had almost forgotten about it.

He swiped open the lock, and started to fiddle with the phone. He didn't know what to expect, but when he opened the call log, he had most certainly not expected almost all the calls to be made to his mother, Anjana Hooda. He knew that Anjana and Sakshi were never on good terms, then why the hell would she call Anjana so frequently?

Born and brought up in a Lawyer's house, Aditya had a sixth sense too and his instincts were almost never wrong. He desperately prayed to not receive a shock again, he knew he wasn't strong enough to handle anything else, but nothing in the world could have prepared him for what he read in the messages that had been exchanged between his mother and apparently a doctor.

He felt his heart beat stop as fear made its way into his heart. No! He couldn't loose another loved one, could he?

His own phone fell down from his hands on the bed, as he stumbled and sat down on the bed, with his head in his hands. His mother could really stoop so low? Why?

It was in that moment that Aditya really wanted to give up, on people and on life. He was tired of the constant games, of constant rejection, of heartache. He could not understand what crime had he committed to go through everything he was suffering. He wanted to be free of this never ending pain for once, for one moment at the least.

In that moment of supreme vulnerability, a whimper escaped him, calling out to that one name which used to be the surge of happiness and positivity in his life. She was hope in his dark world.

"Zoya!", He called her in his heart again, unknown to the fact that kilometres away her heart had started beating erratically, as if she had heard his cries.

Taking a deep breath, he held himself together because more than his pain, right now it was important for him to rescue Sakshi from wherever his mother has kept her. Wiping his cheeks, and patting his red eyes dry, he walked out of his room towards his parents' bedroom, when some whisper yells caught his attention.

His mother was yelling at his father.