Enduring Ally

Chapter 23: Growing Closeness

Zoya answered the call with smile, on seeing Riyaz name on the display. "Hey Skeleton, How are you? How is Zara?" Zoya so much excitedly asked him. Riyaz laughed at her excitement and asked, "We both are fine and great. What happened to you, Gundoos? You seemed to be so much excited. Is everything is alright?"

Zoya giggled like kid and said, "What happened to me? I'm perfectly alright. Nothing happened to me. Hmm... Wait" she paused and added, "Love happened to me. Just now I was thinking about everything happened between Aditya and me. How much he cares for me? I don't know why I didn't realize this before. I'm so happy, Riyaz. You know, I have decided to tell him how I feel about him after my finals".

Riyaz felt something odd but he didn't want to discourage her. He just said, "Gundoos, I'm so happy for you. But, tell me one thing, are you sure that he will accept when you tell him how you feel. Just make sure before you tell him about this".

Zoya sighed and said, "Skeleton, you only wanted me to realize that I was in love him. All this time when I denied you convinced me. Now, what are you trying to say when I wanted to confess my feeling for him?" Riyaz laughed and said, "Nothing dear. I'm just asking you to make sure before saying anything I don't want you to get hurt or lose your friendship with him. Okay, let's just leave that topic. Now, you need to concentrate on your finals. How is your preparation going?"

"Fine. I'll be sure before I tell him about my feelings. And Finals... Aditya is helping me with the preparation. He asked me to come to his house daily so that we can revise on the chapters and he's helping out in how to answer the questions and which chapter is important. Even he has given me all his notes to prepare for the exam", she said and noticed the clock which is showing the time is already 10 past 9.

"Hey sorry Riyaz, I can't talk now. I need to go to Aditya's house by 11 to prepare for the finals. You know about him, he doesn't like delays. So bye, I'll call you later", she disconnects the call before Riyaz could say anything and she hurried to get ready.

                                                ***

She reached Aditya's house by 10.55 am. Aditya was on call with someone while she entered the living room. He gestured 1 minute when he saw Zoya. After he finished the call and turned towards her, he lost his words. Zoya was wearing denim jeans and one quarter sleeves laced white shirt. She had let her hair loose and curly in the end. 

He never saw her in casual dress. Zoya always comes to office in formal suit, he saw her in the long dress he bought her for dinner and apart from that he saw her in lehenga in Riyaz's wedding. Every dress suits her perfectly.

"Hi Aditya, Good morning", she said. "Hi... Zoya..." Aditya stammered. Zoya can sense that Aditya was looking at her from head to toe. She can feel the current passing through out her body. She asked, "Aditya, are you alright, what happened?" He realized that he was staring at her for long time. He came to his senses and said, "Yeah... Sorry... Good morning Zoya".

He thought to himself, "I have to be more careful, when she is around me. I have to control my emotions otherwise she may find out and misinterpret me. I love her. I'm not some loafer to lust over her. Why my emotions are so confused? God, Zoya what have you done to me?"

"Aditya" Zoya waved her hand in front of his face. "Yeah", he said who came out from his thoughts. "Can we start with the preparations?" she asked. "Yeah", he said and moved to his bedroom. "Where are you going?" she asked. "Oh... I have kept the notes and books in my room. You wait here, I'll go and get them", he said. "I'll come with you to help with the books", she asked and he nodded.

She followed him to his room. A neat and well maintained room, no one could say it's a man's room. A King-size bed in middle of the room, wooden tables on both sides of the bed and two night lamps on each. On the right side, a photo frame with Aditya and Arjun photo in it. Both are smiling happily in that photo. "When am I going to see you smile like this for me?" she whispered out of his earshot. Right side of the room, the entire wall was covered with book-shelf. Near the book shelf, there was one wooden table and chair. To the left, she saw wardrobe and bathroom.