Enduring Ally

Chapter 24: Raising Hopes and Disappointments

Aditya sat on the couch and looked around then slowly he moved to kitchen. He found the coffee powder and prepared himself a coffee. Then he moved to the bedroom drinking his coffee, he examined the book shelf. Fiction, Romance and Non-fiction books are orderly cased in the shelf.

He found Harry Potter series books, then Jeffery Archer collections and Cormoran Strike series too. He pulled one book from Cormoran Strike series and read the back cover while she came out of the bathroom wearing only towel. "Shit!!" both cursed in unison. She went back inside and closed the bathroom door. "Shit!!! I'm sorry Zoya", he kept the book back in its shelf and headed outside. 

"Aditya, can you please pass me the dress?" she asked. "Ahem... fine", he said and searched for her dress. "It's there in my bed", she said and she opened the door slightly and held out her hand. He hurriedly picked all the dress from her bed in bundle and gave it to her through the gap. Then he left the room and closed the door behind him.

While waiting in the living room for Zoya, he thought to himself, "Man! It's going to be very difficult for me to forget that image of Zoya", he smiled widely when her image in towel flashed through.

Zoya came out fully dressed, black tee and cream pants. "I'm sorry, Aditya, but what were you doing in my bedroom", she asked him keeping her hands in her hips. "I was looking around the house and I saw the book shelf there. I totally forgot that you're taking bath", he said. "By the way, it's your fault", he added. "What? My fault, you came into the bedroom, then how it'll be my fault", she asked him.

"Madam, you forgot to lock your room. It was open when I was looking around, if it was locked, then I wouldn't have came in. Now, tell me, whose fault it is?" he asked her. She opened her mouth to say something but stopped from saying anything. But asked, "Are we planning to go out or we're going to sit and fight over whose fault it is?"

"Okay, if you're ready let's go", Aditya said with smirk while leaving. "What?" she hit him on his hand jovially.

                                                ***

On the way Zoya asked him, "Where are we going?" As she couldn't figure out the location, where they are?

"To Chickmagaluru", Aditya said. "What? Aditya that's a four and half an hour drive, are you even serious?" she exclaimed. "Yep..." he said calmly.

"I just wanted to go out somewhere closer. You'll get tired, if you drive for almost 10 hours. And tomorrow I have my finals and need to be home by 9.00 pm or 10.00 pm", she said.

"Don't worry we can get back by 11.00 pm, if it go as I planned. Now, it's 9.30 am we will reach Chickmagaluru by 2.00 pm and we can spend some quality time of 5 hours there and say leave by 7.00 pm. I'll drop you at your home by 11.00 pm", he said very calmly.

"But... what happen if anything goes wrong and we get late? Or stuck somewhere", she said. "Oh! Come on Zoya, don't be spoil sport. I'll manage, do you want to come with me to Chickmagaluru or not?" he asked. "I want to... But..." before she could object he cuts her off. "That's all I want to know. I'll take care of the rest" he said and stepped on the accelerator.

Around 10.00 am he stopped for breakfast and spends some 15 mins. Again they were on the road in no time. Aditya played his favorite songs collection and Zoya wondered how come their tastes are so similar in songs. All songs are her favorite too.

"Aditya, all the songs are my favorite too", she said. He smiled at her and asked about her favorites. "I love Bollywood movies, I love reading books and I love Kuch Kuch Hota Hai", she said with excitement. "No way... they my favourites too... I just love Kuch Kuch Hota Hai so much that I bought that Kajol's dress for..." he trailed off. To change his mood she said, "What? You too bought that dress... Even I have that dress with me... but Riyaz makes fun out of me whenever I wear that dress. So, I stopped wearing it".