Bepannaah: Against All Odds || COMPLETED

8. Denial!

Aditya had forgotten his decisions, his fate, his loneliness, basically everything else for those few minutes that Zoya wrapped her arms around him. His mind travelled back to the day she had willingly hugged him for the first time - in the market, the day after he came back from Paris. She had told him she missed him, she had missed the friend in him.

Aditya broke the hug at that memory, as another question formed in his brain. Zoya looked at him, alert and worried at the way his expressions were changing, but Aditya held her hands in his and looked up at her.

"Was I a good friend Zoya? You said you missed me, your best friend when I returned. Did I fulfill the requirements of a friend properly?", his voice sounded like coming from a dark abyss, his eyes a splitting image if his heart, broken beyond comprehension.

Zoya, with misty eyes, cupped his face, and looked into his eyes with utmost confidence.

" You had been the best friend I could ask for", she stated it, not leaving any trace of a question but she was taken aback with his next set of words.

"Pooja also said the same to me, but I failed her. She said that in her diary know? You can be honest Zoya, I won't mind", the way he escaped his eyes from her, concentrating on the floor, his hands still trembling, broke not only Zoya but also Noor's heart who was watching them from a distance.

Noor was petrified, she had never seen Aditya like that. She was used to his loud voice, his sarcasm, his bright smiles and expressive eyes. She had known the man who knew how to stand for the right, how to make things right. She had known his confidence, his strength, his abilities to fight for himself and what was his right.

But this man, standing in front of her Appi, was someone she had never seen. Probably the only glimpse of him she had witnessed would be two days ago, the day of her Appi's nikah when he had walked out of their house, but the reality was much more terrifying.

A phone call broke the moment, and Aditya took two steps back before swiping out his cell phone from the pocket, and released a breath to see the call he had been expecting all day. He turned and moved out a little to talk, sighed when he heard what he needed was done and closed his eyes as the reality of his decision sank in. This was going to make it all, final, but for that he needed to go there now.

He turned back, hoping to get Zoya's permission, but was cornered by Noor who was staring at him with her wide eyes.

"Aditya please don't do this", for two seconds his breath was caught in his throat, how the hell did she know what he was up to, but her next set of words cleared his doubt.

"Appi is really sorry Aditya. She loves you. You love her. Then why this distance? Why are you angry on her?", Noor complained and requested together, making Aditya chuckle.

A bitter, dry chuckle that expressed only sadness.

Aditya had always liked Noor. She had the audacity to speak her mind, fight for what she thought was right, and always stood by her sister. Over the days, he had started seeing her as his own sister too.

" I am not angry on Zoya, Noor. Naraz toh mai apne aapse hu. And honestly, I don't deserve her Noor. For an instance your father was right. I only know how to ruin people and their lives", Aditya had a strange smile on his face that scared Noor. She couldn't even gauge what Aditya actually wnated to say.

Sighing deep, he smiled at her again before moving across to find Zoya and when he did, he saw her still standing in the same place, frozen.

"Zoya, I need to go out for a while. May I go please? I will make up for the lost time by doing overtime after the office hours", Aditya's request made her snap her eyes at him.