Tell me you love me

New beginnings, old flavor

When Zoya returned from her UK trip, everyone around her started sympathizing with her and make her feel okay to be disoriented and sad. The thing was though, that she was sad, at the same time not depressed. Yes, it as a huge loss, she missed Kevin, however, she didn't grieve him. Because grieving someone and wishing for them to somehow return from the dead or wishing that life didn't take turns the way it had, is futile.

When someone suffers from a loss, we sympathize with them and want to be affectionate to them, but at times we all make the mistake of trapping the person in a never-ending period of grief. Too much of anything is bad, and so is too much of consideration.

Everybody around Zoya was faking normalcy and time and again tried to coddle her, like she was a disillusioned baby. In this scene, only Aditya refrained from such behavior. He understood her struggle. He was the only one who could see that she is trying to move on in life and not give in to the unexpected and dark turn of events. He was the only one who was truly normal around her; which is why more than anyone else Zoya felt the safest and most at ease around him. Though, she could not express it, given their history.

Adi and Zoya had stopped talking beyond necessary, long back. The brief India trip back then, had in a way only made things worse. Adi was quite an idiot, as well as a coward back then and never called her, and now in the light of recent events, they were back to where they started. The pursuit which he only started and ended a year back could no longer be revived.

It is never too late for new beginnings though and this was their moment to start anew.

Shortly, later on, Aditya joined the research group of which Zoya was a part; he was not just a visiting faculty anymore, but a full-time member now. Once again, the impeccable and the smartest duo were working together. Some things never change, once again the results were brilliant, on the other hand, their fights were amusing and iconic.

It was AdiYa once again! And once again, poor Jeet and Ashu were the willing-not-so-willing spectators-cum-commentators-cum-analyzers of the whole situation. Poor souls were the free ke psychiatrists and agony aunts of these two psycho geniuses.

It was monsoon time. in Mumbai, as much the weather is romantic, it is much more chaotic; the whole life, especially work-life turns topsy-turvy. In the lab, most of the team members were not able to come in, as they live far away, and the transport system is blocked and there is waterlogging on the roads. Zoya attends regularly because she lives on campus; most days Aditya comes late or does not come at all, as he lives nearby, still it is difficult for him to drive to the campus in such weather. The problem is, even to this day, he is not good at communicating, especially when it comes to telling Zoya of his whereabouts. He may be prompt in telling his schedule to the other team members, yet, for some reason, he always leaves Zoya uninformed and on her own means to assume reasons and possibilities and deal with the situation. He may or may not answer when Zoya tries to contact him and whenever she tries to confront him about his irresponsible behavior, he goes like: " arre, tum itna bhadak kyu rahi ho? Tumhe pata toh h ki mera fix nai hota... and don't blame me, blame the weather. Ab baarish toh maine nahi karwayi na... aur waise bhi, mujhe tumhara samajh nahi aata, tum iss waqt aise hi experiments plan karti ho jo tum akele kar sako, kyuki abhi actually tumhare alawa wahan aur koi nahi aa sakta... toh tum sirf mera hi sar kyu khati ho? Tumhe meri koi khas zaroorat toh h nahi... bas bahana chahiye mere saath time spend karne ka 😉"

Thankfully, most of these conversations were on phone, or even in person, Zoya is not a murderer; but it may soon change. "ya allah! App kaise besharam, behaya, kamzarf insaan h? hum yaha itna important project par kaam kar rahe h, aura ap ko koi zimmedaari ka ehsaas hi nahi h. aur abhi baith kar aap aur bhi zyada bakwas maar rahe h. mana hum ye saare kaam akele kar sakte h, magar 2 log milkar kare toh ye aur behatar aur jaldi ho sakte h. aur hum aap ko isliye bullate h, kyuki aap sabse paas mein rehte hain, aur inn sab kaamo mein aap unfortunately, hum se zyada experienced aur skilled h. nahi toh yakeen maniye, aap jitney safire aur ahmak andaaz mein behave karte h, hume koi shauk nahi h aap k saath rehne ka. Kaam ek karte h aur 4 bigaad kar jate h, hume toh aise treat karte h as if m your personal butler. "