Adhura Alviida 2

she deserves better than you

Zoya led Aadhya down from her arms and asked her to go to her room before continuing on and standing in front of Aditya.

"Oh....so you've shown your true colors." Zoya scoffed in his face, her eyes seething with anger.

"You don't care about Aadhya or her feelings, you just want to keep her here to seek revenge from me, isn't it?"

Aditya opened his mouth to retaliate but was met with the harsh reality of what he had just done. He wasn't thinking straight all he knew was that he had to find a way to make both of his girls stay with him, even through coercion.

"Zoya...I..."

She placed her hands out to stop him.

"You've done enough, Aditya. If you think by slapping me with legal proceedings, you'll separate me from my daughter, then you are wrong. There is no court than can separate a mother from her child." She spat.

"She's my child too, Zoya. You cannot separate her from me, we are a family." He retaliated.

"What family? You ended our relationship the day you accused me of sleeping with Rajveer! Aditya I—"She choked on her words as her eyes became full with tears. "I made that deal for you! Do you know how much pain I felt when I came to visit you in jail. Your eyes were lost, you looked shattered I couldn't see my husband like that. I wanted to save you. I did everything for you. And what did I get in return?"

Aditya grabbed Zoya by her shoulders as he brought her closer to his own self. She tried wiggling out of his hold.

"Your anger is valid, Zoya. I was wrong. Jo maine kiya woh galti nahi gunaah tha...but why did you separate me from Aadhya? Didn't I have a right to know about my own child? Zoya, you don't know a thing about how I felt seeing you in Mussorie in that condition but to know I had a four year old daughter that was suffering without me, can you imagine? No father deserves that. If you hated me, I would've understandingly accepted it, but you separated me from my own child. You may have nourished her to life for only nine months but the bond you formed with her in 9 months was more than I was ever able to form with her in three whole years. She doesn't even call me Papa, she didn't even want to look at me, how could I form a bond with my daughter that hates me, Zoya? I am living everyday in hell wondering how to fix this. How to fix us. How to fix Aadhya. And I can't figure out a damn thing."

"Don't even try, Aditya, there is no us." She spoke, breaking free of his hold.

"Do you not think I wanted my baby's father by my side during my pregnancy? I too wanted the best for my daughter. But how was I ever to look at you again after the accusations your hurled at me? I was scared, Aditya! What if you had insulted me again and not given your name to our child? What if you didn't believe it was your child? I wouldn't have been able to bear that. Aadhya deserved better than that, and so did I. And I'm damn proud of my decision! When I saw the way Aadhya's eyes lit up when I spoke about Mussorie, I knew in that moment my family had raised her to be a perfect child. She doesn't need you, Aditya. She deserves so much better than you."

She deserves so much better than you.

This wasn't the first time he was told that he wasn't enough. It had become almost a habit for him. When he was growing up, he firstly failed his parents by not fulfilling the path in life they wanted. Arjun became the star child of the family and it was then he realized he would always be the disappointment. Pooja gave him a reason to feel alive again, but as fate would have it she too deserved better than him. His mother yearned for a relationship with him till her last breath, she too deserved a better son than him. His father died thinking he hated him, he too deserved a better son. Zoya came into his life and fulfilled his every incomplete wound yet he found a way to make her hate him too, she too deserved better than him...and now...now Aadhya, his own offspring deserved a better father than him.

He looked up at her with his tear-filled eyes as she moved away from him, firm in her determination not to be broken by him. He expected this, but somewhere it hurt to know that she had truly given up on him. Now she would take his last reason to live too, his Aadhya.

Zoya ran up the stairs into Aadhya's room, unable to control her own tears. She patted them away before entering. Aadhya immediately stood up from her bed and ran to her mother, Shadow followed her as well.

She embraced her mother in a warm hug that she couldn't seem to get enough of, before Zoya brought her back to her own bed and tucked her in warmly. She was still somewhat concerned about the episode that occurred earlier with her parents yelling at each other but right now she chose to bask in the happiness of having her mother nearby. Her parents were now together and her ammi was okay, soon everything would be okay or that's at least what her fragile heart thought...

Zoya looked around Aadhya's room as both of them lay on the bed snuggled with each other, much to her disappointment it resembled an empty guest room than it did a small child's room. The room was devoid of much color, painting, or toys as a normal kid would have, it was almost eerie. Zoya knew Aditya probably knew nothing about interior designing a kid's room but she was only hoping he didn't further emotionally damage her little one.

She moved a stand back from her face as Aadhya began blowing short puffs of breath in her sleep. Her little one was so beautiful, a princess indeed. She had missed out on eight years of her life, how would she make up for it? Where would they start? How would they bond? How would Zoya finally get her back to Mussorie? Aditya owned the best legal company in the country, she would have to fight with all of her might in order to get her daughter back and it was worth it. Worth it, if she got to see that smile for the rest of her life.

**

Aditya ran his hands through his hair as he sat near his bed, with his legs pulled up to his chest and his arms engulfing them. His face was shaking side to side as he shivered. He was having withdrawals. The words Zoya said today kept ringing in his ear like a song he couldn't stop playing in his mind. He put his hands over his ears as if it would make the noise stop but it kept repeating itself.

She deserves better than you.

He opened his eyes that were squeezed shut and immediately reached out to his drawer opening it. He saw the plastic sealed bag of white tablets inside and immediately downed two of them. What started as a simple pill to help him get sleep was now becoming a drug addiction. He couldn't live a normal life anymore without the help of narcotics, that's just what life had done to him. He was a failure at everything.

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Thank you all for one 1K reads! Question for my readers: Would you all prefer updates of this length every 2-3 days or one BIG update weekly? Do let me know!

Also there's something hidden about Aadhya in this chapter, it gives some of the future plot away, let me know if you can find it :)