Her Memories Calling Him...

03 | Candour

"I'm still not sure Arjun. I seriously don't know whether I have the guts to go and face her after such a long time. I f***** up big time with the chances i had. I didn't even get the time to wait and see her entire exhibition that day and if I had been.. things would have changed between us..."

Aditya said in a tone laced with anxiousness as he pressed the Cigarette to his lips and clicked the lighter to life. Placing it inside his jacket pocket, he took a deep drag and exhaled the smoke into air while inhaling the dangerous chemicals as if they were his only support in life.

"Will she run away from me? Will she scream in terror and sl.. slap me? Curse me? I don't just know! It's so confusing Arjun. Are we doing the right thing? Zoya.. will she talk with me?"

Aditya stared at Arjun with hope in his eyes and looked down at once, as the emotional rush he was feeling wasn't making him ready to face the truth. For a fleeting moment as he closed his eyes in pain, Aditya could visualize Zoya's happy face, her shining beautiful eyes staring right in to his orbs with excitement. It was the last time they met each other at their University, in Mumbai.

They were giving a chance for the young talents to incorporate them with popular Business companies, belonging to different fields and a designer's exhibition was held for the same, for which Zoya was participating with her inventions. She had bought her own stall to which Aditya had helped bringing in Zoya's creations the previous day.

She was happily telling him every small detail about how she had been planning for the exhibition since months and finally she can see her hard work paying off and that's the exact time when Aditya received a call from Anjana and he was asked to pick Arjun from School, as she is busy till evening. They had shared a brief hug with Aditya telling Zoya that he'll meet her next day morning since the Hooda's had a party to attend at night and waved at each other. That was it.

In a matter of hours Aditya would be back in India, to meet his best friend after so many years have gone but definitely not in the blink of an eye since only he knew, what it feels like to lose that one person you love the most? Or wasn't he the only one?

'Won't you let my appi breath peacefully after almost shaking her to death Aditya?'

His memory took a turn on its own as Aditya remembered how Noor had retorted back at him as he made an excuse for her to not reject his call. It was absolutely predictable of her to deny talking with him since she had the correct reasons. After all those years passed by only did Aditya remember to call Zoya. He was her closest companion, they literally knew everything about each other and Aditya had already fallen for her, for all the little reasons when they were just teenagers.

But they hadn't guessed that a storm would invade their lives and destroy whatever the relationship they shared, just at the snap of fingers. Everyone was naive and innocent to understand the harsh reality.

Aditya again took a puff off his cigarette and blew air. Arjun had been observing how his brother was feeling nervous as they were sitting next to each other, on a bench near the lake which Aditya had admired as a place to have some solitary time to him, whenever he felt disturbed. He was never this broken. Arjun slowly placed his hand on Aditya's shoulder to which he turned around.

"Bhai, I know that this is going to be tougher than it sounds but you are finally going to meet Zoya, just give it a thought! You always wanted to see her doing well in her life right? Noor told me that Zoya's doing a job and that's the place where she finds her happiness, I have already told you this for million times since last week just to make you understand it. Aren't you feeling happy that Zoya is in a good place? Of course.. She might have gotten hurt when you walked away without meeting her but now everything is going to be alright. I called Noor before leaving from home and she said that once we reach the New Delhi airport tomorrow, she'll come to pick us up. So don't stress out and throw that shi*** cigarette away! You know how much I hate you using that f****** piece of crap whenever you're disturbed bhai..."