DHADKAN

HOPE

"Zoya", Aditya called from the top of the stairs.

Zoya who had already reached the first landing stopped as she heard her name being called. She turned to find Aditya standing at the top of the stairs. He walked down as Zoya waited patiently for him at its foot. He dodged the last few stairs and stopped right before her.

Zoya was waiting for him to speak but words didn't left his mouth. He tried to speak but nothing came out. This is how she makes him nervous everytime she is around. He forgot what he had to say, so he just stared at her.

Aditya was thinking how to start the conversation when she spoke, "Hum coffee banane hi jaa rhe the. Aapko kuch aur chahiye tha?", she asked looking straight in his eyes.

Aditya was struggling to form words as his brain stopped working at that moment. He had left the terrace with a very confident attitude but now when the time has come to actually speak, his voice is not coming out of his throat. He was so mesmerized by the lady before him that he kept staring at her.

Until she spoke yet again, "Aapki kuch aur bhi chahiye tha?", Zoya asked nicely.

Aditya somehow managed to find his voice back and replied, "Haan, woh actually mujhe paani chahiye tha".

"Ji, aaiye", Zoya nodded taken a little aback as she wasn't expecting this but anyways she took another set of stairs to the ground floor landing. Aditya followed her as he took one stair at a time.

Zoya left the last stair and made her way to the kitchen in the house. She kept the tray with empty kettle in the basin and walked to the refrigerator. Then took out a bottle, filled a glass of water for Aditya and kept the bottle back in the refrigerator. He was waiting at the distance as she took a deep breath before walking back up to him.

Zoya held out the glass of water to his direction. Her eyes were on the glass but his eyes were on her. Aditya brought his hand closer to the glass. Their hands touched as Aditya wrapped his fingers around the glass over Zoya's. Her fingers were soft and Aditya felt the ring in her finger.

Zoya's eyes lifted to meet his and got locked in him for a while. She could see an innocence in his deep eyes and that they wanted to tell her something. There was complete silence around them yet their eyes were speaking volumes. She wanted to break the eye contact but the green one held so much intensity in them that she couldn't. On the other side, Aditya's eyes were not ready to leave Zoya's as they shared an intense eye lock. He had already forgotten what he had came to say.

Zoya was the first one to break the eye contact and quickly removed her hand which was beneath Aditya's on the glass. She turned to leave in a haste when he called out again, "Ek mulaqaat ho skti h?", Aditya asked keeping his voice firm yet polite.

Zoya stopped at his words and turned to face him again as she held an expression of shock on her face.

Before she could think or say anything, he repeated "Kl ek choti si mulaqaat ho skti h?", and paused for a moment. Taking a few steps closer to her, he continued "Thodi der ke liye?".

Zoya was more than surprised at his question. He had the audacity to ask her directly at her face. But she didn't know what to say. Aditya looked directly in her eyes not allowing her to look anywhere else. She can see a glint of hope in his eyes as he waited for her to answer.

"Woh hum", but before Zoya could answer their moment was broken as she heard footsteps of descending down the stairs. The elders of the house were coming back from the terrace after spending a quality time. She quickly took two steps back from her place.

"Arre Aditya-Zoya!! Aap dono yahan kya kr rhe h?", Roshnaq approached seeing them together as the rest retired to their room.

Arjun came too after her, "Bhai, aap to Zoya bhabhi se kuch baat krne aaye the na. Ho gyi baat?", he asked Aditya controlling himself from giggling and in return earned a glare from him.