DHADKAN

WHERE IS HE?

Zoya came out of the washroom wiping her mouth with towel. She had returned home early from the office taking half-day. After Ishita left cabin, her headache has clouded over her mind again. Giving the charge of the office to Akansha, Zoya picked up her things and left.

She threw the towel on the chair and sat on the bed holding her head in her hand. It felt heavy. She told her mother-in-law earlier when she came to ask for dinner that she wasn't hungry and if she would, she will eat later. Though she insisted so much upon her but all Zoya wanted was some time to herself.

She pressed her fingers to her temples & slightly massaged them. That's when the door of the room opened and he entered. He was holding his court in one hand & a plate of food in his other. Zoya became dangerously alert of Aditya's presence as he shut the room's door & walked inside.

Though he was aware of her presence in the room but stayed silent. He knew she was looking at him only but neither did he looked at her nor spoke anything. He kept the plate of food on the side table of their bed which she knew was meant for her and went inside the bathroom. Soon she heard the sound of shower.

Zoya kept looking at the direction where he disappeared as tears of guilt & shame comes from her eyes. She expected him to be angry on her but his ignorance only added to her bad state. Even though he didn't utter single word from his mouth but his eyes spoke a lot. She recalled her mother-in-law's words from morning.

"Woh kuch kahega nhi agar uss ke mann me koi baat hui bhi to".

He was ignoring her because he was hurt and even then didn't say anything to her! More tears filled up Zoya's eyes. She had hurt him with her words. And there is no going back now. Without any fault of his he was suffering.

Zoya cleaned her tears by the back of her hand just when she heard the door open. She got up with her full attention to him. Aditya had changed to his night clothes. He was looking tired. His eyes were red and swollen as if he had cried. For once she felt as if his eyes had flickered to her direction. She glued her eyes to him in anticipation watching his every move as he walked to the other side of the bed.

"Aditya", her voice was a muffled sigh.

Aditya paused for a second and without looking in her direction he spoke, "Khaa lena". He switched off the side lamp and lied on the bed facing the wall.

Zoya stood frozen at her place & let some tears fall freely down her face.

~~~~~~~~~~

Aditya was getting ready in the morning preparing to leave early for the Airport when he noticed the untouched plate of food he had brought last night. It wasn't moved a bit from where he kept it which means she has not eaten anything since night.

At that moment the door opened & Zoya stepped out of the shower. Her eyes fell on Aditya standing in front of the mirror facing his back to her. Keeping her eyes on him, she quitely walked to the closet and pretended taking out things from it. She deliberately made sound & checked on him but he never looked at her.

"Aditya", she called but he ignored as if he hadn't heard her. Zoya knew he was aware of her presence but pretending as if nobody was there. His behaviour was making her feel more guilty. The silence in the room felt like venom. She hid her face inside the closet to clean her tears.

To said that he's hurt was a small thing. That night after he left the room, he went to Arjun's room. He sat in a corner of the balcony curling himself and covered his ears with both hands in order to shut every sound that was trying to reach his ears. Her words had fallen into his ears like a curse. His tears were washing away with the rain drenching him completely. He cried whole night until tears soaked, even the clouds accompanied him. Next morning, he woke up with swollen eyes and a puffy nose. His throat felt dry as a result of crying for hours. He quickly got up and silently walked back to the room not let anyone in the house know. When he reached his room, he noticed that the door was ajar just as the way he had left. He stepped inside the room and shut the door. He further walked in to found her carelessly sleeping by the bed. Without thinking he took a step in her direction only to be stopped by her own words that was still fresh in his ears from last night. He gulped and turned to the washroom. When he came out of the bathroom Zoya was still asleep. Aditya walked towards the window & removed the curtains and left the room.