Chapter-28

I know this chapter isn't good...😔 But, still it's a long one so I had to post it...🙂

*brrring*

Zoya's hand reaches out to the alarm clock and turns it off making the noise die. She was already awake, she didn't had to wake up. She lays flat on bed and concentrates her eyes on the ceiling though it being totally normal. She is lost in thinking…deep thinking…or maybe overthinking.

The door clicks and Tanya steps out of the bathroom patting her hair dry with the white towel.

"Zoya, see today I woke up early…now you also wake up...it's payback time!" She turns and finds Zoya fully awake.

"Good, that you are already awake...otherwise I would have tried some tricks...one which you threatened me of...As I slept for most of the time yesterday…I woke up early today and today's plan is already ready!" She said as she combed her wet hair with her fingers.

"First, we will go to Panchganga temple, then to Krishnabai Temple...they both are nearby so...we can visit both! Then,…umm...Connaught Peak...it is located in the forest region...and we can have the feeling as if we are treking…though it may not be that much long...and our last destination would be Venna Lake...and there are several activities available there! Today is just gonna be so much fu-"

"I can't come with you, Tanya..."

"We will have so much fun! Wait, what did you say?"

"I can't come with you all Tanya...I'm not feeling well..."

"What happened, Zoya?" She asked as she sat beside her and checked her temperature keeping her hand on her forehead.

"It's just about my menstrual cycle...I don't think that I'll be able to endure so much travel and all that...you know, how much bad cramps I get..."

"That's totally fine...you rest here..." She said as she passed her a smile.

"And, come on...don't be sad! Everything can't go as we plan...and that's why this, we call as...life...if still you keep that sad look plastered on your face then...I will also not go anywhere and will annoy you the whole day and after that…do you even want Tanya therapy?" She said raising her one brow up.

"Seems like you want it..." She picked up her phone and started scrolling.

"What are you doing?" Zoya asked sitting up.

"Dialling Neil's number to cancel today's program…"

"No! Stop it!"

"Then show me your biggy biggy grin!!!" Tanya said as she stretched her lips till her eyes with her fingers. Zoya let out a laugh seeing her funny face.

"Yay!" Tanya squealed with joy.

"Now, go or else you all will be late..."

"Yeah, going…and also one more thing…you can even order chocolate ice cream by just dialling a simple number..." She said as she winked with her sparkling eyes.

She took her handbag and made her way towards the door but not before muttering a bye to Zoya.

"Mad girl! But, also sweet..." She said as she thought of their first meet. "She has helped me through a lot...and still does…what would I do without her..." Zoya thinks as a tear makes its way down her cheek. She raised her hand and wipe the tear. "Ah….I hate these hormones!" She screamed into the pillow as she drifted into sleep.

Tanya knocked on the door of Neil and Aditya's room.

"Coming..." Neil says and a smile automatically graces her lips.

"Ready?" Tanya asks him.

"I'm ready...but what to do of this kumbhkaran..." He says as he gestures towards Aditya who was sleeping on his stomach, partially covered with a blanket and his hair covering his eyes in a messy way.

"Why isn't he awake till now?"

"Guess what, doctor saab was working till late night...saying that he was feeling a bit bored..." Tanya let out a sigh.

"What to do now?"

"Let's try one more time..." Neil says as he tries shaking Aditya.

"Adi...adi...wake up..."

"Two minutes…" Aditya says as he snuggles closer to the pillow.

"Let's wait for two minutes…" Tanya says as she settles on the chair.

"He has been saying this since the last hour..."

"He is really a heavy sleeper..." Tanya says eyeing him.

"Let me try..." Tanya says as she gets up. She takes some drops of water in her hand and sprinkles them on his face. He groans and then wipes his face with the pillow and continues sleeping after turning to the other side but not before muttering some words which they weren't able to make out.

"Great!"

"Let's leave him in here...we should go..." Neil said.

"Yeah...I don't think that he will wake up in the next two hours…" Tanya says.

"Is Zoya ready?" Neil asked.

"She is not feeling well today so...She is resting..." Neil let out a sigh.

"Today it's just you and me...let's have the most of it..." Neil said as he intervened his fingers with hers.

.

.

.

Aditya turned in bed and roamed his hand on the other side.

"Why has Neil become so soft and squishy?" He thought as he tried to poke his finger in his bicep.

"He was fine the other night.…" He thought.

Suddenly his eye lids flew open and he turned to look around. No one. The room was empty. It was just him. He saw the wall clock and face palmed himself.

'I should have abided to Neil yesterday….'

He got up and went up to check if he was in the washroom. But, to his luck he wasn't.

"Great!"

"They could have waited for me...but no!" He let out a sigh as he sat on the bed when suddenly he got reminded of something. He rushed towards the girls' room hoping that the three of them must be there.

He knocked the door twice but to his surprise there wasn't any answer. He let out a sigh and a sad expression adorned his face. He started proceeding to his room when suddenly the door opened and there stood Zoya, yawning and in her night clothes?

"Yes?" She said through her closed eye lids.

"Zoya!" Aditya said as he snapped his fingers in front of her face. She opened her eyes in a jerk and saw Aditya standing in front of her in messy hair and sweatpants. An expression of horror occupied Zoya's face.

"Where are Tanya and Neil?" He said moving inside as he searched for both of them.

"What are you doing here!?" She said as she hurriedly laid in the bed and covered herself with the blanket. A frown appeared on Aditya's face as he took in Zoya's action.

"So, they left us!" Aditya said throwing his hands in the air.

"Why did they left you?" Zoya asked.

"Ask them!"

"Why did they left you?" Aditya asked.

"I-um...I-I was not feeling well..."

"What happened? Are you fine, now?" He said as he quickly started checking her temperature.

"Arre...it's nothing serious…I'm just a bit tired because of yesterday...no-nothing else..." She let out a dry chuckle as she tried to make him leave.

"Zoya...did anyone ever tell you that you are bad at lying?"

"Lying? Why would I lie?"

"How would I know that?" Aditya said.

"Looks like I have to call them both..." Aditya said fishing out his phone from pocket.

"Why to disturb them...?" Zoya says laughing dryly.

"Disturb? What's there to disturb?"

"I mean... initially it was their plan to come here...then we both tagged along...an-"

"No.…you tagged me along..."

"Yeah, whatever…"

"No it's not whatever...you literally blackmailed me!"

"Do I seem like someone who would blackmail people?"

"But, you did...and I was SHOCKED!" Aditya said keeping a hand on his chest.

"Whatever that is..."

"You are not getting me...you said that if I don't say a yes...then 'my abduction news will be printed in the next day's newspaper'…" He said imitating her.

"Ok...ENOUGH!"

"Wait, why are you shouting…?" Aditya asked in a relax manner.

"Why are you being so irritating….God!"

"I'm not irritating…I'm correcting you..."

"Whatever that is!" Zoya held her head in between her palms as she bent down till her head touched the bed.

On seeing Zoya's condition, Aditya crouched down near the bed and asked her keeping his hand on her knee,"What happened, Zoya? Is your head paining...is your health deteriorating?"

Zoya looked up to see concern in his eyes. Tears filled her eyes as she bore her eyes more into his. When she realised the depth of emotions dancing in his eyes, she avoided looking in his eyes.

"It's not tiredness...and I know that...now tell me what happened?"

"I'm telling you, Aditya...I'm just tired..." Aditya let out a dejected sigh as he stood up. He paced around the room as he scratched his head.

"Why are you pacing around like this?" Zoya asked.

"Because I'm 'worried' for you..." Aditya continued pacing around the room having said this leaving Zoya into a haze of thoughts.

"I have to call them...I don't have any other choice..." Aditya said as he unlocked his phone.

"Let them enjoy for one day...as it was initially their trip...why to worry them asking questions…that too senseless ones..." Zoya said.

"Questions about your health aren't senseless…and I didn't had to do it if you yourself have told me..."

"Hello Tan-"

"It's Neil...Tanya is buying ice cream..."

"Oh, hey Neil…where are you two?"

"We are currently sitting in a restaurant having lunch...speaking of lunch...did you had your food?"

"I didn't had till now..."

"And Zoya?" Aditya asked through his eyes if she had food or not to which she shook her head making Aditya widen his eyes.

"She didn't." Aditya said looking at Zoya angrily.

"You should have your food first guys...then you can join us to Venna Lake..."

"Here...who is it?" Tanya's voice from the background boomed through Aditya's phone.

"Aditya..." Neil whispered to her.

"Oh...Is he finally awake?" She asked letting out a chuckle at the end.

"Neil, can you give the phone to her?"

"Yeah, of course…"

"Are you finally awake Mr.Kumbhkaran?"

"Do you know what happened to Zoya? She is acting.....weird…at one moment she is blabbering and the next moment tears fill her eyes...Is she alright?"

"Oh...it's normal…" Tanya said letting out a short chuckle.

"What is normal in that?"

"Mood swings…her menstrual cycle has started…so I told her to rest today..." Aditya let out a sigh watching Zoya bite her lips.

"Okay...I'll ask her if we can join you guys later on..."

"Okay...by the way, I sent you something…"

"What?"

"Look look..." She let out a muffled laugh as she disconnected the call.

Aditya kept the phone on the table and walked towards Zoya. Zoya looked up at him as she bit the inside of her cheek.

"What was there in it to hide? Tanya told me..."

"She did?"

"Yes...but I don't understand why are you so much embarrassed about it...this is absolutely normal...don't you trust me enough? I'm your best friend right? Anyways, I guess you should rest..." He said as he started moving out of the room.

"I will order something for breakfast…" He said as he started twisting the door knob.

"Aditya..."

"Hmm.…"

"Don't go…stay please...I-I mean we can order the food here..." She said picking up the intercom and forwarding it to him. He passed a small smile to him.

"Here's the menu also...what would yo-you like?" She asked nervously flipping through pages.

They ordered the food in the room and had it while being in the bed. Aditya tried to lighten Zoya's mood by cracking lame jokes to which she laughed heartily and he felt lucky finding someone who would laugh at his lame jokes. They had ice cream too, together as the day slowly started to come to an end.

"One more..." Zoya said as they finished watching another movie.

"Are we on a movie marathon?" Aditya asked arching his one brow up.

"Maybe..." Zoya said as she licked the last remnants of the ice cream. Aditya let out a chuckle seeing her child tactics.

"Which one should we watch?" Aditya asked as he started surfing through the various available options.

"It's your duty to choose..." Zoya said as she leaned back on the pillow. Aditya let out a sigh finding it hard to select a movie.

"Life in a year... let's watch this one..."

"What is it about?"

"It's about a boy who tries to fulfill his girlfriend's wishes who has cancer and has only one year left with her..."

"Oh...looks like someone likes romance genre..." Zoya asked smirking.

"I even found Inception a while ago..." Aditya suggested.

"I guess this is fine..." Zoya said as she picked up the tub of popcorn lying on the table and put it between them on the bed.

They started watching the movie laughing at some scenes.

"She is not even his girlfriend till now..." Zoya said laughing.

"But, I have to say...he's trying really hard!"

"Of course he is…" Zoya said stuffing her mouth with popcorn.

Zoya's smile vanished when the proposal scene came. The boy row the boat to a lake and sat on his one knee as he proposed the girl. Aditya noticed the change in Zoya's demeanor and asked,"What happened?"

"I just got reminded of something…"

"What's that?"

"Yash..."

"Again?"

"Not of him primarily but something else...he proposed me the same way...as he did...we were on a college trip and...do you know where we went?….Here.…Mahabaleshwar….it was so much fun...friends...and everything…and then we went to Venna Lake.…we hired a boat.…and stopped when we were just in the middle of the lake...away from everyone's sight.…I was just looking around enjoying the beauty and the sunset....when he suddenly went down on his one knee and proposed me.…" Zoya said with a smile on her face.

"I felt on top of the world at that time.…I thought that I found love...which many people are not able to get....I thought I found my forever….I felt lucky as it wasn't some one sided love.…" She took a deep breath as she continued.

"I said yes to him.…and after some years we got married….that was the happiest phase of my life…it was really good..." Zoya wiped the lone tear which escaped her eye.

"You promised me that you'll never cry over him, ever.…" Aditya said.

"Who said I'm crying over him...he doesn't deserve to be cried upon.…he destroyed my life...he is such an ass-" Zoya said gritting her teeth.

"Zoya!"

"I'm not crying over him.…I still keep the promise that I made to you...I'm just.…crying over my destiny…my fate.…see.…what it did with me.…it first filled me up with hopes...and then later shattered them all in a second.…all the happiness which I felt.…all the love which I think I felt was snatched away from me in a matter of seconds.…the happy memories which I somehow had…to rely upon for happiness also got haunted by some nightmares….instilling in me fear.…fear of my heart being broken, again….fear of trusting someone.…fear of falling in love, again.…" Aditya was tongue tied as Zoya finished talking. He didn't had anything to answer to her. What would he even answer? That it will be alright.…that she will someday find someone? How can he assure her when he himself is sailing in the same boat asking himself the same question everyday, yearning for the presence of that someone special in his life.

"Will I ever found my forever, Aditya?" Zoya asked looking at nothing particular.

"I don't know....even I ask that question to myself everyday...." Aditya said as he looked at the rings in his hands.

•••

Aditya and Zoya were sitting opposite to each other on the bed as Neil and Tanya sat beside them. They both returned early as it soon started to rain and they couldn't enjoy much without Aditya and Zoya. They all were playing cards while the rain drops created a loud music by hitting on the glass windows.

"Hey, don't peek in mine.…" Neil said as he tried to safeguard his cards from Aditya's eyes.

"Why would I peek in yours...I have better set than yours…." Aditya said as he showed him a tongue.

"Really? What kind?" Tanya asked Aditya as she gestured him to whisper in her ear.

"I'm not playing!" Neil said as he threw the cards in between them, all the cards facing up.

"Now you know.…" Aditya said as he eyed his cards.

"Now, I also know..." Tanya said.

"Oh god...!" Neil sighed exasperatedly.

"Well Neil.…" Zoya said keeping a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her.

"Now even I know.…" Aditya, Zoya and Tanya burst out laughing.

"Ok... let's start another one...I ruined the game...so I will distribute the cards this time.…" Aditya said as he gathered all the cards and started shuffling the cards in a rather cool way.

"You are teaching me that...afterwards…." Neil said.

"I will have something to impress girls..." Neil said and instantly a smack landed on his head.

"Whom do you want to impress?" Tanya asked.

"I was just saying anything….who would I need to impress when I have you..." Neil said as he blew Tanya a flying kiss to which she blushed. Zoya and Aditya cleared their throat to make their presence noticeable.

"Well, I don't think that girls really get impress due to such tricks..." Aditya said not paying much heed to this thought.

"Do they Zoya?" Aditya asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Zoya asked confused on what they were talking about as she was lost somewhere else in her thoughts.

"Do girls really get impressed due to such tricks..." Aditya asked as he repeated the same trick again.

"I-I don't think so..."

"Really? Then what do you think?"

"Zoya tell.…we will find a suitable groom for you..." Tanya said as she rested her chin on her hand.

"Shut up you guys!"

"But, I didn't even say anything…" Neil said inoccently.

"Aditya, distribute the cards..." Zoya said ignoring everyone.

After they finished playing, Neil and Aditya got engaged in a small talk. They used to smile in between, pat each other's shoulder and then laugh all of a sudden totally forgetting that they had some viewers to notice their every action.

Zoya looked at Aditya adoringly as the day's events replayed in her mind. His concerned eyes, his caring nature and the warmth which he made her feel. She just couldn't believe that there can be a person like him. She would like such treatment every month. She didn't knew from where did that come from, but it somehow did.

"Even I ask that question to myself everyday..." She remembered his talk.

'May he find someone soon...' She prayed to her God asking for his happiness.

"If you are feeling hungry…you can eat him..." Tanya nudged Zoya.

Zoya's cheeks turned red as she acknowledged her words.

_________________________________________

I know this wasn't good....😔 Still, thank you for reading who did...and also thank you for sticking to this book till here though it being totally 🤡

And I was wondering how many are still here?

Some chapters like this will continue to come for next few updates...🤓

Thank you, everyone and love y'all...❤️