Aditya & Zoya retelling or ff, I'm not sure it. - Page 3

Aditya at age 16

I walk into the room and try to shake Ma from her stupor, but she hardly looks at me, every once in a while, she'd say "Harsh left." And that's all we get from her that night. Puja calls her mother over as we were struggling to get her to do anything and Arjun would be coming home soon. 

Ma was admitted to the hospital and I had to not go to school as Puja's mother had to go to work the next day and Ma was coming home. We sent Arjun to our grandparents house for a month, we never told them the whole story, just that Pa was a little sick so he never witnessed anything. 

That night I looked at the spoilt furniture, looked at the empty house and decided to never make the mistake of forgiving Pa again, I stopped physically waiting for him to come back home a long time ago, but I always had an unwavering hope in my heart that he'd stay and never leave. 

Now I hope he stays where he is because me, Ma and Arjun will be just fine without him. I have been taking care of them all this time and will continue to do so without him. His hurt Ma way too much and I won't let him do the same to Arjun. 

In spite of his promise to himself, in spite of everything they went through during those months Pa was gone and Aditya missed him. He kept hoping to hear his footsteps, he didn't go to comfort his mother at night anymore, because he too was struggling to not cry himself to sleep every night. Instead he'd sneak out at night as he had no phone and go talk to Puja for a while. 

After many days, his mother got better, they moved into granny and grand pa's home.

They protected Arjun as best as they could from the truth. He promised his ma that even if Pa left them, he will always be here for them. They will be fine without him. She still cried herself to sleep sometimes, but they both slowly, no longer waited for a man who never wanted to be around them in the first place. Aditya was finally getting used to living without his Pa. He didn't hope that his Pa will walk in through the door anymore, instead he hoped Mr Hooda would never come back, because a Pa would not have left them alone and keep on leaving them for another, but Mr Hooda would and did...

Present. 

There is an echo of the past all around Aditya, only this time no one to walk it with. 'I refuse to grieve for a cheater again.' He thinks to himself. 

Zoya looks up at the man sitting next to her and seeing how intently his looking at something on the ground where her Yash and the other person she has not looked at lay. She follows his gaze and finds Yash holding a feminine hand, she has on gold bangles and a silky material for women, the woman is also dead. 

She stares at the hands not understanding what she's seeing. She looks at Yash's face then his hand holding another womans hand and at the man looking at the joined hands with anger on his face, his tears dried and no longer crying. ‘Was this woman married?’ Her mind is unable to process what is going on, she immediately dismisses that thought and removes Yash's head from her lap, bends her knees close to her chest and puts her hands-on top of them making herself small. 

For a while Aditya and Zoya look at Puja and Yash holding hands, like intruders watching a married couples intimate moment.

Chapter 2

Zoya and Aditya continue to look at Yash and Puja, one with confusion and the other with anger. "When we found the corpses, they were holding each other's hands; I had felt that they must be husband and wife," one policeman whispers.

"No. These two were having an affair," answers the other. Aditya stands up and takes a step back. Still looking at them; feeling a need to get away, but unable to take his eyes off their hands.

Zoya too looks up at him; drawn by the sudden movement. Then back at Puja and Yash, also mesmerized by their joined hands. 

“Ive seen these two somewhere before too," says one paramedic.

"You must have seen them going around together. There's that famous lovers point in Mussoorie." Upon hearing this, Zoya shakes her head, not wanting to hear anymore.

Aditya continues to step back, his wife’s words ringing in his ears. 'Adi, there is no person in this world who shares everything with someone. If there is someone who claims to do it, then it's a lie.' 

He continues to step back, the memory of their wedding day, and them taking their vows haunting him. The policemans words, 'these two were having an affair.' The moments shared just this morning. The paramedics words, 'I had felt that they must be husband and wife.'

He steps back his vision clouded by memories of Puja, and turns his back on her, so he can get a moments relief. Not seeing his at the cliffs edge, and has run out of ground to put his foot on, Aditya lifts his foot; his mind refusing to shy away from the evidence of Puja's infidelity. 

Why are they holding each others hand?" A womans voice draws him back to the scene of infidelity. Retracting his foot before he put it all the way down, he listens. "Please separate their hands!" Zoya begs, "why are they holding each other's hands?" Zoya desperately tries to separate them. 

Not far from her, Aditya tries to ignore her. 'What would be the use of separating them now?' He thinks to himself. 

Please separate their hands," Zoya continues to beg. She keeps on tugging, not knowing why she has to do it, but just feels a need to stop the whispers around her. Yet, no matter how hard she pulls, the hands refuse to be separated. She keeps on pulling anyway, and while pulling, she notices her ring is no longer on her finger. She looks at it, hoping her eyes are playing tricks on her, and the ring will eventually materialize ... nothing changes. "My … my ring," she says, her whole body starting to shake when she realizes the ring is really gone, and thinks about how excited she was, when she found the ring in their bedroom closet this morning. "Where's my ring? Where's my ring!"

With nothing else to do, and the womans shouts penetrating through his thoughts, Aditya continues to listen. "Yash gave me a ring," she says out loud.  'I can't lose the last thing Yash gave me,' she thinks to herself, while continuing to look around her. 

Lightning lights up the sky, as Zoya desperately looks for her ring, and Aditya listens on, both to the dry thunderstorm and the woman. 

Zoya looks around for anybody who can help, and notices the lone man standing some distance away, with his back to her; the same man who was with her a minute ago. She goes back to searching for her ring, when she realizes his lost in his own thoughts to be of any help to her... 

Finding some peace in the woman's voice, and the Puja visions quiet for the moment; Aditya watches the sky. Watching and listening to the dry thunderstorm, reflecting the one in him, and not long after looking up it starts to rain. It's a good thing as dry thunderstorms have been known to cause uncontrollable fires, because the rain evaporates before it reaches the land. For now, the fire within him quenched by the woman's voice, Aditya watches the rain.

When he left

Zoya

He looks at me one last time, tilting his head to the side in thought, and walks away leaving me in the rain. I look on as he gets into the bus, and don't try to stop him, nor do I call his name, finally understanding. I smile as the bus drives him away from me, knowing he may be gone forever. I don't know if I can make another friend again, nor do I want to. 

After the bus is long gone, and I no longer see it in the distance. I sit on the pavement and don't move until my driver comes, and even then, it's only when he's in front of me that I notice him, and get up. 

During the trip home I look out the window, and with no one but my driver to witness, I let my tears come freely. 

When I get home no ones there. So, I go up to my room and hop onto my bed with my wet clothes still on, and don't get up until the next day. 

When Ammi comes to check on me, I tell her about my friend, and how he isn't coming back to camp again, and ask her if I can stop going to camp too. She agrees and convinces Abu to let me stay behind. 

I don't make another best friend my age, instead Abu becomes my best friend again, and after a while it's enough. He even agrees to home school me, when he starts staying in the house more often, as his business flourishes without him there. And that's enough for me.

Present...

"Keep the corpses in the ambulance quickly." Orders someone, and the paramedics quickly prepare to put the bodies inside the ambulance, following the order.

"Where's my ring?" Zoya continues to ask, and no one answers, they only take the bodies. She stands and starts looking around her, and when she doesn't find it near where she is kneeling, she looks further away getting closer to where the lone man is still standing by himself. 

Aditya looks down and sees a ring that might be hers, and picks it up, mildly curious about how it landed on his feet.

Zoya sees her ring as the man picks it up and runs to it.

As he lifts his head, he notices the woman who was looking for a ring, standing in front of him. They look at each other, and he realizes it’s the same woman who was fighting him for the gramophone, and chased him around Mussoorie for it. She looks at the ring indicating she wants it, and he looks at the ring too, missing the meaning of her gesture. 

As he looks back at her, he notices she's wearing the same white dress, that still has red marks from the sindoor he had thrown at her. Continuing to stare, and for the first time really looking at her, he realizes she reminds him of the girl who used to be his friend before Puja-

"Listen!" She turns to look at the person calling out to them. "You both sit in the ambulance." She looks back at him, and angrily snatches the ring. She holds it to her chest like it's a lifeline, and gives him an accusing glare. They don't say anything to each other as they silently get into the ambulance, and the ambulance drives away.

••••••••••••

"Sir." Three officers stay behind to discuss the case.

"Yes?" The second officer turns to look at the officer calling him.

"It's an accident case," the first officer says, holding an umbrella for himself.

"The accident might've occurred due to the fog."

"Every incident looks like an accident in the beginning. We'll have to carry on with our investigation. Both of them were married and cheating on their respective partners," says the second officer. The third one silently nods his head in agreement, while holding an umbrella for both himself and his senior officer (the second officer) whos writing a report. "I don't know what must've happened, but keep searching; We might just come across some clue"

"Yes, sir."

"Okay."