I feel like a lot of the ire towards Aditya comes from a surface reading of his characterization and his past. Yes his behaviour is excessive, and yes he crosses lines several times (breaking property both at the grocery store and at Yash's house, and I really bristled at a few of the things he said to Zoya) but when we ignore the context of why betrayals are such a massive sore point for him, we miss a lot of what the soap is actually trying to say.
What happened when Adi was 12 wasn't just limited to his father's cheating or his mother's silence. It also extended to the family's overall tendency to want to uphold their name rather than actually deal with these issues or understand what an emotional blow that would be on a child that young.
Harshvardhan expected the family to keep quiet about his behaviour and preserve his image in the public, and in doing so dismissed Adi's issues. Anjana, in keeping quiet and swallowing her own anger, took away from Aditya the feeling that he was not alone in this. From the way Adi speaks of that betrayal and draws parallels to how they handle Pooja's death, it seems more like he didn't get validation from his own family. Validation of what you're going through, especially at that age, is important to any kid facing a truth that devastating. And that validation he found in Sakshi and Pooja, which is why he is so much closer to them then his own blood relatives.
What does it mean when the person he considered his anchor at such a vulnerable period in his life, turns around and does - in his eyes - the exact same thing? What does it mean when the only positive thing about those years happens to have broken his trust in precisely the same way? What does it mean when his family's first reaction, again, is to demand that the matter be handled "quietly", expect him to return to normal asap, and the family seems to only openly acknowledge what it's doing to him when he is hardly around to listen?
To me this is also why Zoya's difference in perception irks him so much. The only other person Aditya knows right now who can adequately relate to his situation is the widow of the man Pooja cheated on him with. Zoya's overwhelming faith in Yash's innocence leaves him alone - again - in this situation, this time with no one to anchor him, not even a Pooja. He literally has no one to speak about this to who will adequately acknowledge how painful this is for him (the one person who does - Sakshi - helps him break down and open up emotionally), and Zoya's immovable beliefs are the equivalant of rubbing salt on that wound.
The interesting thing about the AdiYa equation is this. They hurt each other immensely, in many ways, but also in ways that will heal them emotionally. Aditya is out of line when he speaks of her inadequacies, but in the same breath he also speaks of her needing to stand up for herself and not let people trample over her. When she does fight back, there is a hint of satisfaction in his expression. Zoya gives Aditya several much-needed reality checks: when he's about to push himself to work in such a fragile emotional state, it's Zoya's words that make him realise he really isn't ready yet. When he insists he doesn't need saving, Zoya saves him. Until Zoya stops him, Aditya rushes headlong into situations without stopping to think deeper on what Pooja's (percieved) betrayal has done to him. And until Aditya prods her, Zoya hardly finds it in her to fight back. This is how powerful the bond they are forging is, and they haven't even know each other at this point. Imagine how much more powerful it will be when they actually do.
Edited by Elizabeth Darcy - 6 years ago
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