Adhura Alviida 2

compulsion

"Z-Zoya?"

The name itself felt foreign on his tongue. He hadn't uttered it in the last three years.

The minute he heard Aadhya call out to her mother, the newspaper fell from his hand as if it was never there in the first place while he instinctively rose from his chat. Aditya stood up as he watched his wife, who had been missing from his life for seven years, enter his home. Her eyes were dull, fuming with rage. She looked angry. The dark circles were prominent indicating her tiredness. Seeing her face after all this time made his heart beat erratically. He felt the blood diluting in his skin as the anxiety levels rose.

She was back. His wife was back.

Remaining nonchalant to Aditya's presence, Zoya stooped down on her knees as she saw her daughter rushing to her. She couldn't control her tears as she saw a little lady submerge in her arms. She couldn't help but cry at her misfortune she engulfed her daughter in her arms. The tears were endless as the mother and daughter found each other. She immediately removed Aadhya from her proximity to see her face. She was beautiful, more beautiful than Zoya had ever imagined. She cradled her plump cheeks, taking in the sight of her. She looked so thin, had she not been fed properly? Zoya immediately wondered. Her hair was long and beautiful, curly like her own but black like Aditya's, unlike most girls her age it was unkempt and barely brushed. She was wearing a mismatched set of shirt and pants. It was then Zoya immediately knew that this baby had gone motherless for too long. She had been separated from her child for too long. Her beautiful little girl. Nothing was ever going to separate them again, come heaven or hell.

"Do you know me?" Zoya asked, with her eyes naïve and full of unshed tears. She was scared, the last time she held Aadhya in her arms, she was merely a few minutes old. Now a young lady was standing in front of her.

Aadhya grinned with happiness as she exclaimed "yes...ammi!"

Zoya's heart fell so full hearing her child address her as ammi for the first time, that meant she knew her...she remembered her. Her baby knew her.

"I missed you everyday, ammi. I used to talk to you every day in Mussorie, but now that you're here you will stay with me forever, right ammi?" Aadhya asked gleefully.

"Of course, my baby." Zoya held Aadhya's head close to her heart as she cradled her and the duo was overlooked by Aditya.

Initially upon seeing Zoya, he was ecstatic. The love of his life had returned and he was going to shower her in the love he had deprived her of for the last seven years. But upon seeing her interaction with Aadhya, reality had hit him. He was a sinner, he remembered all of the things he did that ended up destroying their relationship, forcing Zoya to leave him and delivering their child without his knowledge of her existence. Zoya and Aadhya had barely had any contact but within 5 mins of meeting each other, they had already bonded better than he and Aadhya did in three years of knowing each other.

He hesitantly walked over to them as Zoya immediately looked up from her hug with Aadhya as her eyes glared at him. She stood up immediately, keeping her eyes focused on him. He was unsure what to do anymore, looking down as they came face to face for the first time in eight years. The last time she was in this house, he hurled the worst of accusations that she didn't deserve at all. He was foolish, egoistic, self-centered and it cost him a tremendous loss. His family was here again, all under the same roof in close vicinity with each other yet were any of them truly happy?

Unable to understand what to do, he smiled at Aadhya weakly, who was now safeguarded by Zoya's firm grip holding her close Aadhya looked at him in confusion, he rarely smiled at her... before looking back up to her mom.