In The Stars || AdiYa FF

Chapter 7 - Finding Shelter (Feb 14)

A knock on the car window woke Aditya up. A short old man, maybe in his late 60s, waved with a smile on his face. Aditya rubbed his eyes and rolled down the window. The rain had finally subsided and now it was drizzling. There were clouds in the sky and despite of being 9 in the morning, it was grey.

"Good morning!" the man chirped, "You look like you could use some help."

"Yes!" Aditya almost exclaimed in joy. Finally they had found someone or rather someone had found them.

Their conversation woke Zoya up, who had slept off in the sitting positing. She craned her and stretched her arms. Her eyes moved from Aditya to the man outside who gave her a big smile and she returned it in equal fervor.

Once Aditya and Zoya got out of the car, they assessed the wheel-situation with the old man whose name was Frank. It was stuck deep in mud and they would need more help to pull the vehicle out.

"My wife, Ivy and I, run a small b&b, just outside of the town," Frank informed them in his kind voice, "You guys can freshen up."

Aditya and Zoya took their bags from the car trunk and followed the old man down the muddy path.

"This road is not for cars," the man was speaking as he ventured ahead the narrow path, with Aditya and Zoya in tow. "It's used as a walking and cycling track. I was on my way to the farmer's market when I saw you guys."

"Thank you so much for helping us," Zoya offered, "We were lost."

"Lost?" Frank chuckled, "You were just a 15 minute walk to my house. Another hour and you'd have reached the town square."

"Which town is this?" Aditya asked, ducking slightly due to a low hanging tree branch, as they walked ahead.

"My house is just at the periphery of Kanturk," Frank informed them, "Say a couple hours from Limerick."

A couple of hours from Limerick? It meant they had hardly made any progress since Tralee, Aditya reckoned.

They walked some more on the dirt road, which widened after a curve and they saw an old cottage in the clearing.

"To think that we were just 15 minutes from shelter and we slept so uncomfortably in the car," Aditya told Zoya, who was beside him, but had hardly spoken anything to him.

"Hmm," she made a sound in agreement, without looking at him. For some reason, it unnerved him.

He knew he had massively upset her last night. But he had apologized, sincerely. And she had said it was fine but in the light of the morning, his mistake from last night came crawling back. Maybe she had not gotten over it.

It shouldn't bother him, he reflected. She was just a... stranger in passing. Why should it matter if she felt bad, even after him being sorry? Why should it matter if she wasn't responding to him?

Although; she was replying but just not in her usual manner. Each time in the past, she was the one who had started the conversation. The less she spoke, the more it bothered him. And the more it bothered him, the more he tried to talk to her.

"I just need a warm bath to clean up and some good food. I am starving," he continued in hopes of getting her to talk. "You?"

It was a silly question. Who wouldn't want a warm shower and food after the night they spent in the car with only chips and water as food. Yet, he made an effort.

"Hmm," she made the same sound.

Frank was ahead, opening the small wooden gate to his house. Aditya and Zoya were a few steps behind him. There was a small garden around the house with white picket fence along the periphery.