9 hours later, the flight touched down at Mumbai airport. It was close to 7 pm. Zoya collected her bag from the carousel and quickly purchased a new cellphone since she had broken her old one. Once she was done with the purchase, she walked to Aditya, who was waiting near the exit.
"So, this is it." She remarked. "I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me. Since we flew from Delhi."
"Is this a goodbye?" he asked to which she nodded.
He shook his head, "You think I am just going to abandon you now?"
"Umm... yeah. I will check into a hotel-," she began when he cut her in, "Zoya, this is my hometown. You're crazy if you think I am going to let you stay in a hotel."
"I wouldn't want to impose," she resisted.
"Come on, we have been staying in hotels for the past week. My home will be much more comfortable."
Zoya didn't have to debate much on his offer. She could kill for a warm home-cooked meal.
"We are... friends, right?" he asked with a pause.
She gave a small smile, "Yes, we are."
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The Hooda house was a huge white mansion with sprawling green lawns. Since Aditya's family had not known that he was coming home, they had gone out for a dinner party. Aditya guided Zoya to one of their many guest rooms. She took a long warm shower, getting rid of the tiredness and later joined him for dinner. While they were in the mid of eating, his family returned.
His mother, Anjana, had quite a striking and youthful appearance. She was dressed in a designer saree and looked every bit regal. His younger brother Arjun was of the same height as him and Zoya could see the resemblance in the brothers. His father, Harshvardhan, had a commanding presence somewhat like her own father, Waseem Siddiqui. However, Harsh had a frown on his face.
Anjana's face broke into a huge smile when she saw her son. "What a lovely surprise!" she exclaimed, joy evident in her voice. Arjun too seemed surprised and happy thought his reaction was much toned down than Anjana. Zoya did notice that Harsh had quite a controlled reaction.
"You are already back from Ireland? How did you wrap up the work so soon?" was the first thing Harsh asked his son.
"Hello to you too, dad," Aditya replied dryly.
His father scoffed and was about to say something when his and simultaneously the other Hoodas' eyes fell on Zoya, who they had somehow not noticed till then.
Aditya cleared his throat, "Erm... this is my friend, Zoya."
Zoya greeted everyone with a smile that they reciprocated. She knew they had questions about her but were polite enough to not ask, at least in front of her. Since it was quite late and Zoya and Aditya had a tiring day, they retreated to their rooms.
"We'll deal with everything tomorrow,"Aditya assured her when he walked her to the guest room. By 'everything,' he meant the Yash situation; , "Sleep well tonight."
She had nodded when Aditya said that but she knew sleep wouldn't come so easily to her till she got to the root of the situation. She lay awake till it was dawn.
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The next morning, a jittery Zoya, showered, changed into a pair of jeans and a white shirt and made her way to the dining table for breakfast. Today was the day she faced Yash. She had decided against calling him. Now that she was in Mumbai, she figured a face-to-face meet was better than a conversation over the phone.
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In The Stars || AdiYa FF
Fanfiction#1 in AdYa (17.08 to 1.09.18) #69 in Travel (27.10.18) || Zoya Siddiqui, for the first time in her life, throws caution to the wind and goes to Ireland chasing after something she thinks she needs. Aditya Hooda, a man on a mission, is running away f...
