Aditya's heart always went crazy at Zoya's smile, nothing new in that, but it was the way he was aware of his own heart beats today that made the difference. There was something in her eyes, in the glow of her face that was different than usual, and it unsettled him. His heart knew what the determination on her look meant, but his mind outrageously rejected it, which was why he remeoved his hand from her hold, in a jiffy, and Zoya who was not expecting that sudden movement, was hurt by the sharp knife.

"Ouch!", one hurting moan from Zoya and Aditya was next to her, sucking the blood out of the tiny scrap, holding his finger in his grip, his features far more worried than anyone ought to be, while Zoya stood still, smiling to herself at his concern. Probably the thing that was wrong with Aditya was the fact that he cared too much.

"Do you remember Aditya, you had asked me once, ki kya hame bhi wo bepannaah pyaar milega, jo hume azaad kare, hamare dard se, hume bacha le?", Zoya was now standing facing him, her hand no longer in his, but his eyes were still as lost as they were before," I have the answer now".

Not in his wildest dreams had Aditya imagined that Zoya would ever take the first step, but when he felt her lips at his forehead, he could physically feel the headache scooting away while his heart seemed ready to leap out of his chest cage.

"I can't abide by you anymore Aditya, especially when I know it's not right. And I have had finite chances to do what's right on my own, you should know. The first decision I took on my own went horribly worng, but my second decision turned out to be the best one. So I am taking my chances here", she chuckled, trying to get a hold on her nervousness.

Zoya had never been too vocal about her feelings since Yash, she took her own sweet time to process them. She thought and re thought everything, trying to dodge her feelings and never confronted them, out of the fear that it would all crash down again. She had really loved Yash, given him everything she had in her, wrapped in her innocence and naivity, decorated with her elegance. In her mind, she did everything in her power to be a good wife, it wasn't her fault if Yash decided to treat her as a pampered child just because she was brought up like that. When she took the decision to marry him, by eloping, she had matured too. If Yash could not see it, and blame her for not being upto his practical expectations, it was his flaw, not hers.

When Zoya raised both her hands to cup his cheeks, she became painfully aware of the wetness over them. It was when a sob escaped her own lips was that she realised she had been crying too.

"Hum Zoya Siddaqui, ye jante hue ki hum is duniya k sabse bade aimak h aur aap, besharam, behaya aur kamzarf", a chuckle escape her as Aditya smiled too, and she softly touched her forehead with his, taking a deep breath, "Hum aapse ye khna chahte hai ki Janab Aditya Hooda, hum aapse bepannaah mohabbat karte hai, pata nhi kab se, per ye jarur pata h ki ye mohabbat hamesha rahegi, kyunki iss baar aapse dur jane se phle hamari jaan chali jayegi", she broke into sobs, and so did Aditya who had reflexly hugged her tight.

For those few seconds, nothing else mattered. Not their pasts, not their future and not even the presents. Not the ego, not the guilt. It was just a guy basking into the warmth he had been seeking since forever. It was just a girl finding comfort after a rough night. It wasn't even Aditya Hooda or Zoya Siddaqui, it was just Aditya and Zoya, happy and content, in love and in each other's arms.

But as they say, good times don't always stay, and hence Zoya's tears came in contact with Aditya's bare shoulder to break his trance and he pushed her away, with a jerk, absolutely angry at himself for loosing control over him damn feelings.

"Zoya, no! This, this can't happen", he turned his back to her, hiding the tears that had streamed down yet again, but now depicted his grief. It pained him like hell to speak those words aloud but he did, for the sake of his lady love. He had hurt every single lady in his life and he didn't have it in him to hurt Zoya too.

Zoya knew this was coming, she had prepared herself for that. Every word from his drunken blabber yesterday was still fresh in her mind, and she knew well how much he was doubting himself. From the man who wanted to be loved, to the man who was pushing it away, selfishly selfless, Aditya Hooda had come a long way. She walked to him and hugged him from his back, her arms around his shoulders as she rested her head on his back.

"I know you think You are not good enough for me", Zoya whispered calmly, and Aditya was surprised to hear it, so much that he held her hands and turned around to have a good look at her face.

"I don't need good enough Aditya, I need you - the flawed, angry, sarcastic you! I promise I won't complain", Zoya gave him a small smile expecting him to mellow down but unknowingly this only unnerved him some more as he detached her from him and sighed, before sitting down on his knees with his head in his palms.

" Yhi toh mai nhi chahta Zoya", his voice broke as he choked on his owm tears, "I don't want you to compromise with me and not complain, like Pooja", he by now broke into sniffs, " because that would end up with you not considering me mature enough to understand your needs and then falling in love with-", Aditya could not finish. His voice box gave up and his chin started to wobble as he tried his best to not cry out the hurt he was felling inside.

Zoya sat down on her knees, in front of him and held his right hand in between both of hers, before leaning to kiss his knuckle.

"I won't complain because I love you for being flawed, because I will deal with your anger by becoming angry myself. I am your Sherni, remember?", she giggled, and it made him chuckle, the way she said it, trying to imitate a lion, "and I will reply to your sarcasm back with more of my own. I won't fall in love again because like you said, Aap jaise mohabbat humse koi aur kar hi nhi sakta, And I don't need anyone to. You are enough!", she ran her thumb over his hand, drawing circles to soothe him, but the way his face broke at her words made her frown.

" I am enough? Really? I am? ", Zoya always thought heartbreak was what she felt when she came to know Yash had signed the divorce papers, but today hearing the man she loves so low of himself, she tasted the real heartbreak.

"You are enough, more than enough", the confidence in her voice shook Aditya, who had never thought somebody would say that to him. Next Zoya knew she was being crushed by a crying Aditya who had leaned to hug her and she reciprocated equally, trying to hide him from the world in the cocoon of her arms.

"Zoya?", Aditya's heavy voice broke their moment as Aditya looked at her, breaking the hug.

"Promise me something", his voice quivered as he looked into her eyes, finally standing up and pulling her up alongside. Zoya looked at him and thought he would ask her to promise she would never leave him, which she didn't intend to anyway and hence nodded.

"Anything", her smile reached her eyes as she raised her right hand to wipe his cheeks and eyes.

Aditya sniffed before closing his eyes to gather himself first and later opened them to find his favourite person in the world smile back at him, bringing an instinctiv smile on his face.

"Promise if You will love me only until you can. You won't force yourself to love me ever", Zoya tried to stop him but Aditya shut her off by keeping his hand on her mouth, " and if someday you grow out of love with me, you will let me know beforehand, without any hesitation".

Zoya could never think Aditya would ask for a promise like that. Aditya, the man who loved her to the level of crazy, the man who fought her Abbu for them, the man who bore every humiliation by Arshad just for her.

Cupping his cheeks again, she gave him a big smile. She wasn't worried about his promise because in her heart she knew, that day would never come, and once Aditya outgrow his insecurities, it would be him who won't let her go away at any damn cost.

"Promise", she tilted her head, and smiled, looking very cute and Aditya laughed, for the first time since she didn't know when.

"I am waiting", Zoya batted her eyelashes, and pouted. She was amazed at herself, she had never behaved this childishly even with Yash, but with Aditya, she felt comfortable doing anything, "Say it back to me".

She saw Aditya's face grow serious again, as he took a deep breath.

"There is still something we need to talk about".