"Yes, he is my half brother, Paa's son", Aditya's confession made Zoya halt in her steps, she looked at him in daze. Hoodas always looked like a close knit family to her. Arjun and Aditya were as close as her and her Kohinoor, while Anjana was the fretty mother who loved her children a bit too much. That's how she had always seen it, because Aditya had never talked to her about his family's hidden secrets otherwise. She knew he and Harsh didn't get along before, but she had never known exactly why.

Aditya watching the array of questions passing Zoya's face, and prepared himself to answer the same. Maybe it was time to revisist those painful memories he had kept buried for a long time.

He patted the seat next to him, and Zoya quickly settled down beside him, offering him a small smile as she held his hand in hers, her gesture speaking more than she did. Aditya looked at her and gulped, but began taking a deep breath.

"I was eight when I first saw Maa and Paa fighting. They didn't know I was lurking there, and initially they did have the decency to fight behind those close doors. Then it started to worsen. Pooja was my neighbour, I used to run away to her house to escape those voices. Eventually Maa-in-law understood what was happening, she began to care for me in ways my mother was supposed to, but could not because she was either busy weeping or finding ways to convince Paa about her worthiness. And I, I think Zoya me feeling this worthlessness, it began to stem from there", Aditya whispered, introspecting as he began telling her the baggage of those haunted days he always kept hidden.

"Long story short, Paa did leave us for a while, and Maa grew hysteric. I was fourteen, and I knew Maa needed someone to hold her, but I also knew I had to protect Arjun from that heartbreak. So I convinced Maa and Arjun both and sent him to a boarding school. He doesn't know the details of Dad's affair even now, or about Maa and his ugly fights, and the violence-", his voice began to shake, and Zoya instinctively squeezed his left hand, her warmth and the softness with which she was looking at him, made it easy for him to breathe.

"Dad came back home when I was eighteen. He had never left officially anyway. He paid our bills, met Arjun at his PTMs and came home once in a few months anyways, but kept his distance from me because I would grow angry at his sight. I did stop calling him Paa, and switched to Mr. Hooda for quite a long time. And I developed this insane hate for-", he was cut off by Zoya's chuckle.

"Cheaters. I know", she softly chuckled, drawing patterns on his hand, "You drove me mad with your rants about my 'Cheater Pati', remember?".

Aditya ducked his head, and laughed too, at the memory. At that time, it was such a bitter one, and now he was actually laughing about the same.

"I was so angry with the fact that Pooja cheated on me, that I didn't even look for a reason. And now it feels, maybe because she knew how I would react, she let go of her shot at happiness for so long", Aditya smiled, and Zoya did too.

It felt so good to him, talking about Pooja and not feeling that anger, that insane rage. He was remembering her like a fond memory, like she deserved to be remembered by him.

"Aditya, Hum aapse ek baat kahe?", Zoya questioned, and Aditya raised his eyes to look at her.

"Pooja, Yash they were people close to us, and it's only fair we remember them with love. But you know what, though we did find some kind of justifications to their actions, and that we eventually did forgive them, and we are moving on, it does necessarily means they weren't wrong. What they did was not correct, and we aren't the ones to take the full blame", Zoya finished, shifting a little closer to him and Aditya leaned to rest his head on her shoulder.

They had come full circle today, and both acknowledged the fact.

From the Aditya who wouldn't hear a word about Pooja anymore, who burnt her belongings in rage, who attended her funeral in black clothes, who blamed her for breaking him into minute pieces, to the Aditya who now understood her perspective, remembered her with the fondness she deserved as his best friend, and Could smile while discussing about her, Aditya Hooda had really completed full circle in life.

And Zoya was having a similar epiphany to herself.

From being the naive wife who wasn't ready to believe even the prospect of her husband cheating on her, to handling his business and fighting for his respect, and accepting that he was at fault, it wasn't entirely her blame to harbor, Zoya had come a long way, and without a doubt, she owed it all to Aditya.

It was him who had showed her the difference between being naive and between being weak, and then made her stand in front of the mirror that reflected her strengths to herself.

Zoya ducked her head and kept it above Aditya's head, still smiling. The relief of having Aditya with her, breathing and laughing made her giddy with happiness. She had learnt it the hard way, to appreciate a moment for what it was, to find happiness in these little moments of togetherness and she didn't want to waste any of it anymore.

Aditya's eyes went to her waist, and without moving, he started to lightly tickle her. Zoya who was completely unprepared, shreiked loudly, and burst into laughter, rolling on the bed. Aditya was having the time of his life at her expense, the hospital duvet now lying on the floor as Zoya moved here and there to protect herself but failed anyway. It was when Aditya's IV line stretched, and he fell right over her that they both went immediately stiff, conscious of the closeness between them. Zoya was lying on her back, and Aditya was hovering over her, his eyes flickering back to her lips time and again. He would have leant in if somebody would not have coughed at the door, startling them.

Roshna stood smiling at the door while Arjun and Noor had broken into full blown fake coughs, enjoying the nervous moving away of Aditya and Zoya, as Aditya lay down properly and Zoya began folding the duvet after picking it from the floor.

"Appi, What were you doing that it landed on floor?", Noor winked, enjoying the blush on Zoya's cheeks as Aditya looked everywhere but them.

"Yes Bhai, you were supposed to rest, remember?", Arjun played along and both Aditya and Zoya were too flushed to even make an answer.

"Leave them you two, stop with your teases", Roshna saved the duo and Zoya immediately looked at her mother with grateful, puppy dog eyes, earning a chuckle and shake of head. Arjun and Noor were thrown out of the door, and they had to follow the orders, without complaining.

"May you both always be smiling, Inshallah!", Roshna patted both their heads and moved out too, after declaring that she was bringing food and that wasn't a choice.

Both Aditya and Zoya chuckled at her, and nodded their heads dutifully.

"I will just check on Sakshi Aunty once okay?", Zoya patted his hand and Aditya nodded, wanting to also ask about his mother but refrained. Zoya left, and he rested his back on the bed, sighing when the door opened again and Wassem Siddaqui walked in.

Aditya froze, he wasn't expecting him at all, not this soon, either way. His mind went into frenzy, travelling all those hours back to that afternoon when he had taken the step he now regretted taking, but in that moment had seemed worth it.

Flashback!

Aditya sat on the sofa with the letter Arjun had handed him, the one from Anjana. He didn't know if she deserved his forgiveness, but he knew he wanted to. She was his mother after all. He opened the letter with misty eyes, and trembling hands, and began reading.

"Dear Adi,

I know you are angry at me, and that's obvious son, but I really want you to know what I did wasn't intentional. I didn't set out to kill Pooja. I saw her with a man, a month before the disaster and it angered me. I confronted her, and she told me how she was planning to leave you.

I didn't want that to happen Adi. I had seen you through Your Pa's betrayal, it had shattered you and I knew if Pooja did the same, you will break again. I couldn't afford that, so I begged her, screamed at her, scare her, did everything I could but she told me she was expecting Yash's child. She wanted to give you the divorce paper the next day, and I couldn't let that happen. I wanted to protect you, a mother can do anything for her child. So I followed her that night, meaning to bring her back by hook or crook, but the fog, it made it impossible for me to see through the roads and somehow my car hit hers. It was an accident Adi, I swear.

You remember when your Pa left, you asked me why didn't I fight? Why did I let him go? That if you would have been in my place, you would have fought. I did the same beta, for you. I didn't fight for myself, I fought for you. I didn't want your heart to break yet again, I didn't want you to shatter, because this time there would not be any Pooja to hold you together, or so I thought.

Please forgive me son, meet me once. I miss you everyday, every moment. Please, come back home!

Your mother"

Aditya could not stop his tears as he sunk back into the couch, his hiccups telling the story of his agony. The letter was heartfelt, his mother's emotions were heartfelt, but somewhere reading that letter felt like it was his fault.

His mother was trying to protect HIM.

She wanted HIS heart not to shatter.

Pooja didn't want to hurt HIM.

It was all somehow about him.

In that worst state of mind, his heart craved for Zoya. He felt like he was sinking again and he needed her to hold back. He desperately needed Zoya. He picked his phone and called Zoya, but she didn't pick it up.

His nerves all jittery, the bad kind, he dropped her a message.

"Zoya, please pick up. I need you, I need to hear your voice. I need to hear you love me, despite how deeply flawed I am. Please"

Aditya could not hold back a small smile though at her thought. A month back he thought he wasn't enough for her, a few days back he didn't want to confess and today he was reaching out to her, by himself. For a man who said he was scared to trust, Zoya had earned his trust through her subtle smiles.

He was taking deep breaths to calm himself down when the doorbell rang, and Aditya leaped out thinking it was Zoya. Only, it wasn't. It was her dear father!

Note: Sincere request to all of you. Please stay indoors, and quarantine if you have any history of foreign travel or are in contact with somebody who travelled. Don't take Corona too lightly, it's gonna cost the world a lot.