AdiYa: Phoenix

Chapter 5

She stood on the balcony of her brand new flat, overlooking the hustle-bustle on the road below. The noise from the traffic, surprisingly soothing her down. Never had she ever imagined in her life, that she would find peace anywhere other than her small hometown up north. She had always lived there, never stepped out, well, never felt the need to, actually. After finishing her education, she had met, fell in love and married Yash in a not-very-long span of time. Her father's influence was such that she never had to wish for a second time for anything. It would be presented before her even before the words were out of her mouth. She was comfortable, she was happy, and she was content in her own little cocoon. Yash's presence in her life had never made her feel any different. She had not grown out of her shell and Yash never tried to bring her out of it. He had said that he loved her just the way she was. Now, that might have been true at one point, but it wasn't the truth for the entirety of their marriage. Maybe he had fallen in love with the simple, sweet, nave girl, but later on, those qualities of hers were probably more useful to keep her in the dark. But she wasn't the same anymore, and had Yash been a part of her life now, he wouldn't have been able to hide his secrets now. But then, if Yash was still a part of her life now, maybe she wouldn't have evolved.

It had been 1 year. 1 year since she had found out that her Yash wasn't hers. That he was not the loyal, loving husband that she had thought him to be. She didn't blame him anymore, to be honest. He was not a bad person, just one who had committed a mistake. Maybe she was also at fault for him straying. She had tried her best to be the most ideal wife, but maybe their ideologies on what the ideal partner was were different. He never said anything, because he loved her too much and didn't want to upset her. And she didn't understand his silence. But there was someone else who did. And it's okay. She just wished that he'd told her. She would have let him go if he'd just have said something. Anyway, it's all in the past now. She's moved on. For real this time.

Zoya thought back to the events that took place after that day in the lodge. After letting her cry her heart out, Aditya had explained to her, very patiently one might add, that it was Yash who was weak enough to cheat. That Zoya need not punish herself. Even though Zoya had been resistant, Aditya had somehow brought her out of the lodge-in-the-middle-of-nowhere and moved her to a hotel in an area closer to the office. The revelation of truth had somehow brought the two of them to one side, removing all sorts of complaints and grudges that they had harboured in their hearts for each other. Their dynamics had changed. She had taken a few days off, recollecting herself, after which Zoya returned to ZoSh, now renamed as ZoYa, with a new sense of self, this time doing the work for herself and not in Yash's memory. Yash aside, she had really started to enjoy event planning herself. The dcor, the food, the arrangements to make an occasion perfect! It gave her an adrenaline rush, a thrill. And watching someone enjoy an event that she had brought to physical reality was extremely satisfying. So, she joined the company back, renaming it to ZoYa (with a capital "Y keeping the Ya of Aditya. She had wanted to rename it to Zo & Adi, but Aditya had refused, because he didn't want any part of the company. He was only investing because of the financial gains, and he had nothing else to do for the time being, with him being suspended [there was someone who had mentioned this Zo+Ya idea on the forum once, I don't remember who it was but hey, the credit goes to you! ]).

Aditya had joined ZoSh with an intention of burning it to the ground, but things had changed. Drastically. He had helped Zoya rename the company, paying off all the loans that ZoSh was under so they could close the company officially, and transfer everything to ZoYa. Aditya was now a 50% partner, with Zoya the owner of the other 50%. Aditya was the finance, and Zoya was the workforce. And needless to say, now that the owners of the company were not at loggerheads with each other, ZoYa had flourished. It was in the top 10 event management companies of Mumbai, slowly making its way to the top. There was a steady flow in of contracts and the workforce had doubled, with the kind hearted Zoya retaining all of ZoSh's employees as well as hiring new ones for ZoYa. Her professional life was good.