Enduring Ally

Chapter 5 : Problem to be solved

Aditya now looked up and said, "Ms. Zoya Siddiqui, I said okay that you can leave early and I didn't ask for damn reason".

She was looking at him with her mouth open and after few seconds she realised what he said, "Ya Allah!! Thank you so much Mr. Hooda. I take my leave now", she thanked and turned to leave.

"Ms. Zoya Siddiqui, TLA Technologies report which is due tomorrow. I want you to submit the same in 2 days, after you take care of this friend problem, take your time now. But when you come back, I want your full concentration on that report", he ordered.

Zoya thanked him and leave for the day.

***

Arjun was frantically pacing up and down. He couldn't control his anger. Under his breath, he was cursing. Harshawardhan Hooda is looking at his son Arjun Hooda worriedly.

Arjun turned to Harshawardhan, "Paa, How can you let him go? How can even he think of leaving the house? When I was in US for my studies? And what the hell he was thinking? He didn't even think of his brother before leaving the house!! At least, you could have called me, paa!! I would have stopped him from leaving", breathing heavily with anger and pain.

Harshawardhan softly said, "You know about him, Arjun!! He never listened to anyone. He is stubborn like his mother.  And I don't want to spoil your studies. I didn't inform you because I know, if I tell you about his decision, you will leave your studies half way and come down here running".

"But Paa, he is your favourite son, then how did you let him to leave?" Arjun exclaimed.

"He is determined and after that accident he was lost in alcohol. If Prem was not there, we would have lost him 2 years before. And when he asked me that he wanted to do something with life and he can't do it from here. I had no option but to leave him to his decision", he explained.

Arjun calmly asked, "Paa, do you know where is he now? I want to see him".

Harshawardhan kept the right hand on Arjun's head and blessed him before giving him the contact number.

***

On the way to Riyaz house, Zoya tried calling him again and again, but he didn't respond to her calls. She got even more worried and ask the cab driver to go fast.

When she reached Jayanagar 14th block, her heart was thumping faster. She knocked on the Riyaz door but no response. So, she took the spare key from under the flower pot and opened the door and went inside.

"Riyaz, where are you? Riyaz" she called for him. She couldn't find him anywhere then she ran upstairs to the study. In the corner, she found him sitting with his hands folded around his knees and his head in between.

She ran towards him and sat next to him. She tried to lift his head but he pushed her away. Shocked Zoya asked, "What happened to you, Riyaz? Why are you behaving like this?

Riyaz started to weep and said, "Please go away, Zoya. I don't want to talk to you".

Zoya again went near him, "What did I do? Come on, Riyaz. Please tell me. What happened?"

Riyaz looked up, his eyes were red from crying and he screamed, "Please leave me alone, Zoya!! I don't want to talk with you ever again. You can go to back to that office and spend your time with your reports and auditing!!"

Tears started to roll down from Zoya's eyes. She couldn't understand what happened to him.

He continued to scream again, "After you joined DMG, in this three month, how many times you tried to be there for your best friend when he was having issues. I have been trying to talk to you about my issues but you were never there for me".

Wiping his eyes and face, he continued, "Zara and I had a fight because I was not giving her any attention, you know why? Because, you are not there, I was used to you yaar. Without my friend, I couldn't think about any other things. Today, she got angry and asked me to choose either you or her. I tried to convince her but she didn't listen to me. At last, I lost my patience and told her "Zara, you know who I'll choose, so let's not talk about it". Then she out of anger said so many things and she even", he broke into tears, "To solve... the problem... I called you... again and again... but you did not respond me..."

Zoya run to him to console but he pushed her again away from him and said, "she... she... insulted our friendship by saying that I'm having an affair with you. And she broke our engagement".

He broke into tears again and Zoya closed her mouth in horror. She couldn't control herself.

Riyaz turned to her and said, "Please Zoya, leave me alone. I don't want you in my life again. You know how much I love Zara. Without her I can't live. Now nothing is there for me. Please leave.

But Zoya didn't move from her place. She stood there like statue. Riyaz scream brought her back to reality, "Please leave, Zoya. Get out of my house and my life".

Zoya with broken heart and weeping left his house. She took a cab but don't know where to go. she is getting flashes of what Riyaz said to her, "Please leave me alone, Zoya", "Get out of my house and my life", "Go back to that office and spend your time with your reports". She asked the driver to drop her at DMG absent-mindedly.

She headed straight to her cabin and she didn't notice that office was empty. In her cabin she broke down in to tears as Riyaz's words started to haunt her and pushed away all the items in her desk. Then she dropped down to her knees and cried her heart out.

She didn't know how long she was sitting there like that but when her cabin door opened she come to her senses and looked up. Aditya was standing near the door and looking at the room's condition and her.

***

What is Aditya doing in her cabin at that hour? What was he doing in the office during that late hour?

Zoya is in bad shape and broken for her best friend. On seeing her like this in his office, what Aditya will do? Is this the last day at DMG for Zoya?

Riyaz and Zara's engagement is broken. What will Zoya do? Can she mend the misunderstanding between them?

Hope you guys like this chapter. I know it's bit long than expected. Had some time so posted the next part. But you guys need to wait for the next. Sorry.