Zaroorat

Chapter 13

'Zoya, this isn't like last time. You don't have to grab me like that.'

With that, Aditya took Zoya's hand and put it in his, intertwined their fingers and squeezed her hand. Zoya bloomed as she looked at his face.

She felt safe with him. He was her home. Regardless of where she was, she knew if he was with her, she would always be fine.

They just looked at each other as the plane started to take off and Zoya was spooked.

'Aditya!' She yelped as she buried her face into his neck and wrapped her free arm around him.

Aditya whispered into her ear to calm her down.

'Zoya, main hoon...kuch nahin hoga.' (Zoya, I'm here...nothing will happen)

He caressed her head and he continued to whisper into her ear and Zoya held on tight.

When the plane was finally in the air, he squeezed her hand again.

'Zoya, we're in the air. You can let go now.'

She refused to move her face away from his neck.

'Aditya, can I stay here for a minute please. I feel safe.'

Aditya was overjoyed. He whispered into her ear.

'Stay forever Zoya.'

She tensed for a second and then relaxed again.

Ten minutes later Aditya heard light snoring and grinned. She had fallen asleep in the most uncomfortable position. Her face still buried in his neck and her arm around him but he didn't have the heart to wake her. He moved slightly to get her to rest her head on his shoulder and he rested his head on top of hers.

In her sleep she tried to get closer to him but the arm rest got in the way so he lifted it up so she could get her legs closer to him. She moved so now her legs were resting over his legs. He laughed as he looked at how she had trapped him and he was happy. He never wanted her to let go.

***

'Appi, Aditya wake up we've landed'

Noor rapped Aditya's shoulder and he jerked awake. His movement also pulled Zoya out of her deep slumber and they both looked around wearily, confused as to where they were.

When they looked up they saw Noor, Mona, Akanksha and Shaun staring at them.

'Shit!' Aditya thought as he looked over at Zoya but she was too busy gathering her dupatta (scarf) and reaching to the floor to grab her bag, avoiding everyone's prying eyes.

They both unbuckled and followed everyone out the plane, once again allowing silence to overcome them.

'This is getting ridiculous' Aditya thought.

'Every time we get close to each other, it ends up in an awkward silence and Zoya either avoiding me or apologising. How are we ever going to maintain any kind of relationship if this keeps happening? I care about her too much to lose her, so if she feels awkward around me sometimes, maybe I have to separate myself from her.'

He resolved to do what he could. Anyway they would be incredibly busy over the next few days so there was probably little time or opportunity for these kinds of awkward moments.

***

They arrived at the resort and everyone checked into their rooms. The resort was made up of 4 hotel buildings, all of which had been booked out for the wedding. All of the staff apart from Aditya and Zoya were staying in one hotel but they were asked by Kumar and Saira to stay in the same hotel as the family.