"Yuv, mujhe samajh mein nahi aaraha hai.. Maa itni aasani se Zoya ko, jisse woh teek se jaante bhi nahi, usko sab kuch kaise bata diya? I thought she was sensible but no! Main kya bakwaas assume kartha raha. Mujhe lagtha hai mera dimaag kharab hai. She'll never understand anything. Jab Mr. Hooda ke cheap harkaton ke baare mein patha chala, she hid everything from me aur tabh bilkul chup thi. Kuch action nahi liya. She's still listening to him! Why can't maa understand that his fake concern is only to get his work done? Agar jaanti bhi hai toh ye sab kyun kar rahi hai us insaan keliye, jinhe hum sab ki parvah hi nahi hai? Zoya ko sab bata diya!"
Aditya sounded pissed as he kept on brushing Ralph, his little puppy's belly softly. Yuvaan was seated opposite to him on a stool while cleaning his puppy. The friends were at Yuvaan's house, giving a bath to their puppies, to grab some home-made lunch afterwards.
"Dude, main jaanta hoon Anjana aunty kabhi kabhi ah.. I don't feel good to say this par she's very innocent aur mujhe aunty keliye bura lagraha hai. Of course I don't know aunty kyun Zoya ko sach bata diya achanak. Koi wajah hoga. Do you really think jaise tune kaha, Zoya aunty ko force kiya hoga Adi? Aise karne se usko kya milega?"
Yuvaan raised an eyebrow in question as he applied some shampoo to his hands and lathered well. Aditya looked up at the ceiling, then at his drenched pup and started brushing its tail, with his sole concentration on the little being.
"I don't know. I feel ki Zoya Maa ke mann mein zeher bar rahi hai! Tu jaanta hai main kabhi bhi khud ka aapa ko saktha hoon, its not under control aur main nahi chahtha ghar par aaye hue mehmaan ke wajah se mera din kharab ho. Zoya should know her limits and maa shouldn't have told her about our family. Is wajah se Mr. Hooda ne mujhse pehele hi din kaha mujhe achche bachche waali acting karna hoga Zoya ke saamne aur dekh kya hua? Jo baat hum chupa kar rakh rahe the usi baat maa ne, jo mere gusse waali attitude se darr rahi thi, khud jaakar Zoya ko bata diya! Just fabulous Yuv, argh!"
Yuvaan could understand Aditya had a reason enough to vent out his frustration. He was asked by his parents to take care of his tongue to not slip a word about the facade of their family but his own mother had ruined the idea. Yuvaan knew Aditya well to comprehend what are his strengths and weaknesses. Even though he might not be cordial with his mother, Aditya wasn't certainly a beast.
Yuvaan still remembers how his friend had panicked when Anjana got sick few months back and how time to time, he kept calling Maria aunt to keep track of his maa's health condition. Yuvaan got up from his stool as he finished bathing his dog and started wiping the puppy's body slowly.
"Adi, calm down aur meri baat sun. I understand your anger lekin Anjana aunty sensitive hai yaar aur ye tu experience se mujhse behetar jaanta hoga. Kya patha shaayad tu Zoya par bewajah hi ilzaam laga rahe ho! We don't know right? Aunty ne tujhse Zoya ke saath dosti ka haath badhane keliye kaha na? I mean her suggestion..."
"Um... not maa par Mr. Hooda. Woh maa ko manipulate kartha hai aur maa chup chap apne so-called husband ke orders follow karthi hai.."
Aditya stiffened his grip around Ralph's neck unintentionally to which the puppy barked in pain and he immediately realized what he had done and hugged the pup tightly.
"Sorry Ralph, I didn't want to hurt you.."
Yuvaan sighed and carried his pup out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel. Aditya wrapped Ralph carefully in another and followed Yuvaan in to his room.
"Anjana aunty literally asked you to become friends with Zoya aur I'm not sure but I feel ki aunty aur uncle dono yeh chahthe hai. Dekh yaar, don't get angry. I can be wrong but woh teri maa hai aur use teri parvah hai. Maybe aunty ne socha hoga kyun na ek aisi shaks ke saath baatein share kare jo unhe samjhengi, jiska uske saath achchi bonding ho, jis par woh trust karsakthi hai? Tu apni maa se last time teek se baat kab ki Adi? Yaad nahi hoga na tujhe? Toh tune assume kaise karliya achanak ki aunty ko Zoya ne manipulate kiya hoga? You neither know what aunty does when she's alone at home and obviously, you haven't given yourself a chance to start afresh with Zoya, kyun ki tu humesha us par taunt maarta hai ya phir uske saath verbally fight kartha hai..."
Aditya placed his puppy on the floor and walked towards the window of the room as rain started pouring from the skies. He held the wall and looked down as thunder striked loudly.
"Yuvaan, main yeh sab jaan booch kar nahi kar raha hoon. Main haalat se laachar hoon aur ek waqt aisa tha meri zindagi mein jab mujhe apne aapse nafrat horaha tha. Mr. Hooda ke kartoot hi aise the! Jo kuch bhi horaha tha uske baare mein maa chup thi par main maa ki tarah nahi hoon Yuv. Mr. Hooda cheated on us aur maine decide kiya ki usne jo kiya, uske liye main us insaan ko kabhi maaf nahi karunga. But is baar mujhe Mr. Hooda ke baat se sehmat hona hoga unfortunately kyun ki he's right. Faltu mein ghar ki baatein bahar gaya toh bas mujhe maa keliye bura lagraha hai. Use patha nahi ki Mr. Hooda apne dimaag ke saath kaisa khel khel raha hai. In fact there are chances that if this goes out he might blame her and save himself!"
Yuvaan had by the time walked towards Aditya and slowly placed an assuring hand on his friends' shoulder to which Aditya turned around. His face was clouded with thoughts.
"Adi, tujhe kaafi utaar charav ka saamna karna para par tu Anjana aunty ko kitna bhi ignore kare, tujhe uski chinta hai. Lekin mujhe lagtha hai abhi keliye chup rehena behetar hoga because we don't know why aunty decided to tell Zoya about your family right? Aur toh aur tune saari baatein bhi nahi suni. How can we guess Zoya knows the reality? Trust me, sab kuch teek hoga aur for the record, jaise tune Zoya ko criticize kiya woh itni buri nahi hogi yaar. Kya patha, jaise aunty ne kaha she might be a nice girl. It's just that pehele hi din se tune uske saath jaghar na shuru kiya aur tujhpe hi sab bhaari par gaya.."
Aditya tilted his head, narrowing his eyes as he noticed Yuvaan's smirk.
"Yeah right..", Aditya couldn't help but a smile crept up to his tightened lips.
Zoya paced towards the kitchen to wash her mug as the Master clock at a corner of the living room announced that it was fifteen minutes passed Seven O'clock. Seeing Maria aunty working with a dish that most certainly looked like Pasta, Zoya smiled and started washing her mug in the sink.
"Aunty, aaj dinner mein kya hai?"
Maria lifted her head passing a thin smile at Zoya and continued working.
"Ma'am, Anjana ma'am Sausage Bolognese banane keliye kaha hai. Aapko pasand nahi hai toh please kehe dijiye. Vinita se bata kar aap keliye kuch aur ready kar sakthe hai Zoya ma'am. Aap kya khaana pasand karegi?", she asked Zoya politely to which Zoya shook her head negatively.
"Nahi aunty, uski zaroorat nahi hai. I'm fine with pasta. Waise, Harshwardhan uncle abhi tak ghar nahi aaya na? Maine uncle ki gaadi ke awaaz nahi suni. Aa.. aapko kuch patha hai?"
Zoya wasn't sure as she made it a point to ask Maria about Harshwardhan uncle since she had just got to know about the Hooda family's facade but she also knew that Maria had seen the drama unfold every day at the house. If she could help Anjana aunty by any means, she would be glad and the easiest person to question was Maria, the old housemaid about the past details.
Maria stopped her work and looked at Zoya nervously.
"Uh.. nahi ma'am. Par ghar se jaane se pehele kuch tightly scheduled meetings ke baare mein Sir ne kaha aur ma'am, ghar waqt par nahi aa payega toh aat baje se pehele call karne ke baare mein mention kiya tha. Abhi yaad aaya mujhe.."
"Thanks aunty. Main aise hi pooch rahi thi to know whether he would be joining us for dinner.."
Zoya mumbled with a smile and walked out of the kitchen. As she was about to walk upstairs, she heard the landline phone ringing loudly, breaking the eerie silence around the house. Zoya placed her hand on her heart as she got scared at the sudden sound. She looked around to see whether anyone was in her visibility but as Maria and rest of the servants were occupied with cooking and other house chores and Anjana aunt seemed to be inside her room, she decided to answer the phone. As Zoya moved towards the landline and placed the receiver to her ear, she heard the line getting interrupted. Signal was surely not clear.
"Hello? May I know who is speaking there?", Zoya asked covering her free ear with her hand because of the signal interruption.
"Ah.. Zoya? It's Harshwardhan uncle. Beta will you do me a favour? Aunty ko batana mujhe aaj aane mein dher hojayegi, kyun ki mujhe kuch documents prepare karna hai kal subha court jaane keliye. Ask aunty to get some sleep. Main koshish kar raha hoon baara bajh ne se pehele aane keliye. Aur do you remember that party Zoya? Tell Anjana that we are going there tomorrow evening. Unka phone switched off aaraha tha, isliye landline par call karna parah.."
Harshwardhan's voice was not perfectly clear but Zoya could figure out what he wanted to say.
"Ji uncle, main aunty ko bata dungi. Khayal rakhiye apna, khu.. Ah.. bye uncle!
"Bye beta, aunty ko ho sake toh jaldi message dena.."
Zoya put down the receiver. As she realized that she should inform Anjana as soon as possible about her husband's arrival she started walking towards their room on the ground floor when she heard the bell outside the gate ringing. Zoya stopped in her strides at once, unable to figure out what must she do first. Whether she should check who the guest is or inform Anjana about the emergency call by her husband.
Who was ringing the bell at such an odd time? That too when it's heavily raining?
Hasta la vista! 🍸
❆ Sewwi ❆