At the conference room, Zoya went and stand in between Prem sir and Arjun. Arshad stood next to Arjun but he was still looking at Zoya through his peripheral view.
Aditya came to the room and took his place in the middle. "Good Morning, everyone", Aditya said and everyone wished him back.
"So, everyone how was your day, I know for many this day is wonderful day, Happy Valentine's Day to you all", he paused and everyone gave him horrific look. Even Zoya looked at him in horror; she thought he was going to tell everyone that they're dating each other. Arjun, who is smiling under his hand, he was expecting this when he get the circular today for the conference meeting.
"What? Isn't it Valentine's Day today? I guess, most of you, would have planned a beautiful evening with your respective valentine", he said with a smile. Every one smiled and some of them nodded.
"Okay, let's come to the point, just like I said this day is a wonderful day for everyone and same way this day is a wonderful day for me too", he paused as many of them was whispering with each other.
He cleared his throat and every one became silent. "Zoya, can you please come here?" he called. Zoya looked petrified but she went and stood near him. "So, guys you all know Zoya has been with us for almost a year and she has proved that she is "The Best" in her work. And I would like to take this opportunity to recognize her work here. I would like everyone here to put your hands together for Zoya" he said and started to applaud and everyone joined.
Everyone applauded for sometime and when they cease, Aditya continued, "Now, let's come to the point why we're gathered here", he said as he gestured Zoya to leave. She got back to the place where she was standing before. And he continued, "As many of you would have known that we are almost closing on signing the deal with the most successful and No.1 company in India. And I'm very happy to announce that deal will be closed today with GTI Ltd. We will be signing the documents today with them and most of all the contract is for the next 3 years. If we handle this client well then we may be their auditing firm for coming long years too. I hope that each and every one of you will support us on this new journey too."
Each and everyone applauded for the next few minutes. And when they stopped, "Thank you everyone for being here with us today and one more thing I would like to share with you all that Zoya will assisting me in this project and she'll be with me in all the meetings and the presentations" he said and gestured her to come near to him. Zoya smiled and went near him. Every one again applauded, this time the entire room echoed with the sound of applause.
***
Zoya and Aditya were on the way to the client's office to sign the deal. Aditya said, "Just as I said, today we will be together every minute and every second".
"Nope... Not every minute and every second", she said. "Actually we were not together for almost 20 minutes" she said after a pause looking at the roof like a child. Aditya laughed, "Okay, from now on we will together every minute and every second" he said while taking her hand in his.
They reached the client's office, Aditya introduced Zoya to the company's CFO and Finance heads. After a small meeting, both of them signed the deal and also signed the NDA too. On closing the deal successfully, they popped the champagne. After that small party, the CFO invited Aditya and Zoya to join for lunch.
"We would be happy to join you but, we have to get back to our office for another client's meeting. So, we're really sorry to decline your invite. But, I promise you, some other time we will join you for lunch" Aditya said.
After saying goodbyes they both headed to the parking. Zoya couldn't able to contain her happiness. She squealed and jogged ahead of Aditya. He was smiling at her antics and followed her. "Zoya, calm down you might fall. Remember you're wearing a saree", he called behind her.
She didn't listen to him and she was jogging in circle in the same place and giggling. Aditya ran to her and stopped her, "Come on Zoya, you will fall" he said. She again squealed and said, "Congratulations, we did it" then she hugged him. She almost made him fall; he managed and hugged her back.
"Zoya, can you please calm down now?" he asked her while she broke the hug. She nodded. Then she gave a quick kiss on his lips and giggled again. Aditya shakes his head vertically and smiled.
***
After the great lunch at The Leela Palace, they both headed back to the office. He asked her to follow him to his cabin but she said that she need to take the book and her belongings and will meet him in his cabin in 5 minutes.
Aditya said, "I'll come with you too". Zoya denied and said, "I need to use the restroom too. So, I'll meet you in your cabin in 10". She headed towards restroom and Aditya to his cabin.
After restroom she went to her cabin and grabbing her belongings and the book she took earlier. Arshad knocked on the door. "Hey, Zoya", he said. "Hey, Hi", she said without looking at him.
"Zoya, Congratulations on the project and I need to talk to you about something", he said. "Aww... Thank you, Arsh..." she stopped midway as she turned around to see him with red rose bouquet. "What is this?" she asked gesturing the bouquet. Arshad stepped forward to Zoya and when she was about to ask, he stopped her from talking by putting his index finger on her lips.
"Zoya... I have been waiting to tell you this, almost from the moment you stepped in to this office but I stopped myself from doing so because I don't want to spoil our friendship. But now I think I can't wait any more..." he paused and continued, "I Love you, Zoya. I Love you very very much", he said while kneeling down on one knee and presenting the bouquet to her.
Zoya closed her mouth in horror and she couldn't believe what she was seeing in front of her. She get her composure and said, "Arshad, please get up!" but denied and said, "No, until you accept my love I will not get up".
"Oh, shut up Arshad, please get up", she said again but again he denied. "Arshad, I don't love you and I'm not going to accept this proposal. Will you please get up?" she said. Arshad this time got up and asked, "Why? Why you don't love me? Am I not worth for you? You always said that you like me. And now why you can't love me", he screamed at her.
"Woah... Stop it Arshad... I like you definitely I like you as my friend... you're a good friend to me Arshad like Arjun and Riyaz... It's not about worth or something... Love is a feeling and it has to come on its own, you can't force it... And I'll like you always as a friend, Arshad", she tried to put some sense into him.
"Why don't you at least try to love me?" he asked. "Arshad, come on I'm not in the mood to argue right now. Just go home and relax. May be you'll come to your senses then", she said and tried to walk past him.
But he pulled her back to him by her hand and she dropped her belongings while saying, "You'll love me and you'll learn to love me" and forced to kiss her on the lips. She tried to push him but miserably failed. Almost his lips touched hers; Arjun barged in and pulled her from his hold.
Arjun stood in between Arshad and Zoya. Zoya looked terrified and hide behind him.
"Arshad, what is this? What are you doing? Did you lose your senses?" Arjun asked. "Arjun, you better stay away from us", Arshad said and tried to get hold of Zoya. Arjun blocked him and punched him on the face to stop him. "Arshad, Zoya is my friend and I'll always be there to protect her, no matter what. You better stay away from her now on. Other wise, it'll be difficult for you to stay here. You know what I mean. If Bhai comes to know about this antics of yours, he'll throw you out of this office and also in jail. So, you better get going", Arjun said with anger.
This time he left the cabin for good with one last look at Arjun and Zoya. Once he was out, Zoya hugged Arjun and started to weep. Arjun pacified her and made her sit in the chair and sat next to her. He passed the paper napkins to her from the other side of the table. She wiped the tears and then she started to wipe her lips aggressively and repeatedly.
When Arjun saw this, she held her hand and said, "Stop it Zoya. Nothing happened and you don't have to behave like this. Good thing I crossed this side and I heard the noise. See, you don't have to worry about anything. I'm here and Bhai is here, he'll not let anything happen to you", he tried to convince her.
"Seriously Arjun, I don't know what would have happened if you had not came here. I don't know what gotten into him to behave like this. I thought he was a nice and good person, I liked him as a friend but today he just crossed the limit. I'm just going to tell about this to Aditya and ask him to warn him", she ranted.
"Zoya, don't you ever tell this to Bhai. I know him, how he'll behave when it comes to the person he love. He'll kill Arshad for doing this to you. So I beg you, please don't tell him. I'll handle Arshad in my own way. You don't need to worry about after today. Okay", he requested.
She nodded and again wiped her tears and her lips. "Okay Zoya, now just get refreshed. If Bhai see you in this condition he'll loose his temper and senses", Arjun boosted her.
After getting refreshed she corrected her make up. She almost forgot that she had to be in Aditya's cabin like half an hour before; she told him that she'll meet him in Ten minutes and with all Arshad drama it was almost forty minutes up. As well as she knows, Aditya would be looking for her in the entire office.
She came to her cabin Arjun was still sitting in the same place. When she was about to tell him that she has to get to Aditya's cabin, Aditya pulled her by her hand and asked, "Where have you been and what are you doing here? I have been looking for you in the entire office and still you're..." he stopped when he saw Arjun in her cabin.
"Sorry Bhai, I was talking to Zoya and she told me you are waiting for her. But, I missed my friend and I didn't get the chance to congratulate her on her new project and for the day. So I had to kept you waiting", Arjun replied.
"It's okay, Chotte. Even we didn't have time to talk too. I'm sorry" he said to Arjun but his focus was on Zoya. "What happened, Zoya? You don't seem to be okay. Is something wrong? Or did anyone do or say anything to you?" he asked.
Zoya hesitated at first but then she managed to say, "Nothing Aditya, something I had in lunch is not accepting. I'm kind of having stomach upset that's why".
"Are you Okay? Do you want me to take you to the doctor?" he asked. "No, I'm okay. It's just that I want to go home. If I take some rest, then, I'll be fine", she said and after a pause, "Will you take me home?" She asked.
"Arjun, will you just inform Prem sir that we left for the day and manage things here", Aditya asked. "Don't worry, Bhai. I'll take care. You just take care of Zoya", Arjun said. Aditya nodded.
Just before they both leave, "Bhai, one second", Arjun came to them and hugged Aditya while saying, "Happy Valentine's Day, Bhai". Aditya reciprocate it and then he said hugged Zoya and said Happy Valentine's Day loudly and then whispered, "Please forget what happened and have a wonderful time with Bhai. You both deserve it".
After breaking the hug, Zoya smiled and nodded.
In the car, Zoya just closed her eyes and rested her head on the head rest. Aditya took her to his place, when he stopped at his place and Zoya opened her eyes.
"Aditya, why did you bring me to your place? I asked you to take me to home", she whined. "I have brought you to home only. See, there is no one in your place to take care of you. But here at least you'll have some one to take care of you. Now, come on don't be a spoil sport. Let's go inside" saying that he helped her to get down and inside the house.
He asked Marcus to bring soup for her and took her to his bedroom and made her lie down in the bed. When Marcus brought the soup he fed her and asked her to take rest.
Aditya made her lie down and covered her with the duvet. When he turned to leave the room, Zoya held his hand. He turned and looked at her. "Don't go. Please stay here with me", she asked.
Aditya nodded and Zoya scooted to the other side of the bed. Aditya sat down resting his back in the headrest and kept his leg straight. To his astonishment, Zoya lay down her head on his lap and closed her eyes to sleep.
He didn't expect that Zoya would lay down on his lap. He felt little uncomfortable but when he saw Zoya sleeping comfortably, he just pushed the hair behind her ears and hold her hand in his then closed his eyes.
For the first time, he felt comfortable even though he was sitting in an uncomfortable position. He didn't know when he slept just like that.
***
Zoya woke up panicking as she dreamed of Arshad trying to misbehave with her. "Noooo", she screamed and Aditya who was sleeping sitting woke up startled. Immediately he moved next to Zoya and asked her, "What happened? Why did you scream?"
Zoya realized that it was nothing but just a dream and Aditya is next to her. She managed, "Nothing... Just some bad dream... It looked so real".
Arjun knocked on the door, when Aditya opened the door he asked, "Bhai, Is everything fine? I heard Zoya's scream".
"Nothing Chotte... She had some bad dream it seems... Come in", he said and opened the door wide. "Chotte... just be here... I'll just get refreshed... I'll be back in a minute", he said and went to the restroom.
Once Aditya was out of sight, Arjun asked her, "What happened? Why did you scream?" Zoya sighed and said, "I just had the visuals of Arshad forcing on me..."
Arjun didn't know what to say. He looked at her blankly. He was looking out for comforting words to say to her. "Zoya, I can understand the trauma you have gone through and how you would feel about it. But, you have to come out of it. You can't stay there and be scared for your life. If you behave oddly with Bhai because of this then I don't know what will happen. So, you have to fight it..." he whispered.
The bathroom door opened and Arjun moved back to his original place. Aditya came back and stood next to her. "Okay Bhai... I'll just get going... I have to go a party... will see you both later... Bye Bhai... Bye Zoya", Arjun said and left the room.
Aditya sat next to her as he can clearly see that she is still under the shock. He cupped her face and made her look at him. "Zoya... is there anything you want to tell me?" he asked. Immediately she shook her head hard "No".
"Then what happened to you? I can see something was wrong in your face", he said. "Nothing... Just that... bad dream... I don't... remember it... but it's kind of disturbing... I'm trying to remember it... but..." she said and shook her head vertically.
"It's okay... Just leave it... You don't have to remember it..." he said and kissed her on the fore head. Then he kissed her on her both cheeks. When he moved to kiss on her lips, she flinched and taken aback and said, "Aditya... I'll just get refreshed... I need to use the restroom".
"Okay... You just get refreshed, I'll get both of us some coffee", he said with a frown in his face and went to the kitchen to get coffee.
***
Aditya and Zoya was happy and planned to spend the entire day together. The first half of the day was memorable for them. But the Second half has become disaster to Zoya. She can't tell Aditya what happened? Arshad's jealousy made him do something worst to Zoya. Will she able to come out of this trauma? Will Aditya find out about what happened to Zoya? What Arshad did to her? If he comes to know what he'll do?
Arjun saves the day. He was one true friend to Zoya. He was always there for her and guiding her. Will Zoya listen to him and come out of this for Aditya and her? Can she come to normal before Aditya guesses something is wrong? She is avoiding him, he would have noted that, she knows that. How she is going to manage that?
Jealousy always creates trouble. Arshad forced on to her. Arjun knows about this. But, how will they stay together in the same office after all this. Will Arshad stay and destroy what is developing between Aditya and Zoya? Or will he realize his mistake and leave DMG?
Stay tuned for the next update. Love you all for the 33K + reads and the support you're continuously giving for my FF and for me. Thank you all... Please vote, share and comment... I enjoyed reading all your comments but I was unable to reply to each and everyone... Really sorry... Will try to reply soon.