Chapter 9

They woke early the next morning, as Raj knew that he would have to check over the preparations before the flag raising ceremony. He had received a worrying note the previous day warning him that something was going to happen today during the ceremony and he wanted to inspect everything fully. He couldn't take a risk that they spy wouldn't carry out their threat, he knew that they were serious.

He hadn't told Naina about it as he didn't want her to worry, but now he was wishing that he had. At least that way she would be on alert, and far less likely to become injured or harmed in any way.

However seeing her so happy about the day that lay ahead, he didn't have the heart to tell her and spoil her mood. He would just have to make sure that he averted disaster before it was too late.

The spy had announced their intention to create a hungama in the academy, warning him that he should leave before it was too late. Raj had no intention of leaving or of allowing the spy to win.

"I'll go and inspect the preparations now, Naina." He tells her, putting the finishing touches on his formal uniform as he stands in front of the mirror.

"Alright, I'll go and see Shalini in the infirmary," Naina informed him, "She said that we could go to the flag raising ceremony together, so I will see you there."

Giving her a smile, Raj left, intending to inspect the academy from top to bottom in order to find a clue of what the spy planned to do.

Naina made her way to the infirmary, knocking lightly on the door before opening it.

"Happy Independence Day," She told Shalini with a smile.

"Happy Independence Day to you too!" Shalini told her brightly, "I hope you're ready to see how us military people celebrate the most important holiday of the year."

"I certainly am," Naina told her, "I've heard so much about it before now that I can't wait to see it for myself."

"Rajveer must have told you, right?" Shalini says, guessing. Naina just nods, unable to admit that it had actually been her brother who had told her the most.

"He's quite excited to be celebrating Independence Day in his old academy again," Naina tells Shalini, "All week he's been telling me about how they used to prepare for it when he was here along with…" she stops suddenly, realizing that she'd been about to say too much, "Along with all of his friends."

Shalini smiles at the slightly lost look on Naina's face, assuming something else entirely.

"You know Naina, you're lucky to have a husband who adores you so much," she tells her, "I don't know how he ever coped without having you here."

"It's not…" Naina begins to say, a bit embarrassed, "I mean to say…"

"There's no need to deny it," Shalini tells her, "I've seen the way he looks at you, it's clear to everybody."

And Naina blushes, because even she's noticed the way that Rajveer looks at her sometimes, although she has pretended that she hasn't. It gives her a feeling low in her stomach that she can't quite describe.

"You're right, I am lucky." Naina tells her, "But I'm sure that you'll find a good husband too."

"Actually I'm already married," Shalini admits, "But we're currently separated."

"Oh," Naina suddenly feels terrible for her earlier comment. "I'm really sorry, I didn't know."

"It's okay, nobody here does." Shalini tells her, "Rajveer wasn't the only one that decided to keep his marriage a secret."

"I hope that everything will work out," Naina tells her, "You really do deserve somebody who loves you."

"We don't always get what we deserve in life." Shalini remarks sadly, and Naina can't help but think about how true this is. She thinks about all the people in this academy who have been hurt for various reasons, who has received too much pain in life. Now it's been revealed that Shalini is also a member of that list.

"So tell me about the first time you and Rajveer ever met," Shalini says, the smile having returned to her face. "I know you had an arranged marriage, but you must have had some type of reaction when you first saw him."

Naina thinks back to that day. She had barely looked at him, she hadn't had the courage, and she had spent most of the time crying while he told them the truth.

"I liked his honesty," she tells Shalini, "He was very sincere, very kind, and he was genuinely worried about my Baba, about our situation…"

"Your Baba?" Shalini asks, and Naina realizes that she has revealed more than she should have.

"Baba was dying of cancer when we first met." She admits, "He wanted me to be settled properly before he went, to fulfill his last duty. That's why I got married so young."

A look of understanding comes onto Shalini's face, suddenly a lot more things are starting to make sense. Naina's quietness, Rajveer's reluctance to answer too many questions about their marriage.

"Well I'm glad that your father made such a good choice for you," she tells Naina, "Otherwise we never would have met."

Naina smiles too, agreeing with her. She is slowly becoming comfortable with Raj, and the more she gets to know him, the happier she is.

But so many things could still spoil that happiness… and Naina worries about this too.

"Well shall we go to the courtyard?" Shalini asks her, "It's almost time for the flag raising ceremony to begin."

**

Ritu smiles.

It is the perfect plan, it really is.

She knows that he will figure it out in time, and she knows that he will stop it, but that's not the point.

He will know that the spy is serious, and in his panic, he may slip up and reveal something important about the location of the triggers.

And besides that, her plan has another intended benefit…

Yes, it will work quite nicely.

**

It is only ten minutes before the ceremony when Raj receives the next note, and he immediately begins to panic. The spy was definitely planning on carrying their attack out, and he still hadn't been able to figure out exactly what their plan was.

He stands in the main courtyard, knowing that they're most likely to strike here, and stays alert and on the lookout for anything suspicious. The cadets have already assembled and are standing in formation, and now the faculty members are entering. He sees Naina enter with Shalini and then go to stand with Suriji and Lolita. He's beginning to think that he should've warned her, warned somebody, but nobody is supposed to know that a spy has infiltrated the academy.

Raj takes his position, alert for any changes or sudden movements. It's only when Brigadier Chandook begins to speak that he realizes there's only place he hadn't thought to inspect, one place where an explosive device could be hidden. And Brigadier Chandook would be a very good target for any spy wanting to make a statement.

However when BC calls upon Dr Mishra instead, Raj decides that the spy couldn't have known about this plan. He's sure that his suspicion is right, and he's not worried that he'll be making a mistake. As Dr Mishra steps forward, preparing to unfurl the flag, Raj rushes towards her.

"Dr Mishra, don't do it!" he calls out, and she looks up, an expression like surprise on her face then unfurls the flag anyway. Quickly he launches himself forward, pushing her out of the way as the flag rises and there is an explosion.

The cadets begin screaming, and scatter towards the exits, Raj is vaguely aware of somebody calling out his name as the smoke settles and he finds himself on the ground with Ritu. Quickly getting off her, he offers her a hand up, noticing that she has a nasty scrape on her arm.

"Cadets calm down!" Brigadier Chandook calls out, "Stand to attention right now!" Reluctantly, and a bit fearfully they do so, looking around as if to make sure that there's not going to be another explosion.

Naina and Shalini both hurry over, wanting to check that they're both okay. As Naina comes up to him and touches his face, Raj realizes that he has a small cut on one cheek. She takes a hold of his arm then, and looking at it for the first time he winces, realizing that a small piece of shrapnel from the exploding stand has lodged itself in his arm.

"Rajveer…" she says, and the look on her face is of such terror that he has no idea how to comfort her.

"It's fine, Naina." He tells her, "It's not a major injury, I'll be perfectly okay." But she's still clutching his arm as if to reassure herself that he is alright, he's not going to die, he's not going to leave her…

"We need to get you both to the infirmary," Shalini tells them, "Especially you, Captain Rajveer. We need to remove that shred of shrapnel from your arm as soon as possible."

"Just one second, Shalini." Raj tells her, and taking a moment he stands and salutes the flag with his right hand, Naina, Shalini and Ritu all join him, and when it has been enough time they head towards the infirmary, Naina still holding Raj's arm, trying to stem the flow of the blood without touching the scrap imbedded in his arm.

When they reach the room Shalini sits Ritu down on the couch and then turns to Raj, making him her first priority. "We'll remove the scrap first," she tells him, "It doesn't seem as if it's imbedded too deeply, so hopefully it won't cause you too much pain."

Naina doesn't leave his side, in fact she holds the hand of his other arm as Shalini digs the metal out of his arm.

Overwhelmed by the pain for a moment, Raj clutches her hand even tighter, then realizes that he might be hurting her and relaxes his grip. Finally Shalini is done and she turns to him with a grim look on her face. "You're very lucky, Captain." She tells him, "And so are you, Rituji. If Captain Rajveer hadn't realized in time then…"

Ritu nods, looking thankful. None of them could possibly have guessed that she had expected it to turn out exactly this way. If Captain Rajveer hadn't realized in time then she would've gotten herself out of the way, her training had been good of course.

"Alright Naina, why don't you bandage your husband's arm and fix up his cheek and I'll attend to Ritu." Shalini told her, and Naina nodded, still looking a little white and unable to speak.

Taking the bandaging material, she wrapped it carefully around Raj's arm, being careful to apply exactly enough pressure to stop the bleeding as soon as possible. That done, she begins to clean the scratch on his cheek before applying a bandaid to it, knowing that it isn't too deep. After she's done she brushes his cheek with her fingers almost tenderly, and then stands beside him, one of her hands resting on his arm lightly.

Shalini has been cleaning the scrape on Ritu's arm and bandaging it, but she can't miss seeing Naina's reactions or the care that she gives to Raj. And while Naina may not have seen it, she certainly noticed the look that Raj had given his wife while she was bandaging his arm. She's just glad that he's perfectly alright, otherwise she doesn't know how Naina ever would've coped.

If Shalini had been less involved in watching them then she may have noticed the look of annoyance on Ritu's face instead. This hadn't been how it was supposed to work out. Now she has to watch the Captain romance with his wife in the infirmary when he was supposed to be worried about her instead.

"I'd better go and report to Brigadier Chandook." Raj tells them, "He will need a full report now about the incident."

"Are you sure that you shouldn't be resting?" Naina asks him worriedly, "I mean, your arm…"

"Naina, I've had worse injuries than this before." He tells her, "And right now I think it's best to reassure the cadets that Dr Mishra and I are both fine and that everything is under control."

Naina nods, realizing that he's right, she had seen the way they had panicked when the bomb exploded. If she's honest then even she had panicked, but instead of running she had stood frozen to the spot. She knows that she had screamed his name, for a moment fearing the worst.

"Alright," she tells him, "I'll go and see how the cadets are doing, will you come there after seeing Brigadier Chandook?"

"I will," Raj promises her, "Try to keep their spirits up for me."

Naina heads off to find the cadets, and Raj leaves to report to Brigadier Chandook, knowing that he'll have to explain how he knew about the bomb. He thinks it may be best to tell him about the anonymous note he received without revealing anything more.

As soon as they've left the room, Shalini turns to Ritu and smiles.

"Well at least everybody is alright," she announces cheerfully, although she is honestly worried about the fact that somebody managed to plant a bomb within the academy without their knowledge. "What a sweet pair they make."

"Of course." Ritu says, resisting the urge to glare after them. Her plan had only half worked, while it had been a good challenge to Captain Rajveer in order to let him know of her presence, it had failed to bring him any closer to her. In fact if anything, it had just helped to prove how close he was to his wife."

Ritu had had enough, she would have to come up with a new plan, and soon.

**

Naina had been trying to calm down the cadets when Raj finally arrived, having finished his meeting with Brigadier Chandook. He spent a further few minutes with them, impressing upon them the importance of not allowing terrorist attacks to scare you, as this was exactly what the terrorists wanted. After his brief speech he noticed that at the very least, they appeared a little bit more calmer and more determined. He knew that they would become good soldiers, all they needed was a bit of encouragement and a chance to prove themselves.

"How did you know?" Naina asked him quietly as they left, "How did you figure out that it was going to happen?"

"Somebody sent me a note," he admits to her, "It was lucky that I guessed in time, it was only when Brigadier Chandook started talking about the flag raising that I realized where they may have hidden the bomb."

Naina nods, and they head for the mess where Suriji is preparing to serve a special lunch, not wanting the earlier attack to disrupt the rest of the plans for the day.

Naina remains by his side whenever possible for the rest of the day, and Raj can't help but notice the way she keeps glancing at him as if to reassure herself that he really is okay.

Luckily the rest of the day passes exactly to plan, and the cadets are allowed some time off to relax and play games. Raj is tired after the long day and his injury and he decides to go to bed early after dinner, realizing that he will need sleep in order for his body to recover.

Naina follows him inside the room, still watching him carefully. When he begins to unfold his bedding in order to make his bed on the floor, she stops him.

"I really don't think you should be sleeping on the floor with your arm like that," she tells him, "Sleep on the bed tonight."

Raj looks at her, surprised. "But I…" he begins to say, "I mean, are you sure?"

"As a doctor in training, I'm very sure." She tells him, and then seeing his continued uncertain expression she smiles slightly as if to reassure him. "Really it's fine," she tells him, and picking up his pillow, Raj lies down on the bed for the first time in a month.

Naina also climbs into the bed, adjusting the covers over herself and then checking that he's comfortable. "Just try not to roll onto your arm in the night," she tells him, "And if you're feeling any pain then wake me up immediately."

"I will," Raj tells her, even though he would prefer not to, "Hopefully these painkillers that Shalini has given me will last until morning."

They lie a short distance apart from each other, and yet each is very aware of the other's presence, of their proximity. Naina switches off the light, and Raj can hear her breathing in the dark, he can tell from the speed of her breaths that she's not exactly calm.

"I was really scared today," she says quietly, "I thought that you…"

He wishes that he could see her face, but it's far too dark.

"That's what the life of a soldier is like, Naina." He tells her, "Sometimes things like this happens."

"It's alright, you're fine." She says, almost as if to reassure herself.

"Nothing will happen to me, Naina." Raj promises her, "Don't worry too much."

There is silence for a minute, and then….

"Happy Independence Day," she whispers to him quietly.

"Happy Independence Day." He tells her, and then allows his eyes to close and sleep to overcome him.

Despite everything, it had turned out quite well.