Chapter 18

Thanks for the lovely comments guys, it really does inspire me to keep going! And now here's your next part!

**


On Sherry's third official day as a KMA cadet, Ritu decides that it's time she finally met the girl properly. After all, she is Captain Rajveer's sister, and from the hostility that she's currently showing, she could definitely be useful.

And so while Sherry sits outside studying some notes she's gotten from Yudi, Ritu approaches her.

"Hi," she says in her best friendly tone, "I don't think that we've met yet."

"No, we haven't." Sherry replies, making no effort to actually introduce herself.

"Well I'm Dr Ritu Mishra," Ritu continues, refusing to give up.

"Well I'm sure you already know who I am." Sherry tells her, an uninterested expression on her face, looking the woman up and down, she seems very unimpressed by her sari and makeup. "What are you doing a military academy?" she asks her.

"I'm the academy's psychiatrist," Ritu tells her, "Basically if any of the cadets…"

"So you're a shrink," Sherry cuts her off, "And as far as I've had experience with shrinks, they're more likely to mess with your head than fix it, so stay away from mine."

"It's nothing like that," Ritu tries to reassure her in a friendly manner, really wanting to slap the girl for being so rude. "I'm here so that if you need a friend to talk to…."

"If I need a friend to talk to then I'll go find someone who's actually a friend." Sherry tells her, and without waiting for an answer, picks up her books and walks towards the hostel.

Ritu's friendly expression turned to a hard glare. For now, she would stay away from the young woman. She had other ways to accomplish what she wanted.

**

"You know I was thinking, why don't we take Sherry and show her around town today?" Raj suggested to Naina on Sunday as they were getting ready for the day.

Naina nodded, her back was turned to him as she combed her hair and so she didn't see the way that his eyes followed the movement of her hand, the way that his gaze fell upon her hair where it rested upon her shoulders. Finally pulling it back in a loose pony tail, she turned around to face him.

"It's a good idea, but are you sure you don't want to take her by yourself?" Naina asks him, "I think you two need time to get used to each other again and I would hate to intrude on that."

"Oh you definitely won't be intruding," Raj reassured her, "In fact I think it would help if you came along, Sherry has been responding much more positively to you than she has to me."

Naina looked at Raj sympathetically, knowing that it was difficult for him to deal with so much hostility and avoidance from a sister he loved.

"She just needs some time." Naina told him, "Sooner or later things will improve between the two of you."

"I hope so," Raj remarked worriedly, "I worry about her, you know. I have no idea what her life has been like in the time I haven't been there, but I know that Lala Saheb hasn't been around much. In many ways she has a right to be angry with me…"

"It wasn't your fault," Naina says, coming over to sit beside Raj and putting her hand on his shoulder, "I know you would've like to have seen her more often, it was because of your duties that you couldn't."

"Still…" Raj says, "Anyway, today will go someway towards bridging the distance between us."

**

When they find Sherry she's sitting at breakfast with the other cadets, surrounded by the five friends. Just as she had told Naina, she hasn't made any effort to make friends, and yet almost by default she has ended up becoming a part of their group. A mostly silent, quite sarcastic part of it but a part nonetheless.

And if Sherry tells the truth, then although she's gotten used to being alone, she really doesn't mind their company.

It almost does make her feel like she has friends.

Raj and Naina walk over to the group's table and everybody smiles and greets them. Sherry just sort of nods but neither Raj nor Naina is offended, they know it's the most they can expect from her at the moment.

"We thought we could take you to go and see around Ambala today, Sherry." Raj tells her, "That's if you would like to go with us." He leaves it up to her, knowing that way the answer is more likely to be positive.

"Why not?" Sherry asks him with a shrug, "At least I'll get to get out of this academy for awhile."

"Then we'll go at ten." Raj tells her, "Enjoy your time off cadets, because this week the academy's annual appraisal will begin and you'll have to work twice as hard as normal." He warns them, and then smiling at his success, and he and Naina walk off again, leaving the cadets alone.

"Arre wah, why couldn't they invite me to come along too?" Huda asks, "I wouldn't mind getting out of this academy for awhile, especially in the company of such a pretty janani." And he winks at Sherry who makes no response at all, just continues to sit there stony faced.

"Huda, are you Captain Rajveer's sister?" Yudi asks him sarcastically, "No, right? And until you are, you're not going to get invited anywhere."

Despite trying hard not to, Sherry smirked at this comment.

"Aalekh got invited home for Diwali," Huda protests, "How come he gets special treatment? That's favouritism!"

"Stop your drama, nautanki." Aalekh tells him, "If I have any sister in the world… then it's her." And he nodded in Naina's direction, his expression serious. "Besides, why do you need someone to take you out? I'm going out today."

"Oh really, where are you off to Qaidi?" Huda asked him, suddenly interested, "Mind if I come along with you?"

"Yes." Aalekh told him, "I do mind."

"Why?" Yudi asked him, "Do you have some secret girlfriend you don't want us to know about?"

And the silent glare that Aalekh gave him was enough to make him decide he wouldn't ask again.

**

Shortly before 10am, the cadets had all separated in different directions in order to spend their Sunday. As Sherry walks towards the entrance where she'll be meeting Raj and Naina, she finds Aalekh headed in the same direction.

They exit the academy at the same time, and as Aalekh goes to walk away, Raj calls him over.

"Where are you headed, Aalekh?" he asks him, "Would you like to join us?"

"No Sir… I've got plans." Aalekh told him, "Actually I said I'd meet Ne…" and he suddenly stops saying the name, as if not sure whether he should be revealing it to his teacher or not.

Naina smiles, knowing perfectly well who he's talking about. "Have fun," she tells him, "And try to be back in time for our lesson tonight."

Aalekh nods, giving her a small smile in return, and sets off towards the exit of the academy.

"Do you think he needs a lift?" Raj asks Naina, "We could drop him somewhere."

"Trust me, Aalekh will go by himself." Naina tells him, "Shall we go now?" and they pile into the jeep, Raj and Naina sitting in the front seats and Sherry in the back.

They show her around the city area first to see the main shopping areas and then move on to see some of the more famous sights such as the Bhawani Amba temple and the Badshahi Bag Gurudwara.

Right before lunch they stop off at City Park, strolling around the gardens. Sherry seems more relaxed for once, almost as if she's let her guard down, and Raj and Naina have been careful to keep the conversation light, avoiding any serious topics.

He's just pointing something out to her, when he turns around to find Sherry smirking at him, looking amused.

"What is it?" he asks her.

"I never realised that you were so shy Bhaiyya," she tells him, "I can't believe you're too embarrassed to hold your wife's hand in front of me."

Raj starts to protest that he's not, and then starts laughing. He supposes that Sherry is right, because more and more these days whenever he and Naina are out walking anywhere he will either take her hand or put his arm around her shoulders. He likes the fact that they're now comfortable with each other for him to be able to do so, that he doesn't have to ask or be awkward before he does.

He notices that Naina is now trying not to blush, and reaching over, he takes her hand firmly in his.

"There, happy now?" he asks Sherry.

She just shrugs, but there's a small amused smile on her face.

And as he turns to walk further up the path, Raj intertwines his fingers with Naina's, reveling in the warmth and softness of her hand. Her fingers feel impossibly small and delicate against his, and while she's not looking up at him, he can see that she's smiling shyly.

**

Sitting in her room at the academy Ritu fumed, no matter what she did, every single one of her plans ended up ruined. Captain Rajveer hadn't fallen for her, Naina hadn't become jealous, Sherry had refused to even speak to her properly. If things continued like this then she would fail in her mission, and she knew what the consequences would be if that happened.

She picked up a glass, wanting to throw it against the wall when her phone began to ring.

Picking it up, Ritu listened to what the man on the other end had to say, her expressions changing slowly. When he had finished she gave him some instructions before hanging up.

Now this… was interesting.

Far better than she could've imagined.

And for the first time in many days, Ritu found herself in a good mood.

**

Sitting in a caf for lunch, Raj watched as Sherry picked at her sandwich disinterestedly. He did feel that they had made some progress today, but she was still far too silent and sullen for his liking.

"So how are you finding the academy so far?" he asks her, "Do you feel like you're settling in well?"

"It doesn't matter where I am," Sherry tells him, "Everywhere is the same and people are the same everywhere. Whether college or here, it's still been chosen for me by Dad."

"You know that he just wants what's best for you," Raj tells her, "He sent you here because he was worried about you."

And Sherry gives a short, bitter laugh. "Oh really? I was under the impression that he wants the best for him and that he sent me here because he was worried about me embarrassing him."

"Whatever the reason was, I'm glad that you're here with us now." Naina tells her, "I've been waiting to meet you for a long time."

"Well I would've been waiting to meet you too if Bhaiyya had ever bothered to tell me about you." Sherry responds, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at Raj accusingly. "I'm still waiting to hear an explanation for why you never did tell me."

"It was the circumstances at the time." Raj tells her, realising that he and Naina have never thought of a good cover story for why they hadn't informed anyone about their marriage.

"Which means that you're not going to tell me, doesn't it?" Sherry asks him, and then she sighs, "Whatever… you don't owe me any explanation anyway." And she pushes the remains of her sandwich away.

Naina and Raj glance at each other, and not for the first time he wishes that things could have been different. He wishes that their marriage had happened in happier circumstances and that he'd actually told his friends and family about it.

"I'm sorry Sherry, I really am." He told her, "I know I haven't been around much the past few years and I know I should've told you I got married… I don't have any excuses to give, but I'll try to be a good brother from now on."

And for a moment he sees an emotion in her eyes that looks like a combination of deep hurt and longing, and he can't know how right he is. Because Sherry does long to tell him that everything is forgiven and that from now on she'll be the sister that she used to be, the one that could never wait for him to come visit, that would hug him as soon as he entered the house.

But so many things have happened since then.

And she's been so alone that she's gotten used to not wanting to rely on anyone.

So instead she just shrugs.

"Well at least you made a good choice of who to get married to." She tells him, "I really never would've forgiven you if you ended up with one of those society airheads that Dad probably would've liked you to marry."

And Raj knows that for now, that's as much of a statement of forgiveness as he's going to get from her.

They pay the bill and get up to leave and as they walk towards the car, Sherry in front of them, Naina reaches out and takes Raj's hand, squeezing it encouragingly.

And no matter how difficult the current situation is, he can't help but feel that in the end it really will all work out


**

It's the middle of the night and they're sound asleep when the academy's assembly alarm goes off, startling them both awake. Raj tries to get up to switch on the light but it takes him a minute as still emerging from sleep, he can't quite work out how to disentangle his legs from Naina's or how they became so entangled in the first place.

Eventually he manages to reach the lamp and finds his wife staring at him, her face white.

"What's going on?" she asks him, clearly scared by the sound of an alarm going off in the middle of the night.

"It's the assembly alarm," Raj tells her, "Usually it's only used in emergencies, but we need to make our way to the main assembly point."

He knows there's no time for either of them to get properly dressed, and so they head out the door in their night clothes, Raj thankful that at least he's wearing sweat pants and a t-shirt.

Guiding Naina with a hand on her back, they make their way to the main assembly area where bleary eyed cadets are now standing around, rubbing their eyes and trying to work out what's going on.

"Why is my sleep mode being disrupted like this?" Pooja asks nobody in particular, yawning widely. "We only get a few hours to recharge and now even that has been put on hold."

"It must be something important, Pooja." Ali tells her, "Wait and see what they say."

And everybody waits, but the person who steps up to make the announcement is not BC, it's somebody entirely different that they've never seen before.

"KMA Cadets, do you call this standing to attention?" the man asks them, "Get into formation properly and try to look like soldiers."

The cadets scramble into their lines, attempting to straighten up. Pooja stifles another yawn.

"Much better," the man tells them, "But still not up to military standards… You're all going to have to do something to impress me during the next week because otherwise you'll find yourselves out on the streets. My name is Major Bhargav and I'm here to conduct the annual appraisal of your academy."

And as Naina glances at Raj she sees that his face has tightened and that his right hand is clenched into a fist.

"And I can see that we have a lot of work to do," Major Bhargav tells them, "So for now why don't you all go for a jog around the mountain… and keep jogging until I tell you to stop. So off you go, right now!"

The cadets stand stunned for a moment, and then as if realising what he's just told him, start to move out, jogging in the direction of the mountain.

And looking at those still assembled, Major Bhargav's gaze finally comes to rest on Raj and a smile comes to his face, not a happy smile but a mocking one.

"Ah, Captain Rajveer, what a pleasure to see you again after such a very long time." He tells Raj, "It's been four years, hasn't it?"

And seeing the man standing there in front of him, Raj can't help thinking that it hasn't been nearly long enough because he can already feel the hatred rising in him, threatening to overtake him.

"Yes Sir," he tells him, his fist still clenched. "Four years."

"In fact I believe the last time I saw you was the day that your friend, that Gaddar Navin Singh Ahluwalia was convicted of being a traitor." Bhargav tells him with a smirk, checking to see the reaction.

And staring at the man in front of her, his words ringing in her ears, Naina feels her world beginning to fall down around her.

Because after years of trying to forget, a part of her past has once again caught up with her.