Chapter 23

@ Preeti Yay, I'm so glad that I managed to change your mind about Huda-Naina!! Raj-Naina were always the best jodi!!

**

After settling into his quarters, Abhimanyu checked his watch and returned to Raj and Naina's room, knocking before he entered. Raj had only returned from a drill ten minutes beforehand and so was in the process of getting changed when he opened the door, still buttoning his shirt up.

He stepped aside to let Abhimanyu in and his friend settled on the couch.

"So how has your first day back at KMA been so far?" Raj asked him, "Have you met any of the other faculty members yet?"

"No, but I did meet your sister." Abhimanyu tells him, "I didn't recognise her at first she's changed so much. She's very…."

As the pause stretches on, Raj wonders whether he should help Abhimanyu to find the right adjective but there are so many that could be used to describe Sherry that he has no idea where to start.

"Complicated." Abhi finally completes his sentence and Raj thinks that he's chosen exactly the right word.

"Yes, she certainly is that." He agrees, "I completely forgot to tell you that she was here, Lala Saheb admitted her at Diwali."

Abhi nods but doesn't ask any questions, looking down at his watch again instead.

"So where is she?" he asks, "It's almost four thirty."

Raj laughs at his friend's impatience, "Trust me yaar, she'll be back very soon. Since I had a drill this afternoon, somebody will have gone to pick her up from college."

They don't have to wait long because five minutes later, the door opens and Naina walks in, carrying her bag and looking tired after a long day at college. Noticing Abhimanyu only when she is already halfway inside the room, she crosses to Raj's side, standing slightly behind him with her eyes downcast.

Raj aches for her, knowing that the recent experience has erased much of the self confidence that he had worked so hard to build up in her. Taking her hand, he entwines his fingers with hers, and gives her a reassuring smile as Naina fidgets slightly with her dupatta with her spare hand.

"Naina, this is Abhimanyu." He tells her, "He, Navin and I used to create all kinds of mischief together in our KMA days."

Naina looks up at Abhi, giving him a small smile and a quiet hi.

"You have no idea how excited I am to meet you," he tells her brightly, "I've been asking Raj when you would come home ever since I arrived this morning. Do you know how much I'm reminded of Navin, seeing you? You have exactly the same eyes." Naina smiles slightly wider at this, losing some of her shyness when she hears him talk about her brother.

"I don't remember Navin ever having eyes this beautiful." Raj remarks without thinking and Abhi grins at him.

"I was right, you really are well and truly gone." He jokes, "I'm telling you, Naina, I can't believe he's the same person who would barely even speak to girls during our academy days. You've definitely worked some magic on him."

Naina relaxes more, made comfortable by Abhimanyu's joking and friendliness and stops looking downwards, loosening her grip slightly on Raj, but not removing her hand. He smoothes the top of her hand comfortingly with his thumb, wanting to let her know that she has nothing to fear.

"You'll have to tell me some stories about Navin Bhaiyya and Raj." Naina tells Abhimanyu quietly, "It would be good to hear some new ones."

"Oh I definitely will." He tells her, "But I'll have to wait until Raj isn't around or he won't let me tell the really funny ones."

"Don't you dare," Raj warns him jokingly, "I don't want to have my image spoiled in front of my wife."

Abhimanyu gives him a sly grin and they both start laughing, even Naina has a small, happy smile on her face by now. Raj thinks that it's lucky his old friend was sent here, because his lively personality is definitely exactly what was needed to break Naina out of her shock.

"So what are your plans for the rest of the afternoon?" he asks Abhi, "Are you already settled in?"

"Well I thought I would go and say hi to Suriji soon otherwise he'll never forgive me." Abhi replies, "After that I'm free for the rest of the evening."

"Well maybe we could go out to dinner tonight." Raj suggests, "That way we can catch up before you start your classes and you and Naina can get to know each other properly."

"Maybe we could take Sherry too," Naina suggests, "It would do her good to get out of the academy and go out with us."

"Of course, if she hasn't been given another detention." Raj replies matter of factly.

"Does she get detentions often?" Abhi asks him, not quite able to believe that she was the same bubbly, friendly girl he had met all those years ago.

"Oh every few days," Raj replies, "It depends on the type of mood she's in."

"Am I going to have to give her detentions too?" Abhimanyu asks, sounding a bit worried, "I mean I've never even been a teacher before, I don't know about giving out detentions, especially to your sister."

"Don't worry," Raj reassured him, "I hardly ever give our detentions or punishments, and most of the ones Sherry receives are from Major Nair."

"Ah well, we both have some experience of that, don't we?" Abhimanyu joked with him, and Raj shook his head slightly at the memories. "Anyway I'll go and see Suriji, you make the plan for dinner and we'll meet later tonight."

Raj and Naina nod and he heads out the door towards the mess.

**

Abhi had just finished catching up with Suriji and had turned to go when he collided with somebody clad in a sari.

"I'm very sorry," he apologises without taking a proper look at her. "It was completely my fault."

"Oh no, of course it wasn't." She replied in a silky voice, smoothing her hair back from her face, "I think we were both a little to blame. I'm Dr Ritu Mishra, the academy's psychiatrist." She sticks out her hand and he shakes it, thinking that none of the faculty from his days at the academy were ever this glamorous.

"Captain Ahimanyu Rai Chauhan." He tells her, "I've only just been posted here."

"I know," Ritu replies smoothly, "I found out you were coming yesterday. Hopefully we'll have the opportunity to work together."

Abhimanyu is just about to answer her when he sees Sherry standing in front of them, looking tired and sweaty, one hand on her hip and an annoyed, expectant look on her face.

"Yes?" he asks her.

"You're blocking my way to the counter." She tells him bluntly, "Either I get some chai right now or I collapse on the ground."

Abhimanyu moves out of the way, trying not to look amused and she brushes past the two of them, a slightly disdainful look on her face as she glances in Ritu's direction.

Ritu sniffs, trying hard to hide her dislike. "Well I'll see you later then, Captain." She tells him. "Hopefully soon."

"Oh please doctor, call me Abhimanyu." Abhi tells her in a friendly way.

"Only if you call me Ritu." She replies, and smiling at him walks out of the mess.

Sherry stands there with a mug of chai, looking like she honestly is about to collapse on the floor. "So you met the shrink." She remarks.

Abhimanyu decides that it's probably best to ignore that comment and sympathetically pulls out a chair for her, which she slumps into. "What happened to you?" he asks, noticing that she looks much more tired than the rest of the cadets sitting around.

"Major Nair made me run an extra five kilometres while holding a rifle." She announces, and Abhimanyu sits down in one of the spare chairs at the table.

"Why?" he asks her.

"He made a comment about the discipline of the academy when traitors' relatives were allowed to stay here. I told him that I didn't think he should be questioning his superiors' decisions." Sherry replies, taking a very long gulp of her chai.

"You really like Naina, don't you?" Abhimanyu asks her.

"Of course I do," Sherry replies, "Naina is one of the only people that I like. She's been kind to me since the moment I arrived no matter what I did. She never deserved any of this and I'm not going to allow anybody to say crap about her."

"Good," Abhi agrees, "Because I'm not going to either."

And Sherry almost smiles, almost.

"So we're all going out to dinner tonight." Abhimanyu tells her, "Raj suggested it."

"Well have fun," Sherry tells him, drinking more of her chai, her head drooping.

"We all means you too." Abhi tells her, "So it's lucky that Major Nair didn't give you a detention instead."

"Great," Sherry replies, "At least I'll get some decent food for a change. I'm starting to feel malnourished here."

"Well enjoy the rest of your afternoon and maybe get some sleep." Abhimanyu suggests, "I'll see you at dinner." And he walks off to check on the progress of setting up the music room. He's barely left the room when Huda takes his place, having obviously been eavesdropping from a nearby table.

"Who was that and why are you going to dinner with him?" he asks with a twinge of jealousy.

"Well you know I always like to go to dinner with my teachers, I think it really helps to improve my marks." Sherry tells him sarcastically, "That was Captain Abhimanyu and obviously you missed him saying 'we all' meaning Bhaiyya and Bhabhie."

"Well can I come too?" Huda asks her flirtatiously, "You know you'll enjoy the evening more if I'm there."

"I'm sure I'll enjoy seeing you explaining to Bhaiyya exactly why you should be coming to dinner with us." Sherry tells him, and Huda suddenly pales at the thought. She drains her cup of chair and heads off to her room for a nap before he can say anything else, leaving him staring after her.

**

Raj has just finished telling Naina about Major Bhargav's departure earlier in the day when the door opens. He doesn't even need to look up to know who it is, there's only one person who always comes in without knocking.

"I heard we're going to dinner tonight." Sherry announces, "Is it anywhere fancy?"

"Why?" Raj asks her.

"Because I have nothing to wear except for old pairs of jeans and t-shirts." She tells him, "I wanted to let you know in case you're too embarrassed to take me."

"Don't worry," Naina tells her, "I'll give you something to wear."

Sherry gives her a very doubtful look. "No offense, Bhabhie, but I think our styles are completely different." She tells her.

"Well you can try something different for the night." Naina tells her, "Come with me and we'll select something."

**

Half an hour later, Sherry is dressed in one of Naina's salwar kameez's, a look of discomfit on her face.

"I don't know why dupattas were invented," she announces to nobody in particular, "What are they good for anyway? They just hang there uselessly and get in your way."

Raj tries not to smile and fails, which Sherry notices, giving him a mild glare. Naina just smiled at her, reaching over to adjust Sherry's hair where she'd pinned it back. However no matter how hard she had tried to convince her, the girl had refused to wear any make up. Her work done, Naina perched on the arm of the sofa Raj was sitting on. Finding she was at a good height to do so, he wrapped one arm around her waist, leaning his head against her arm while he regarded his sister still trying to work out what to do with her dupatta.

"Good job, Naina." He tells her, and she smiles down at him, placing one arm around his shoulders. Unable to help himself, Raj snakes his other arm around her waist into a loose hug.

There was a soft knock at the door and Raj called out for the person to come in, still with his head leaning against Naina's side. Abhimanyu walked in, saw the two of them together and smiled.

"You two really are an incredibly sweet pair." He tells them, as Naina starts to get embarrassed to be found in that position, nudging Raj slightly in an effort to get him to stop hugging her.

"Yeah I'm getting diabetes here," Sherry comments, still fiddling with her dupatta. "Can we go and get dinner now so that I can change out of this outfit as soon as possible?"

Abhimanyu just stared at her, taking in her changed appearance. "You look familiar." He joked, "Have we met before?"

"Well I'm glad to see that I'm so memorable that you've forgotten me twice in the same day." Sherry told him as Naina moved to her side, taking the dupatta and draping it, indicating to Sherry with a gesture that she should leave it alone from now on.

They walk towards the front of the academy and Sherry groans when they run into the five cadets in the hallway, not wanting anybody to see her like this.

"Wow Sherry, what a great new cover you've got on today." Pooja gushed, "I never knew your ringtone could be like this."

"Don't get so excited Pooja, this is a very temporary change of ringtone." Sherry informed her dryly.

"Oh why not make it permanent," Huda drawled, "Looking like this you don't need to learn to fight, the enemy will automatically sacrifice their lives for you."

"How wonderful," Sherry told him, "Until it starts happening why don't do me a favour and set them an example by sacrificing yourself right now." And she stalked off in the direction of the jeep before anybody could say anything else.

Raj wondered whether he should get Huda in trouble for flirting with his sister in front of him, but he was sure that Sherry was more than able to handle herself.

"Cadets I don't believe you've met Captain Abhimanyu yet." Raj told them, "He'll be your new music teacher and also be assisting with your drills."

They all said hello politely, Pooja with a slightly dreamy look in her eyes and Huda with a slightly annoyed one.

"Ay hai," she remarked when Raj, Naina and Abhimanyu had also left, "So we've finally got a new hero in the academy to join Veer, and he's so cute!"

Ali looked slightly uncomfortable at this comment but didn't say anything, staring down at his feet instead.

"Well I don't like that jhabreela one bit." Huda remarked, obviously still annoyed at Sherry's reply to him, "Instead of him going to dinner with them it should be me."

"Why? Are you Captain Rajveer's old batchmate and best friend?" Yudi asks him sarcastically.

"No but I am his sister's future boyfriend." Huda remarked confidently, pulling his collar up.

"Yeah right, she can't stand you." Yudi points out, "I've got more of a chance with her than you do, even Ali has more of a chance with her than you do."

"I don't want a chance with her, Yudibhai!" Ali told him quickly, glancing sideways at Pooja.

"Just wait and see, Yudi!" Huda told him, "Sooner or later she'll be mine, no girls can escape from Huda's charms."

But all Yudi could do was stare at Huda in disbelief.

Because he honestly had no idea whatsoever exactly what he was getting himself into.