Chapter 10

Chapter 9:

"Naina… what's wrong?!" he had asked. Frankly, at that point in time even she didn't know what was wrong with her. All she knew was that she couldn't stand the thought of her mentor and some other girl… together. She was so frustrated that she didn't even notice the thought "some other girl" circling her mind. But then he called her 'Naina'… not 'Cadet Singh'… and her anger seemed to melt, bringing her back to her senses.

Naina hid her face on the pillow, blushing at her reaction earlier that day. How could she have been so childish? She got up and opened the window, letting a slight cool breeze gently brush by her. If Captain Rajveer had a girlfriend while he was at KMA, or even now, what was wrong with it?

"Woh… Sir… actually I'm not feeling so well… I – I guess I'm really hungry…" she had stuttered out, trying to avoid his piercing gaze. She would have probably made a fool of herself again if she looked at him.

'Wait…' Naina thought sitting up, 'why would looking at him affect me?' The view from the wing she was staying in was truly magnificent. {Imagine this is the view from Naina's window; they are on top of a small hill.} She felt that she already knew the answer, but didn't have the courage to acknowledge it. 'Help me Bhaiya!' she prayed silently.

"You asked about Nandini… I guess I should tell you about it, since Major Bhargav has painted a completely false image in your mind about her and me…" her heart had given a leap of joy at hearing this. At that time, she was too caught up in the swirl of emotions to question them.

Now, though, she was in her right mind to analyse her feelings, and truthfully, she wished she wasn't. Naina sat down on her bed, hugging her pillow. She wished she wouldn't always be so practical and could let herself go sometimes. Maybe then she wouldn't be as confused as she was now.

"We used to sneak out almost every night, the four of us, but never together. One of us used to collect Nandini and the other two went ahead together."

"Four? And where did you go?"

"Naveen, Chauhan Saab, Nandini and I went to… well… I'll tell you about that some other time… so anyway, when Major Bhargav was around, we still snuck out but less than before, and either Chauhan Saab or I had to pick up Nandini since the route from our room was safer; so when I was with her, Bhargav caught us twice in the jungle… I hope this clears your suspicion…"

"Oh I didn't… I was just…" she had been at a loss of words, ashamed of having pointing a finger at him again without any proper reason.

She sighed. 'Maybe I am in love…' she thought, already half asleep, knowing a certain young man residing under the same roof as her would be visiting her dreams for sure, and she would happily welcome him.

~*~*~

While Naina was trying to sort herself out, Ali and Pooja's room was a total hushed chaos. Aalekh was already there, not daring to take out his bottle in front of both Ali and Pooja. Yudi paused on his track; Orni and Neelu always used to share their dolls' love stories when they were young, he used to be bored then, but now they may actually come in handy! So he softly knocked on her door, knowing she would be really angry at him for interrupting her beauty sleep.

"Wha-" He put his hand over her mouth before she could yell at him, noting how cute her 'sleepy-yet-angry-in-her-pyjamas' look was. He grinned to himself. Dragging her across the hallway he opened the door and went in as quietly as he could.

"OK guys, I guess Aalekh already filled you two in about why we're here?" Pooja nodded excitedly, while Ali just looked uncertain.

"What's going on?!" Orni asked, most of her sleep being replaced with a sense of thrill.

"We're here to plan our first move of Mission RN – I mean Mission RajNaina." Yudi explained. "Since we have more people in this mission, it's going to be a lot easier. We, Aalekh and I, already planned the first step; tell me what you guys think."

Saying this, they all huddled, with Ali forgetting his nervousness and Aalekh forgetting his bottle, and discussed the plan. It wasn't as quiet as they would've preferred, though, because the girls' ideas clashed with the guys', creating complications. Thankfully, most of it was sorted out and they went back to their respective rooms, unable to sleep from running the whole process in their minds over and over again.

~*~*~

"Sir, this is Captain Rajveer speaking."

"Oh hello Captain… before you say anything, I should inform you that Majors Nair and Bhargav have been taken to custody along with Cadets Sheela Haroon, Jai Kulia and Tushar Ferdous, all thanks to you!"

"No Sir, I did nothing; my cadets, the future soldiers of our country did. The credit goes to them, not me Sir. I called you to ask whether you could meet me somewhere safe. Even though some of the spies have been caught, the boss is still out of reach, and our innocence still hasn't been proven."

While telling Colonel Shakti all this, Rajveer was laughing inside hearing himself say 'caught' and 'out of reach', wondering whether he should stay away from Pooja.

"Sure Captain… don't worry, I won't inform the Headquarters… I believe you are innocent, and now I see the possibility of late Captain Naveen Singh Ahluwalia being innocent too; but you have to have solid proof, I hope you know that. Why don't I come to meet you? Where are you right now?"

"Sir I'm afraid I can't tell you that. If you are free tomorrow morning at 7 AM, we can meet at the…" Rajveer described a remote area, not very far from where they were now, but the mansion was hidden from view by a collection of hills. {Imagine the place where he's meeting Colonel Shakti to be like this, and the mansion is on a smaller hill behind these ones.}

"OK I'll certainly be there. I hope it's OK if I bring my young nephew; I usually take him when I go out for a walk every morning. He's quite calm, he won't-" the line was disconnected. Rajveer went outside the balcony to see trees swaying wildly from strong gusts of wind. Suddenly, there was a sound of a crash nearby. He realised it was coming from a few rooms away, where Naina was staying. It didn't take him even a second's thought before he dashed to her room.

He opened the door softly. Naina was sitting on the floor near the window, picking up the pieces of a broken vase. She looked up at him in surprise. He took a moment to admire her beautiful wavy but messy hair and sleepy large innocent eyes. Her voice shook him out of his daze.

"- fine Sir. I – just forgot to-" she tried to stifle her yawn, looking as adorable as ever, "close the window…" she gave him a small drowsy smile. By then the others had rushed in as well, but returned to their rooms trying to hide their mischievous smiles. Yudi gave Pooja a silent five, both knowing Mission RN wasn't very far off from success, even without starting yet!

Rajveer helped her clean up, loving every moment of being in her presence. He smiled at Naina, adding more spice of reality to her dreams, and reluctantly went out closing the door. He certainly was looking forward to going to sleep!

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