Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

Some mornings when Naina wakes up, it takes a few minutes for her to remember that she's not Fatima, and that the man lying beside her in bed is not her husband Rehan. Over the weeks, the lie has become more and more real, as she becomes more deeply immersed in it.

It's not such a wonderful life, but Naina almost wishes that she were Fatima and that Raj was Rehan. That their life was far less complicated, and they were just two people trying to make a living and survive. But she can never pretend for long, because something always reveals the truth. The guilty way that Raj looks at her as she makes them tea in the morning, as if he's feeling bad for once again hugging her in his sleep. The planning sessions that they hold, trying to figure out a way out of this mess, the gun that they hide in the kitchen cupboard inside a pot.

In truth, Naina's not sure why she hasn't gone crazy yet. At least Raj has a job, he can distract himself by working for a living. Naina probably would've died with boredom if Anwar's wife Hanifa hadn't befriended her. Anwar's wife isn't that much older than Naina is, and at least it gives Naina something to do during the day.

Most days now, Raj and Naina's routine is the same. After they wake in the morning, Naina will make them both breakfast and then Raj will walk Naina to Anwar and Hanifa's house on the way to work. While Raj works, Naina stays with Hanifa, helping her to look after the younger children or going out with her in the city. Naina never forgets to wear her burqa, not wanting to be recognised again. In the afternoon Raj will come to pick her up and they will walk home again, sometimes buying groceries. Twice he's taken her to see a movie, buying them popcorn to share. It's such a strangely normal life that Naina feels abnormal living it.

But today is a Sunday and Raj has the day off work, meaning that they have time to discuss their mission and conduct some planning. They sit on the rug on the floor, with various pieces of paper spread around them.

"The problem is in proving the identity of the boss." Raj muses, it's the same problem that they haven't been able to find the answer to for months now. Navin hadn't known who the boss was, so he had never been able to collect any evidence against him. Raj and Naina suspect that they know the identity of the man, but they have nothing to back up their allegations.

Naina sighed in frustration, there was absolutely nothing that the two of them could do, which was why they were stuck waiting and planning until an opportunity arose. If they exposed the evidence against the rest of the traitors now, then it was likely that the boss would be able to get away.

"How long are we going to hide for?" she asked Raj, "Our entire lives? How long is it going to take us to work out how to trap him?" Beginning to get upset she asked him a bit tearfully, "Will it always be this way? On the run, pretending to be somebody else, not able to be with our family and friends?"

"That's why I never wanted you mixed up in this, Naina." Raj told her with a tired sigh, "There's no easy solution to this and I just can't figure a way out of it. If we use this evidence to prove ourselves innocent then we lose our opportunity to punish Gehlot Saheb."

Naina remembered the night that she had found out about the boss vividly, because it had been the last night she had seen Raj before his arrest. He had climbed in her window, placing his hand over her mouth so that she didn't make a sound when he woke her.

At first when she had seen him she had been so happy that she couldn't speak, she had thought it must mean that he'd been successful. That he would be able to prove both himself and Navin innocent, however the next words he had said had ruined all of her hopes.

"I don't know how much time I have here," he had told her seriously, "So listen carefully to what I need to tell you, there are people after me and I don't know how long I can escape from them."

He had told her where he had hidden the red box, and that she should only go and find it after her graduation. The next thing he had said had shocked her.

"Naina, I think I've finally found out who the boss is."

"Who?" she had whispered, desperate to know. This was the person they had been searching for, the person who was responsible for everything.

"I arranged to meet Gehlot Saheb, I wanted to hand over the information that was in the red box to him. I was waiting for him to arrive when I was ambushed, and I barely escaped from there alive." Naina could clearly hear the pain of betrayal in Raj's voice, that the man he had always trusted, the man he had regarded as his mentor, had been lying to him all along.

"I have no other option than to believe that he betrayed me, Naina, and that means that he's involved in this. Don't trust him."

Not long afterwards Raj had left, and the next morning he had been caught. From that moment onwards, Naina's life had never been the same. She had lived with the knowledge that Raj's life was in danger and she was the only one who could save it. She had realised that everything so far had happened because of her, and in many ways she was the only one who could fix it.

Leaving her thoughts of the past behind, Naina returned to their present problem.

"So we keep waiting," Naina stated the obvious, "Waiting for an opportunity."

"Or we create one…" Raj said, an idea obviously beginning to form in his mind. "We have to trap him in some way, if we could make him think that we already have evidence against him that we could use, then maybe he'll do something to expose himself."

"It's a good plan," Naina told him, "But carrying it out is going to be complicated. He needs to believe that we actually have that evidence and that it's in his best interest to make a deal with us."

But try as they might, they just couldn't figure out anything.

"You know what," Naina told him, "The speed with which we're managing to make a plan, I think we'll be spending our whole life with these identities."

"Would that really be so terrible?" Raj asked her slightly wistfully, "Rehan and Fatima aren't that bad, sure I don't enjoy being a mechanic, but there could be worse lives."

"Well," Naina told him, "If I'm going to spend my whole life as Fatima I think I'd like a slightly better apartment."

"Oh, so now you're getting greedy, Begum Jaan." Raj teased her, "You weren't so attracted to wealth when you married this poor man."

Naina laughs, and then suddenly realises how easily they've begun joking about these things, how easily they've adjusted to this life.

"Raj, we haven't really given up have we?" she asks him seriously, "We haven't lost hope of accomplishing our mission have we?"

"Never," he replies, "And we never will. Even if it takes years, we'll eventually be victorious. We have to be." He reaches out and takes Naina's hand. The action had been meant to comfort her, but Naina thinks that Raj probably needs the comfort just as much. She has to stay strong for him, they have to stay strong for each other.

Naina wants to believe him, she really does. But that day of victory seems to be a much longer way off than she would want it to be.

Becoming Naina Singh Ahluwalia again would have to wait, for now, Fatima Khan was going to go and make some pakoras.

**

It has been five months. Five long months since Naina disappeared from her house, slightly less than that since Captain Rajveer disappeared from the prison transport. Since the trip to Benares, the task force has had little real work to do, and have occasionally been assigned other jobs instead just to keep them working. There are occasional sightings which always turn out to be false, much to Huda's relief.

He can't believe that in just five months so much has changed. Five months ago, he was excited to be getting engaged to his Phoolan, believing that he would spend the rest of his life with her. Today, he's astonished at how much his feelings for Naina have faded. The more he thinks about it, the more he feels that he had been infatuated with her. If he had truly loved her, then he would've thought more about her happiness, he would've realised that he wasn't the one that she truly wanted.

Huda can't believe how easy it is… to live without her. He feels a little guilty about it, about wanting to move on. Not because he thinks that staying engaged to Naina would be the right thing to do, but because Naina doesn't know that he's ready to move on. It's strange that he can have changed so much, and she has no idea.

"Hey Huda," Priya calls out, suddenly appearing behind him and interrupting his thoughts, "Coffee?" She puts the cup down in front of him without needing to ask whether he actually wanted it, and then goes back to her desk, sipping her own mug.

Huda isn't sure what it is he feels for Priya, his relationship with her is completely opposite to his relationship with Naina. They get on well together, and he enjoys talking with her, joking with her, and even slightly flirting with her. He doesn't feel the same intense obsession for her that he had felt for Naina, but this is probably a good thing. It was that obsession that had clouded his judgement, making him want Naina under any circumstances, even if it would ruin both their lives.

Huda has ended that chapter of his life, but he knows that he'll never really be free until he knows that Naina no longer feels the need to keep her promise to him. Then he can truly move on.

To make himself feel better he calls her parents every few weeks, keeping them updated on the lack of any progress. Huda knows that Alekh has been calling them too, trying to keep their spirits up.

Just then Huda's mobile rings, and recognising the number he smiles. Alekh must have known that Huda was thinking about him since he's calling.

But when Huda hears Alekh's voice on the other end of the line, it sounds like he's in pain, and quite tired. "Huda, it's me." He says, and Huda immediately starts to worry.

"Alekh, what is it, what's wrong?" he asks him.

"Huda, get permission and bring Pooja here quickly." Huda is struck by a sudden fear, if Alekh wants Pooja there then something must have happened to Ali, please don't let him be…

Priya turns around hearing the fear in Huda's voice and is stunned by how pale he is. She takes a step forward, wanting to know what's wrong.

"Alekh, just tell me what's wrong before I go crazy, nothing has happened to Ali has it?"

Hearing this sentence, Priya turns pale too. She's never met Ali, but she knows how much Pooja loves him and has heard enough stories about him from both Pooja and Huda to feel she knows him.

Alekh's voice on the other end is faint, but Huda can still make it out. "There was an attack and Ali got shot. He'll live but he's lost a lot of blood. If you could bring Pooja here then it would be good for him."

"Don't worry, Alekh." Huda informs him, "I'll go and get permission right now, and we'll leave today. Tell Ali that his Punjaben is on the way, it's this Jat's promise."

Understanding from this comment that Ali was still alive, Priya gave a sigh of relief. Huda hung up the phone and quickly filled her in on what had happened.

"I've got to take her there as quickly as possible." Huda tells Priya, "Once she finds out she's going to become hysterical."

Priya nods, and then remembers something. "Huda," she tells him, "Do you realise that to get permission to leave for a few days you're going to have to ask Captain Abhimanyu?"

Huda curses, this is the last bit of trouble he needs at the moment. He's already worried about his Osoolbhai, and while Alekh hadn't said anything about himself, he didn't sound so great on the phone either.

"Alright," he tells Priya, "Then I'll go and deal with the singing gypsy."

Come what may, nothing will stop him from keeping his promise.