Thanks for the comments everybody and sorry about the earlier confusion! Namelesssr: It's a pity you haven't seen the show, it's fantastic! However I'm really glad that you're liking the fic even without having seen it! If you're confused about any of the characters there might be descriptions and so on in the LRL section

Chapter 9:

Something was definitely going on.

They had only been back at the academy for three days and already it was driving Alekh crazy. If he didn't find out soon, then he was going to start threatening somebody until they gave in and told him because everything was just far too… strange.

The first thing was that Navin and Tanu seemed far too happy. Sure, they were normally happy, but this time they were just TOO happy. And they both seemed to be even happier whenever they saw Raj. Not only that, but whenever they were in the same room with Raj, they both seemed to be examining him very closely while pretending not to, and Raj, well it was perfectly obvious to Alekh that he was pretending not to notice how strange Navin and Tanu were being. Well he must be pretending, because it would've been impossible for him not to notice them both peering over the tops of their books at him while they were all in the library and then whispering behind the covers.

To top it all off, both Navin and Tanu hadn't stopped talking about Naina since they arrived back. Sure, Alekh liked Naina, and he was very happy to hear about her and what she'd done with them, and how her college was going. But not every single possible moment that Navin, Tanu and Raj were in the same room. And the strangest thing was that Raj didn't seem to be bothered, instead he would listen with a rather dreamy look on his face, and just nod vaguely.

In fact Navin and Tanu weren't the only ones that were behaving weirdly, even Raj was. He kept sneaking off to make phone calls at the oddest times, and would then cover the receiver and his mouth with one hand while talking, his eyes darting up and down the corridor as if checking to see if anybody was coming. The one time that Navin had walked past him, Raj had burst into a fit of coughing that hadn't ended until Navin was out of range of hearing and then quite quickly hung up.

Alekh was sick of it. Something was going on, and if they weren't going to stop it, then they should tell him what was going on.

It was causing him way too much tension.

Deciding that out of the three of them, Raj was the one who was still acting the most normal, Alekh approached him first.

"Oy Nautanki," he said, cornering Raj in the gym when he was on his own, "Kya ho raha hai?"

Raj froze as if he'd been caught doing something especially naughty. "What are you talking about, Alekh?" he asked, trying to act innocent. "Kya ho raha hai with what?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Alekh told him, folding his arms across his chest, "Did your brain get fried along with the crackers this Diwali? You, Navin and Tanu have all gone mental."

"I have noooooooo idea what you're talking about," Raj told him, starting to look very uncomfortable. "In fact, I've just realised that I'm feeling unwell. I'm going to go and see the Doctor right now, I might even need to stay in the infirmary overnight." And then he practically ran out of the room.

Alekh frowned, Raj might have escaped this time, but how long could he run for?

For the next few days, whenever Alekh saw Raj, Raj suddenly realised that he had somewhere else that he needed to be urgently and would take off so quickly that there was no time for Alekh to follow him. Deciding to give up for the time being, Alekh confronted Navin and Tanu.

Sitting down opposite them at lunch time (out of the corner of his eye he could see Raj enter the mess and choose a table as far away as possible and near the door for a quick getaway), Alekh decided to come right out and say it.

"What's going on?" he asked them, "I've had enough of you both acting weird, now spill, what's going on with you and Raj?"

They both gaped at him, as if he had surprisingly uncovered a huge conspiracy that they had been making. Alekh thought that they looked quite funny with their mouths open staring at him.

"Oh wow, look at the time." Navin suddenly said, "I've just realised we're late to uh…. Do something… that's right, we've got to go and meet one of our teachers about one of our classes, and some homework… Let's go Tanu!" And grabbing her hand, he practically dragged her out of the mess, leaving both of their meals half uneaten. It only took Alekh to glance in Raj's direction for him to decide that he was no longer hungry and to bolt in the direction of the door as fast as he possibly could.

Alekh had only one more option.

He would have to ask Naina.

**

Making sure that none of the suspiciously acting people (eg Navin, Tanu or Raj) were around, Alekh went to the phone to make his call. Actually this was pretty easy considering that all of them seemed to be attempting to avoid him at the moment.

Dialling Navin's home number, Alekh just hoped that Naina was the one who would pick up. The last thing he needed at the moment was to have to explain to her parents exactly why he was calling, he could just imagine it. 'Yes Aunty, I'm calling to ask Naina whether her brother has lost his mind, Raj and Tanu too.'

All Alekh hoped was that it hadn't been something contagious from the Ahluwalia household. If Naina had been affected by the same strange disease, then he was doomed.

The phone was picked up quite quickly, and Alekh was relieved to hear Naina's voice on the other end of the line.

"Apun hai," he told her, "What's going on?"

"Alekh!" Naina exclaimed, "How are you? Did Navin give you some of the laddoos that Ma sent? I missed you at Diwali, I wish you'd come home with Navin, we had such fun and…"

Alekh was glad that Naina was so happy to hear from him, but he really needed this mystery solved right now.

"I'm fine, Naina." He told her, "But Navin and Tanu aren't and neither is Raj."

"What do you mean?" Naina asked him, confused and a little worried too. "They were perfectly fine when they left here. And Raj hasn't mentioned anything about…"

Naina abruptly shut up, realising that she'd said way too much.

"They're not sick, Naina." Alekh told her, "Unless they're sick in the head. They're all acting extremely weird and I want to know what's going on. And what's this you're saying, that you've been talking with Raj?"

"Uh, actually Alekh, I just remembered I left the iron on. I better go turn it off or it will burn down the house."

"Stop right there!" Alekh yelled down the phone. "Either you explain what's going on to me or your nautanki brother is going to be in a very bad state very soon!"

Naina sighed, she should've known that it was pointless trying to hide anything from Alekh, no matter what he noticed EVERYTHING.

"Alright, Alekh, fine." Naina gave in, "But first I have to swear you to secrecy. You have to promise that you won't reveal any of this to Navin or Tanu."

Half an hour later Naina had finished a very long explanation of what Navin and Tanu had done, how her and Raj had found out, and what they were now doing to try and spoil their plans.

"So what do you say, Alekh?" Naina asked him, "Are you going to help us out? Will you be part of 'Operation Confusion'?"

" 'Operation Confustion'?" Alekh asked, "What's that?"

"It's the name of our mission to confuse Navin and Tanu!" Naina explained to him as if it should've been obvious. "I'm sure that they've got a name for their mission too… but I'm also sure that ours is much better."

Alekh was still trying to work out all of the information in his head, it had all been way too complicated.

"Alright, Naina. I'll help you in this 'Operation Confustion'," Alekh told her, "But it would be a lot easier if that darpoke Raj would stop running away from me all the time."

"Just go and catch him and tell him that you know," Naina says impatiently, "It can't be that hard."

And so half an hour later, Alekh is sitting outside the gym, waiting for Raj to come out. When he finally does, Alekh leaps up immediately, not prepared to let him escape this time.

"Oh, Alekh," Raj exclaims, a bit shocked that Alekh has apparently appeared out of nowhere. "So nice to see you, I've just got to uh, go and do something that will put me into detention."

Alekh raised his eyebrows at this last bit, he was sure that Raj must have that the wrong way around.

"Tension mat le, Raj." He told him, "I know everything."

"About what?" Raj asked, becoming more nervous.

"About 'Operation Confustion'," Alekh replies, "I was sick of you, Navin and Tanu always running away when I tried to ask you, so I called Naina to ask her instead."

"And she told you????" Raj practically yells, shocked. "I thought that this was a secret plan!"

"Well it still is secret." Alekh says, not understanding why Raj is so upset, "Only now I know the secret too."

Raj calms down, realising that he's overreacting. Alekh would have uncovered the truth eventually, and Naina might have just won them a key ally.

"So are you going to help us?" he asks Alekh.

"Yes," Alekh replies, "But I'm not quite sure what it is that I should be helping with. The whole point of this is that you and Naina don't get married, right? So why do you actually have such a problem with getting married to her in the first place?" Alekh asked him.

Raj flushed at this comment. "I don't have any problem with getting married to Naina," he told Alekh, and then turned even redder, realising what he had just said, "I mean, I'm not saying that I don't want to marry her, I mean, no that's not what I mean, what I really mean is, there's absolutely nothing wrong with Naina. Anybody would want to marry her!"

"So what's the problem then?" Alekh asks him, wanting to get to the bottom of it before he starts interfering.

"Naina doesn't want to get married until she's finished her studies," Raj tells him, "And I respect that, if we can make this plan work then at least she'll be free from pressure for awhile longer."

Alekh had to agree that this was a good point, he knew how important freedom was, and if somebody was trying to cage Naina in or force her to do what she didn't want to, then she had every right to refuse.

"I'll help you," he promises Raj, "Just let me know when there's anything to do."

"Excellent!" Raj said, brightening up now that he knew Alekh was on their side, "Now we'll really show Navin and Tanu!" Quite honestly he was relieved that Alekh now knew the truth, at least he wouldn't have to keep hiding now every time that he saw him.

**

Meanwhile, Navin and Tanu were having the exact opposite problem.

"Navin, we can't keep running away every time we see Alekh," Tanu told him, as they sat near the lake, figuring that there was no way Alekh would ever come there to find them. "Sooner or later we've got to figure out what to do about him."

Navin nodded, for one thing, he hadn't been able to eat properly for two days now since every time Alekh entered the mess he was forced to run away. "Tanu, this might sound crazy," he began, "But what if we told Alekh the truth?"

Tanisha stared at Navin, "You're right," she told him, "That does sound crazy."

"Just listen for a minute," Navin said, the idea beginning to take form even more suddenly. "Alekh likes Naina, in fact he almost thinks of her as a little sister. Surely he would want her to get married to the right type of guy, a guy like Raj."

"You could be right," Tanu admitted, biting her lip while she thought about it, "But what guarantee is there that Alekh will agree with us?"

"Well what choice do we have?" Navin asked her, " Or are you planning to keep running away every time we see him until we graduate, and somehow still trap… uh, convince Raj."

"Fine," Tanisha said, "But this was your idea. If it goes wrong then it's your fault not mine."

**

While relaxing outside, Alekh was surprised to see Navin and Tanisha approaching him. For a moment he thought maybe he should run away, but it was too good of an opportunity, maybe he could get some information out of them for Naina and Raj.

"Hi Alekh," Navin told him, "Look I know we've been acting strangely, but we want to confess everything to you, and well, ask for your help too."

"Apun ka help?" Alekh asked them in disbelief, surely this couldn't be happening.

"Yes, exactly. Actually it's for Naina's sake, for the sake of her future. You see it's like this…"

Of course when Navin explained it, he didn't include the bit where he had decided on this mission because he wanted to get married himself.

The wheels were turning in Alekh's mind as he realised that he was now in a very good position. Both sides of this game had asked for his help, and both were trusting him.

"So will you help us?" Navin finally asked him, "You know it's the best for Naina. I've always worried about her settling down and I can't think of any guy better for her than Raj."

Alekh was silent, genuinely thinking about what he should do. He decided that in this situation his first loyalty should be to Naina, she shouldn't be pushed into a marriage that she didn't want. However Navin was right, even Alekh couldn't think of any guy that would be better for Naina than Raj. And by Raj's reactions earlier, Alekh was sure that if he hadn't fallen for Naina already, he would very soon.

Very quickly, Alekh made his decision.

"Of course I'll help you," he told Navin and Tanu, "Anything for Naina's happiness."

"Excellent!" Tanu told him, "So the team of 'Operation Marriage' now has a new member!"

" 'Operation Marriage'?" Alekh asked them in disbelief.

"Yes, it's the name of our mission." Tanisha informed him.

"Tanu made the name up." Navin added rather quickly.

"Ha… 'Operation Marriage' it is…" Alekh said, privately thinking that neither Navin and Tanu nor Naina and Raj chose very imaginative names for their missions.

Navin and Tanu left then, not wanting Raj to see them with Alekh just in case he became suspicious.

Alekh thought about everything that had happened that day, and that he was now officially part of two separate missions, with both sides not knowing that he was going to be working with the other one too.

Alekh had his own agenda, his own mission. He was going to make sure that things ended up for the best no matter what. And he was willing to be a double agent to achieve it.

It was time for 'Operation Golmaal' to begin.