Chapter 14

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Chapter 13

Wanting to distract everybody before Yudi blurted out something that he wasn't meant to, Raj quickly told them to join him and Naina and have some Chai. After all, it wasn't part of the plan that Navin and Tanu receive confirmation that he and Naina were actually dating just yet.

Not that they actually were dating…

Oh never mind…

Meanwhile Yudi had a huge grin on his face, clearly he couldn't wait to tell Navin and Tanu what he had just found out since now they would surely agree to give him all the help he could ever need to win Shalini over.

Everything had only just calmed down and they were all sipping their chai while pretending to act casual when suddenly Alekh and Neelu walked in.

Since Raj hadn't actually gotten a good look at the girl getting out of the car, and the last thing he expected was for Neelu to be hanging around with Alekh, he didn't immediately panic.

"Oy Nautanki," Alekh suddenly announced in Yudi's direction, who looked up suddenly, "Don't you think it was a bit rude for you to abandon your sister like that."

On hearing the word 'sister', Raj started choking on the biscuit he'd been eating and swallowing her tea way too fast, Naina spluttered slightly before hurriedly patting Raj on the back until he calmed down.

Navin and Tanu who knew absolutely nothing at all about Raj and Neelu's parents setting them up together just stared at the two of them as if they'd lost their minds.

Neelu glanced at Alekh and he made a small gesture in Raj's direction as if to say 'he's the one'.

Neelu looked Raj up and down appraisingly and then made a slight face as if to say 'not bad'. "Hi, I'm Neelu." She announced, "So you're the one I'm meant to get married too."

It was now Navin and Tanu's turn to be shocked. Navin's mouth dropped open and Tanu gasped, bringing a hand up to her mouth in shock. All at once she could see all of her plans crumbling down.

Meanwhile, Naina had begun glaring alternately at both Neelu and Alekh. Neelu for obvious reasons, and Alekh because he had been the one who brought her here.

"Raj what is this?" Navin asked quite angrily, as if he'd just found out that Raj had been cheating on his sister. "How could you not tell me about this? I thought we were best friends, I thought that…" He suddenly stopped himself due to Tanu's hand on his arm, realising that he shouldn't mention the plan, a bit more calmly, he added, "Raj what the hell is going on?"

Raj just groaned, and without answering, slumped down in his chair, covering his eyes with his hands as if to try and make it all go away. Right now what he really wanted to do was bang his head on the table repeatedly but somehow he managed to resist.

Neelu was trying not to look amused but failing. This was the most fun that she'd had in a long time, and she was very glad that she'd gotten involved in Alekh's 'Operation Golmaal'. The only worry was that Naina was still glaring at her rather dangerously, as if she wanted to do something unpleasant to her.

Neelu was just about to say something to break the tension, when suddenly Naina stood up.

"I need to go use the bathroom, and I think it's best if I don't go wandering around alone in a military academy. Neelu, would you like to join me?" By the look on Naina's face, Neelu wondered how she could ever dare to say no.

Neelu glanced at Alekh worriedly as if to ask whether she was about to be murdered in an academy bathroom, but he just gave her a slight nod as if to tell her that she would be fine.

"Uh, sure." Neelu replied, a bit uncertainly. Usually she wasn't scared of anybody, but this girl really did seem dangerous.

As soon as they had entered the bathroom, Naina crossed her arms across her chest and looked Neelu up and down, narrowing her eyes.

"Tell me right now exactly what your intentions are in relation to Raj." Naina announced in a no nonsense tone.

"Why?" Neelu asked her, feeling amused, "What's Raj to you?"

"He's my boyfriend!" Naina announced indignantly, and with quite a bit of jealousy "We love each other very much and we're planning to get married."

Neelu started laughing, while Naina stared at her as if she'd gone made.

"Relax," Neelu told her, figuring that she'd messed with Naina's mind quite enough for one day. "I'm not in the least bit interested in your Raj at all. It was our stupid parents that set up this scheme, I assure you that he's really not my type."

Naina gave a huge sigh of relief, visibly becoming more relaxed.

"You really were worried, weren't you?" Neelu asked, still quite amused.

"Well, yes." Naina admits, realising that it's true. "It's just that…"

"That you love him a lot, don't you?"
"Yes I do," Naina admits seriously, without thinking about it. Realising what she had just said, she quickly tried to cover it up, "I mean that we…" well, it was plan wasn't it. She loved him as part of the plan, that was all…

"Well how about we go back to the canteen and tell them the truth before they all die from the suspense." Neelu suggested and Naina hurriedly agreed, worrying about how Raj would be coping with Navin, Tanu and Yudi.

When they arrived back, Raj still had his hands over his eyes and was slumped even lower in his seat. Neelu wondered whether he thought that if he couldn't see anybody then they wouldn't be able to see him either.

Naina tapped Raj on the shoulder, and whispered something in his ear which cause him to take his hands off his eyes and sit up straight again.

"Jeez, relax everybody." Neelu told them all, "I don't really want to get married to him. It's just some stupid plan of our parents that I'll never allow to be successful. Neelu likes her freedom."

"Thank god," Raj announced relieved, "I mean uh, you seem like a nice girl and everything but…" and he looked in Naina's direction as if wanting to say so mething further.

"It's okay," Neelu told him with a wink, "I understand perfectly."

"Sorry yaar," Navin told Raj, "I really overreacted. I should've trusted you more."

"Yeah, me too." Yudi apologised, "I just got a little bit crazy when I thought you'd been going out with my sister without telling me."

"Yes," Naina added hurriedly, "Because Raj would never do anything like that." Out of the corner of her eye she caught Navin and Tanu's reactions which were exactly what she hoped they would be, thrilled.

Now that all the confusion was sorted out, they all sat down together, everybody more relaxed than they had been a few minutes ago.

It was then that Abhimanyu walked in, followed by his father and his father's five attendants. Their friend looked quite fed up by this point and glanced at Nandini as if to say, 'save me please', but she just gave him a sympathetic glance in return from where she sat with her parents at the table next to Raj and Naina's.

"Darling, who's that boy and why does he have so many people with him?" Nandini's mother asked her, having noticed them glancing at each other.

"That's Abhimanyu, mummy." Nandini replied self consciously, since neither her nor Abhi had told their parents about their relationship yet. "He's a prince, and so that's his father the king and his father's attendants." Nandin's mother looked impressed, Nandini decided that this was definitely a positive sign.

Meanwhile Naina was struggling not to laugh, finding the whole thing very funny as Abhimanyu ordered chai for everybody with him, and his father's attendants fussed about whether the king was comfortable or not.

"Poor guy…" Raj said sympathetically, "I'm starting to feel very happy that my parents don't take much interest in these things."

Naina just smiled, shaking her head, and then while the rest of the table were also distracted in watching the spectacle, she touched Raj's hand and then leaned over to whisper in his ear.

"You know I'm wearing the chappals that you bought me in Nainital," she tells him happily, "I hope that Navin Bhaiyya and Tanu Bhabie will notice."

Raj feels strangely happy to know that she's wearing something he bought her. "I doubt that Navin would, but you never know, Tanu might." He told her, then added a bit worriedly, "It wasn't the chappals that made you fall on the stairs was it?"

"No, no." Naina told him, "It was just my natural clumsiness and because I was in such a rush to get to you." She blushed slightly, realising that maybe she shouldn't have said that last bit. "And uh, whether they notice or not, these really are my favourite chappals." She added quickly.

Raj felt absurdly happy, and started grinning. This really was the best Republic Day ever.

"Hey Tanu, where's your parents?" Naina suddenly asked, realising that they were nowhere in sight. "I wanted to meet them."

"Well it turns out that one of our teachers, Major Deol, is an old friend of Dad's from college, so they're busy catching up together." Tanu told her, "I'll introduce you after the parade."

**

The parade started soon afterwards and Neelu and Naina sat together to watch it, now much more friendly with each other that Naina knew Neelu wasn't interested in Raj. Naina made sure to take plenty of pictures of everybody as they paraded by, knowing that her parents would want to see them when she got home.

"You know," Neelu announced as the cadets stood to attention at the end, "Alekh is really hot. I wouldn't have minded if my marriage had been fixed with him instead."

Naina grinned, feeling very happy. She had always wanted Alekh to find a nice girl, and now here was one that was very interested in him. She wondered whether they should begin a new operation of matchmaking to unite Alekh and Neelu and then very quickly dismissed the idea. One operation was already more than she could handle.

"Alekh's a great guy," Naina told Neelu, "He's a bit rough around the edges but he's got a heart of gold. You've made a good choice."

This day just kept turning out better and better.

**

As promised, Tanisha introduced her parents to Naina after the parade.

"I'm so excited to meet you, Uncle and Aunty." Naian told them, "It was so lovely to have Tanu with us at Diwali, she really has become a part of our family now and I can't wait until she's officially my Bhabi!" Saying this, she put an arm around Tanu's waist and gave it a quick squeeze. "In fact I don't even mind if Navin and Tanu get married before I do, I would be perfectly happy if they did!" Naina just hoped that everybody decided to take the hint…

"Why, sis?" Navin asked her, "Why don't you want to get married? Is it just because you haven't found the right guy yet?"

"No it's not that." Naina says rather hurriedly, and glances in Raj's direction, making sure she does so for long enough that Navin and Tanu both notice. "I just really want to finish my studies first, you know that Bhaiyya."

"Well Beti, it is the 21st century now." Tanisha's mother told her reassuringly, "There's nothing to stop you from continuing your studies after marriage."

Naina felt like groaning, it was so not the response that she'd want.

**

Most of the guests were going to be staying overnight in the academy, since it would've been too tiring for them to travel there and back in the same day. Despite the fact that she lived close by, Neelu's parents had insisted that she stay too, obviously hoping that she would spend some more time with Raj.

Yeah right.

Since Naina and Neelu would be sharing a room together, it was very lucky that they'd managed to sort out the issues between them. Unfortunately, nobody else seemed to realise that the two of them would be in the same room. Which led to the next round of confusion.

"Naina, what room will you be in?" Raj asked her quietly at dinner when Navin wasn't listening, "I'll come see you after lights out and we can discuss our progress."

Meanwhile, two other people had exactly the same plan.

"I'm staying in room 210," Neelu whispered to Alekh, "Come see me after lights out."

And so the evening was set…

**

Neelu had just left the room in order to shower and get changed when Naina heard a tap on the window. Hurrying over and opening the curtains, she stared out shocked to see Raj clinging to a drain pipe while he motioned to her to open the window. Quickly she opened it and giving him her hand, helped him to climb inside.

"What are you doing?" she asked him, "Why didn't you just use the door?"

"Yeah right," Raj replied, "As if Lolitaji is just going to let me walk into the girl's hostel. This is the only way to get in without getting caught."

"Oh, and I suppose you've climbed up drain pipes into lots of girls' rooms have you?" Naina asked him, feeling a bit jealous at the thought.

"No, not at all." Raj assured her, "In fact usually it was me helping Navin climb up the drain pipe so that he could get to Tanu's room."

Naina laughed at that, and then sat down on the bed cross legged, motioning to Raj that he should do the same.

He joined her, and they smiled at each other.

"I think we did rather well today," Raj told her, "By now Navin and Tanu must be sure that we're going out but they still don't have any actual proof."

"So now before I leave, we mess with their minds even more!" Naina announced cheerfully, "We need to plan something for tomorrow morning, something big."

"I say we disappear together for awhile tomorrow morning." Raj told her, "And then get back just before you're due to leave. They'll be wondering what we've been doing together."

"Oooo, even better," Naina told him, "When we get back, there should be something for them to notice. And that's exactly why I've brought you a gift!"

"You brought me a gift?" Raj asked her, "What is it?"

"Well you'll just have to wait until tomorrow to find that out, won't you?" Naina told him teasingly, "Just think of it as Naina's amazing planning that I thought of doing it."

"You really are amazing," Raj told her, in the same adoring tone she had occasionally heard him use on the phone but had thought she had imagined. Naina blushed slightly, and it was then that Raj reached out and took one of her hands in both of his, "You know Naina," he told her, looking very seriously into his eyes, "No matter how this started or for what reasons…"

Before he could continue, there was another tap at the window.

Startled, Raj quickly dropped Naina's hand.

"Ahhh, you weren't expecting anybody else were you?" he asked her, genuinely confused about who it might be.

"Definitely not," Naina told him, "I'll go and see who it is, stay out of sight for a minute."

Once again opening the curtains and then the window, she stared at the person hanging onto the drain pipe.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, giving Alekh a hand so that he could climb into the room.

"Yes exactly, what are you doing here?" Raj asked, emerging from around the corner where he'd been hiding. He was glaring at Alekh in such a way that Alekh was suddenly sure that he had disturbed something.

"Well what are you doing here?" he asked Raj, raising an eyebrow. "After all, Navin's not here to see you climbing into Naina's window, so what's your reason?"

Raj suddenly turned red, "We were having a planning meeting!" he told Alekh very quickly, "And you still haven't answered my question about what you're doing here!"

"Well," Alekh looked around and realised that Neelu was nowhere in sight. "I think I might have accidentally come to the wrong room."

"Thanks a lot," Raj muttered under his breath, unable to believe that on top of Alekh's incredibly bad timing, it had all been a mistake.

"So whose room did you think you were climbing into?" Naina asked him, before the realisation suddenly hit her and she grinned. "Ohhhh so things have reached that stage already have they?"

Raj, who still had no idea who Naina's room mate was, was a bit confused about why she was suddenly grinning and what she was talking about.

Luckily his confusion was quickly cleared when Neelu walked into the room, clearly dressed to go out somewhere.

"Hey, Alekh, hey Raj." She said casually, "Well shall we get going?"

Raj just gaped at them, not having expected this at all.

Alekh decided it was probably best to get out of there as quickly as possible. "Sure," he told Neelu, "I'll go down first and then help you." And then he left the same way that he'd come.

"Great!" Neelu told him, and threw her shoes out the window so that she could put them on once she'd climbed down. "Well see you guys, have a nice night!" And then she disappeared out the window too.

Naina and Raj just stared at each other, this was turning out to be a busier night than they had expected.

"Uh, maybe I should get going too before somebody else catches me here." Raj told Naina, having lost the confidence to say what he had wanted to tell her earlier. Naina was disappointed but nodded anyway, then walked him to the window.

"Be careful climbing down." She told him, and then watched until he had made his way down the pipe safely and had waved at her. She waved back before closing the curtains but left the window open. After all, Neelu would be coming back some time during the night.

On the ground Raj stopped waving when he saw Naina close the curtains and turned around only to run straight into Yudi who was looking at him very suspiciously.

"Dude," he told Raj, "If I'm not mistaken then that's my sister's window that you've just climbed out of. I thought you said that there was nothing going on between you!"

"There's not!" Raj cursed his luck that out of everybody he had to run into Yudi right now, "It wasn't her window I was climbing out of!"

Yudi carefully counted the windows across and realised that it was definitely room 210 that Raj had just come from. "Dude, don't lie, that so was my sister's window." He told him.

"Fine, it was, but it wasn't your sister I had gone to see, it was…" Raj stopped, this hadn't been part of the plan and if he told Yudi then Navin and Tanu would both find out as well.

"Yes, I'm waiting." Yudi told him impatiently, still very, very suspicious.

"IhadgonetoseeNaina," Raj said all in a rush, "To uh, see whether she had a good day at the academy today." He finished rather lamely.

"Oh, so you went to see Naina?" Yudi said in a very interested tone of voice. "Well that's…"

"Yes, it's very nice isn't it!" Raj said somewhat hysterically, "And uh, Yudi, could you please not tell either Navin or Tanu about this? Please?"

"Would I do that to you, Raj?" Yudi asked him, and looking relieved, Raj nodded his thanks and ran off before anybody else could catch him.

Yudi smiled, unfortunately the answer was that yes, he would do that to Raj.

After all, everything was fair in love and war.