Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty Three:
"What about this?"
"No."
"This then?"
"Definitely not!"
"Well what's wrong with it?"
"I don't know, Raj…" Abhimanyu told him, wrinkling his forehead slightly, "It's just…"
"Just what?" Raj asked, getting frustrated. "I'm trying so hard… what's wrong with it?"
"Well… instead of looking tragic you just look…"
Raj waited, as Abhimanyu paused, trying to think of what to say, and then finally.
"Constipated."
"Constipated???" Raj asked him, "I'm trying to practice my best tragic lover expressions here and you think I look constipated? Why don't you give it a shot!"
He sat back in his chair, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrows as if to say, 'well, go on.'
"Well, you know that I'm not used to all this acting…" Abhimanyu told him, "But I'll give it my best try."
And he gave Raj his best tragic expression.
Raj winced, "You're right," he tells Abhimanyu, "That really does look like you're constipated."
"See I told you…" Abhi replied, and Raj sighed, rubbing his temples.
Naina was arriving the next day, and he still hadn't perfected his best Dilip Kumar impression.
Of course this could be because he was so incredibly happy to see her again that he just wasn't really able to get into the spirit of tragicness.
"Do you really have to do this?" Abhimanyu asks him, "I mean can't you just act naturally when you see each other?"
Raj stared at Abhi as if he'd gone absolutely crazy.
"Act naturally??" he asked him, "I'm not sure that Naina and I remember how to act naturally in front of other people anymore. Ever since we found out about Navin and Tanisha's plan, we've always had some type of pretense to carry out."
"Well... maybe it's time to stop pretending and let them know how you really feel."
Raj gave Abhi his best scornful look. "As if…" he said, "Don't you think we should make Navin and Tanu feel just a little bit guilty after everything they've put us through?"
Abhimanyu had to admit that this was a very good point.
"Alright, then let's start practicing again," Raj tells him, "I've only got until tomorrow morning to get this right…."
**
Naina was arriving by bus on Saturday morning, and would be leaving again on Sunday afternoon.
Raj knew that it wasn't a very long time, but at the moment a weekend together was the best thing they could hope for. And he knew that they were going to have a lot of fun this weekend.
Waiting at the bus station, he fixed his best hopeful, longing lover look on his face, gazing off into the distance to see if the bus was arriving. Sneaking a look at Navin and Tanu, he saw them both looking at him sympathetically, obviously feeling bad about the situation.
Score one for Raj.
Raj sighed dramatically, looking at his watch for about the hundredth time in the last two minutes.
"Hey, when did you get that watch?" Navin asked him, "It's new, isn't it?"
Raj raised his eyebrows, unable to believe that his friend had never noticed before now.
"Navin, Naina gave me this watch on Republic Day." He told him, "Since then I hardly ever take it off, I can't believe you never saw it…" he shakes his head, it just goes to show how useless all of their planning really was. Navin and Tanu just did not get subtlety.
It was time to increase the Dilip Kumar melodrama.
"At least by wearing the watch, I can feel as if Naina is here with me." Raj sighs, looking down at it lovingly, "Otherwise I don't know how I could have endured all this time without her."
Navin and Tanu don't seem in the least bit suspicious of his melodrama, in fact they look even more upset for him. That was it, from now on Raj was going to be as melodramatic as possible.
Finally the bus appeared in the distance making its way slowly towards them, and Raj sprang into action with a plan he had only come up with the night before.
Not even waiting until the bus had stopped properly, he ran forward, climbing his way inside and pushing past the passengers who were waiting to get off as Navin and Tanu looked on in shock and various passengers started yelling at him to get out of the way.
However Raj was undeterred, making his way to where Naina stood with her backpack already on, he grabbed her and hugged her. He was just glad that she was in the aisle seat rather than a window seat. If he'd had to climb over some uncle or aunty to get to her then it might have been rather awkward.
For her part, Naina looked completely and utterly shocked, she hadn't been expecting this at all.
"Raj, are you…" she started to say, but Raj cut her off, even as the other passengers stopped trying to get off the bus and crowded around to watch instead.
"No, Naina, I couldn't stop myself for any longer!" Raj announced loudly, "I can't live without you anymore, do you know what torment these days without you have been? I won't let you go back to Nainital, I won't!"
With a sparkle in her eyes, Naina got into the spirit of things and threw her arms around his neck, "Oh Raj, I can't live without you either!" she declared, "Nobody will ever separate us ever again, not even your parents!"
He hugged her properly then, kissing her cheek, and the bus erupted in applause.
"Alright people, show is over." The conductor said grumpily, "Now get off the bus."
"Do you think I should carry you off?" Raj asked her, "That could be a really nice effect."
"Uh, no I don't think so." Naina told him, "Don't forget what you told me when we first started our operation, 'subtlety is the key'."
Raj laughed, "Forget subtlety." He told her, "I just found out that Navin never noticed the watch you gave me until now."
Naina laughed at this too, "Alright, we can be a bit melodramatic then." She tells him, "But still no carrying me off the bus, the door is so narrow we're likely to hurt ourselves."
Raj contented himself with carrying Naina's bag for her and clutching her hand tightly, while gazing at her in what he hoped looked like anguished longing and not constipation.
"Oh Bhaiyya, Tanu…." Naina threw her arms around both of them emotionally, "You have no idea how hard it's been…"
"There, there…" Navin tried to tell her comfortingly, while patting her back, "We'll find a solution. And for now, why don't we go and sit somewhere comfortably…." He was well aware of the fact that many of the bus's passengers were hanging around to watch them rather than going on to their destinations.
"Chalo Bhaiyya," Naina said, wiping her eyes slightly dramatically, "Wherever Raj goes, I will follow."
**
Half an hour later they were all back at KMA and sitting in Raj and Navin's room, Raj and Naina on one bed and Navin and Tanu on the other. Naina hadn't let go of Raj's hand since they had left the bus and had a very pained and upset look on her face. Raj couldn't believe how much she had improved since they had first started 'Operation Confusion'.
"Bhaiyya, you and Tanu have to help us in some way…" Naina told them, "All of the rakhis that I've ever tied on your wrist… now is the time to fulfill those promises."
It was such a filmi dialogue that Raj felt like bursting into applause, and yelling out 'wah, wah', but he resisted. That really would've given them away.
But one thing was for certain, Naina really should be joining the drama club when she goes home.
"Come on Naina, it's not that bad." Tanu tries to tell her reassuringly, "As soon as Raj finishes his training we'll be able to get you married properly, whether his parents agree or not."
"But I want them to agree!" Naina practically wails, "I don't want to be the daughter-in-law that they hate, I don't want to separate their only son from them!"
Raj cleared his throat slightly… thinking that they were probably overdoing it just a bit too much.
"Uh, Navin, Tanu… could we please have some time alone?" he asked them, "We really need to talk properly about this."
"Sure," Navin said a bit awkwardly, looking a bit relieved to be getting away from Naina who seemed to be slightly hysterical. It was better if Raj calmed her down. After all, he was going to be her husband, he might as well start practicing now. "Just… don't lock the door."
Considering that he had done his brotherly duty, he and Tanu left the room, exchanging helpless looks with each other.
As soon as the door had closed, the mood in the room changed drastically. Giggling, Naina threw her arms around Raj's neck with so much force that he toppled backwards so that he was lying on the bed, while she lay on top of him.
"So," Naina said, adjusting herself so that her arms were crossed on top of his chest and she gazed down at him, "My pyaara pati… how was my acting?"
"Ek dum first class," Raj told her, grinning back and pulling her so that she was settled more comfortably against him, "If you decide to give up on doing an MBA then you could definitely go and join some saas bahu serials."
"Saas Bahu serials??? I was aiming for Meena Kumari!" Naina exclaimed, disappointed. "I didn't remind you of her even a little bit?"
Raj just raised an eyebrow.
"Fine," Naina gave in, knowing that he was perfectly right, "Very nice move on your part by the way, but you could've warned me about the bus-walla plan."
"Well I just came up with it last night," Raj told her, "It was good, wasn't it?"
"Superb," Naina told him, "Now before they come back and we have to look all depressed again, give me a kiss."
Raj was more than happy to oblige, rolling over so that he was in a better position to do so.
"Just a minute!" Naina exclaimed a second before his lips were going to touch hers, "Ah, we are on your bed aren't we? I mean, it would be a bit too weird if this was Bhaiyya's bed…" she looked down at the bed with an uneasy expression.
"Don't worry Naina, this is definitely my bed." Raj told her, and pointed to the bedside table where there was a photo of the two of them taken at Republic Day. He'd been able to display it publicly there ever since Naina's mother had informed Navin that the two of them wanted to get married.
"How sweet," Naina said, ruffling his hair with her fingers, "Now that definitely deserves a kiss…."
And she always believed that people should get what they deserve.
**
Navin and Tanu entered the mess together, both of them looking quite upset.
"Poor Naina and Raj," Tanu said with a sigh, "They're so desperate to be together, I hope we can manage to find a way to get them married."
Aalekh's jaw twitched slightly, Abhimanyu made an effort not to look up from his chai while nodding very seriously. Nandini just fixed her expression to look sympathetic, "Poor things," she agreed, very sincerely, "We're all praying for them." It was almost enough to make Abhimanyu crack up entirely and he hastily took a gulp of chai before he could burst out laughing.
"So then Raj definitely isn't interested in my sister?" Yudi asked for about the hundredth time.
"No Yudi, Raj is not interested in Neelu!" Shalini told him, very exasperated. She had been trying to convince him of this fact for the last two weeks and still hadn't been able to.
"But then why…"
"Who cares why!" Pooja said, rolling her eyes, "We all know that Raj's connection is with Naina, you're the only one who keeps dialling the wrong number."
"But…"
"Just drop it, Yudi!"
"Change your ring tone!"
"Really Yudibhai, that's enough."
Yudi sighed… sure, maybe Raj wasn't interested in Neelu but there was definitely something going on, otherwise why would she have come to meet him?
Yudi just had to figure out what it actually was.
**
Meanwhile in Raj and Navin's room, Naina finally pulled herself out of Raj's grasp, still giggling.
"Arre, where are you going?" he asked her, "I'm seeing you after such a long time and who knows when we're going to see each other again? At least let me kiss you to my heart's content."
"And you really think that Navin and Tanu are going to leave us alone in here forever?" Naina asked him practically, "And considering we can't lock the door, do you really want to be in the middle of kissing me when they come bursting in?"
Raj decided that she had a definite point, as forgiving as Navin was, he supposed he would at the very least have been slightly injured if they had been found in that position.
"Besides," Naina tells him brightly, "I want to see our wedding photos. Get them out and show me."
Raj grinned, and digging through his closet, took them out from their position right at the back under all of his clothes. Naina opened the envelope and began looking through them.
"Ooo this is a nice one," she told Raj, "We look so cute in it. And how about this one, Aalekh and Neelu are looking so nice together!"
They were looking at the photos together, remembering the day and laughing when Navin opened the door very hastily, as if afraid that something was going on inside.
Raj thanked his lucky stars that Naina had pulled away from him before now, otherwise he would probably have a black eye right now. Best friend or not, Navin was still quite a protective older brother, and Raj still remembered his comment about nothing more than holding hands before marriage… of course, they actually were married…
Raj and Naina both froze as soon as Navin and Tanu walked in, and Raj was very impressed with the way that Naina didn't immediately try to hide the photos. Instead she very slowly and casually put them back in the envelope before handing it to Raj. He strolled to his cupboard and put it back in, reminding himself to change the hiding spot later in case Navin grew suspicious.
"What were you two doing?" he asked them, "When we left you looked like you were going to burst into tears, and now you're laughing?"
Naina sighed sadly, back to her dramatics. "We were looking at some photos from Republic Day," she told him and Tanu, "Remembering happier times… everything seemed so simple in those days, we had so many hopes for the future…"
She leaned her head on Raj's shoulder with another sigh, and he nodded, patting her head comfortingly.
However Navin still didn't look convinced, gazing at them both a bit suspiciously.
"Well, we had better go downstairs now," Naina announced suddenly, "Maybe some of the others can help come up with a solution."
"I've got an even better idea," Raj told her, "Maybe you can finally convince Yudi that nothing is going on between me and Neelu."
"Anything for you," Naina told him soppily, but she had such a mischievous grin that even Tanu began to wonder whether anything was going on.
However they couldn't worry about it at the time being, because Raj and Naina were already leaving the room, so Navin and Tanu followed them down to the canteen.
"So what did you two talk about just now?" Navin asked, noticing that Naina's hair did seem to be slightly messier than when they left the room and…. No, he wasn't going to think about it.
"Well we agree with you of course," Raj told them, "We'll just have to wait until I finish my training and then we'll get married no matter what happens. But I'll do my best to convince my parents before that happens."
"And you needed to come all this way to figure this out?" Navin asked Naina incredulously.
Naina rolled her eyes at him and then remembered that she was supposed to be acting melodramatically. "No Bhaiyya, I came all this way because I was missing Raj so much," she told him, "I really can never repay you for introducing us… you're the best brother a girl could ever have, because of you I've found my jeevan saathi."
Naina gazed at Raj adoringly, fluttering her eyelashes at him, which the other two couldn't see. Raj tried not to laugh, and instead put an arm around Naina's shoulder, hugging her to him.
**
A couple of hours later, Raj left to drop Naina to Neelu's house where she would be staying, and Navin and Tanu were left alone to ponder the day's events.
"We really do need to come up with a solution," she told him.
"I know, I feel so bad…" Navin said, "But…" and he felt a bit guilty for thinking it, "Don't you think they were acting a bit strangely? I mean, just a bit over the top. And then when we came back into the room they were looking at photos and laughing."
"Well maybe they were funny photos," Tanu said with a shrug, "Really I think it was very romantic the way they were so desperate to see each other."
But Navin had a doubt.
"Just come with me to our room for a minute, Tanu." He told her.
"Navin, do you really think that now is the time?" she asked him, "I mean…"
"Just come with me!" he told her, and taking her hand, took her up to the room before opening the door to Raj's closet and looking around for the envelope of photos.
He finally found it, tossed right at the back, and his hand brushed against something that felt like plastic but he ignored it.
He felt bad for looking through his friend's things without permission, but desperate times called for desperate measures…
And really, the way Raj and Naina were behaving right now reminded him far too much of the way he and Tanu had been acting when they began Operation Marriage.
Opening the envelope, he pulled out the photos and he and Tanisha started looking through them.
"These are definitely not from Republic Day," she commented.
"You can say that again," she commented, "But what exactly is going on."
And suddenly seeing Raj and Naina posing in front of the official looking building, garlands around their necks and grins on their faces, it was all too clear.
They couldn't have…
They wouldn't have dared…
Would they?
And Abhimanyu, Nandini, Aalekh and Neelu were in these photos too, does that mean that they were part of this conspiracy…
Navin needed more evidence.
Returning to Raj's closet, he once again rifled around in it until he found the plastic sleeve that his hand had brushed before, and pulling it out, he stared at it with his mouth open.
"Saala…." He swore.
"Literally." Tanu added, as she looked over his shoulder to see what he was holding.
Navin wasn't sure whether he was more angry at them for having done this without telling him, or proud that they'd managed to think of something this sneaky.
Well, two could play this game…
And if he didn't get them to admit to it before the weekend was over, his name wasn't Navin Singh Ahluwalia.
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