Chapter 50

Chapter 48:

"Okay guys, I'm warning you now, if anybody does ANYTHING to embarrass Raj then they're officially uninvited from the wedding." Naina warned her friends as they waited at the airport, "And that comment is especially directed at you, Neelu."

Neelu tried to put on her best innocent face and failed miserably. "Chill, Naina, I won't do anything." She told her, "And besides, both Alekh and my bro are about to arrive too, I'll be far too busy to get up to any mischief."

It was three days before the wedding and Naina, Pooja and Neelu were currently waiting at the airport to welcome the three guys. Their flight was arriving in the morning, whereas Ali and Huda would be arriving three hours later. Shalini would be driving down some time during the day too. For this reason everybody was especially excited, not only to be reunited with their lovers, but also to see their friends.

Pooja and Neelu exchanged grins about the way that Naina was tapping her foot impatiently and drumming her fingers on the barrier. The flight had landed two minutes ago, and she knew that any second now, they were going to come out of the exit.

"I doubt we'll need to do anything embarrassing," Neelu muttered under her breath to Pooja, "Just wait and see, the moment he comes out of there she'll create the biggest scene all by herself!"

Sure enough they were right, the moment that Raj came out of the doors, the biggest grin appeared on her face, and she began waving to let him know where they were. A matching grin was soon on Raj's face and he hurried over, leaving the other boys behind. Dropping his bag as quickly as possibly, he picked Naina up in a tight hug before swinging her around and around, planting kisses on her face. Finally putting her back on the ground, he still didn't stop hugging her, but stood there still with his arms around her waist while hers were around his neck.

Neelu waved excitedly to both Alekh and Yudi when she saw them. Alekh was happy to see her, but gave her a look that clearly said he was not about to give a repeat of Raj's performance.

Alekh and Yudi came over to join them, also dropping their bags before hugging both Neelu and Pooja. Alekh comfortably slipped his arm around Neelu's shoulders, as she put hers around his waist.

"So Pooja, when's your personal signal arriving?" Yudi asked her, he couldn't wait until they were all reunited again.

"In about three hours," Pooja replied, looking down at her watch to check. "What about yours?"

"Mine is…. What are you talking about? I have no idea at all!" Yudi replied a little too late while everybody else exchanged knowing looks.

"Saala Nautanki…" Alekh muttered with a smile on his face.

Turning to face Raj and Naina who were still hugging, Pooja tapped Naina on the shoulder.

"Done?" she asked, "Or are we going to spend the next five hours right here waiting for Ali and Huda?"

"Oh yes, of course." Raj replied self consciously and reluctantly released Naina.

Looking only slightly embarrassed, but mainly happy, Naina quickly hugged both Alekh and Yudi to welcome them.

"Well guys, shall we get you settled in?" Naina asked them, and when everybody nodded, they headed towards the exit and the car that was waiting.

They all drove to Raj's apartment, where the four boys were going to be staying with him until the wedding. Naina, Neelu and Pooja had spent the past few days making sure that the apartment was liveable and that they would be able to stay there comfortably.

About all they had time to do was to settle in and have a cup of tea before it was time for Pooja to head off to the airport again. The others wanted to come with her, but she told them it would be fine, and that she was more than capable of handling Ali and the Jat by herself.

"You guys don't separate yourselves from your personal signals," Pooja told them perfectly happily, "I'll be back in no time at all and we'll all get lunch."

"Well as my personal signal isn't… I mean, as I'm perfectly free right now, I'll come with you Pooja." Yudi told her, excited to see his friends again and knowing that Alekh and Neelu would probably prefer to have some time without him there. After all, it's not easy to romance in front of your brother or sister.

Seeing that Alekh and Neelu were already busy talking together, Raj took Naina's hand and led her into his bedroom, being careful to keep the door open. After all, with Alekh in the house he hardly needed to be attacked three days before his wedding.

"You're looking even more gorgeous than usual," he told Naina, "I've changed my mind, let's go and get married right now."

Naina blushed at this, "Stop it," she told him, "If you'd wanted then we could've got married months ago, you were the one who insisted on a big wedding."

"I can't wait to see you in your wedding outfit." Raj told her, his eyes sparkling. "Can I see it now?"

"Most certainly not," Naina told him, "You're not going to see it until I come there on the day of the wedding actually wearing it."

Raj sighed, "You're too cruel." He told her, "Not even one look?"

"Not even one."

**

Once Pooja and Yudi had arrived back with Ali and Huda, there was even more hugging and celebrations and it was decided that they would order in lunch from somewhere as nobody was too keen to go out. The order had only just arrived when there was another knock on the door. Getting up to open it, Naina smiled and hugged the person on the other side.

"Guys, Shalini is here!" she announced happily.

Suddenly everybody tried very hard to pretend that they were not trying to see what Yudi's reaction was, but he didn't seem bothered at all.

"Hey, you're just in time for lunch!" he told her, and Shalini settled down to join them.

It was the first time in almost a year that all of them had been in the same place at the same time so there was a lot to catch up on from the time they had been apart. Couples were seated together, but everybody was more interested in catching up with friends than being romantic, which was probably lucky otherwise Huda would have felt left out.

"I can't believe it's been such a long time since we all saw each other." Yudi announced, "I think from now on we're going to have to try to coordinate our leave so we can all have holidays at the same time."

"Excellent idea, Yudi." Huda told him, "Otherwise Ali and I are stuck out in those damn deserts while you all have fun."

Ali just smiled, he was used to Huda complaining about Rajasthan by now.

"I really do miss our academy days." Pooja told everyone, "I never realised how difficult it would be to be apart from everybody."

"Well we're all together now," Naina assured her, "And will be for at least three more days. After that…"

"You two go for your honeymoon and the rest of us have two more days together." Neelu cut in, "It was good of you to allow us to stay in your flat, Rajveer."

"That's perfectly alright, Neelu." Raj told her. "I'm glad to have the guys around."

"So what's our plan for today?" Huda asked, "Are there any arrangements you need us to do? Any attractive wedding guests that need to be picked up from the airport?"

Everybody just looked at Huda with amused expressions on their faces. He would never change.

"Everything is under control," Pooja told them, "All you have to do is make sure that all of your outfits actually fit you."

"Still," Huda said, "I think that just once maybe I should make sure the catering is okay, I mean the sweets, and the lassi…."

Pooja just shook her head in disbelief. "Fine, go and check out the lassi and sweets if you really want to, Huda."

It was then that everybody noticed that Naina had gone rather quiet and seemed to be becoming emotional again. Raj quickly reached out to take her hand, squeezing it.

"What's the matter, Naina?" Pooja asked her, "Why have you put yourself on silent mode?"

"I don't know…" Naina told them, "It's just sometimes I wonder, would we have been better off just having a small wedding? I mean after my parents…" Her voice trailed off as she was unable to continue. Everybody knew how upset she was about it, there was only three days to go until the wedding and her parents still hadn't contacted her, it looked like they definitely wouldn't be turning up.

"Come on, Naina." Neelu told her, "Do you honestly think that any of us would've allowed you to have a small wedding?"

The rest of them nod in agreement.

"Naina, we've been waiting for this wedding for almost two years." Pooja tells her, "If not for your sake then at least for ours it had to be a zabardast shaadi."

"And you have no idea how many people are excited about this wedding." Shalini adds, "Almost all of the second year cadets wanted to try to run away from the academy to attend. It's only the fear of Major Nair and my promise to bring back photos that stopped them.

"So you don't think that it's… well, that it's wrong of me to be having such a large celebration when my family disapprove?" As happy as she was about the wedding, this doubt had always been at the back of Naina's mind. Would her parents become even angrier when they found out that she and Raj had had such a large marriage?

"Dekh, Naina." Alekh told her, "I don't know what your parents are going to think, and I don't know what other people are going to think. But for our Naina, nothing but the best is good enough."

"Alright guys, that's enough of being senti for one day!" Huda announced, "Lunch is finished, I say we should get to work and give the happy couple some time alone."

"Guys, really, you don't have to do that." Naina protested, "I want to spend time with all of you."

"Well Naina, maybe that's the case for you, but some of the other happy couples really would like some time alone." Neelu joked, "So Alekh and I are out of here."

"Yeah, come on Ali," Pooja told him, "Last time you came to Delhi I didn't finish showing you all the tourist sites. How about if we go and see the Qutb Minar this time?"

"Well I'm off to go and see whether Delhi girls are any friendlier than Rajasthani girls are," Huda told them, "Also give me the address of the caterers and I'll stop in to see whether they're doing their job properly."

That left only Yudi and Shalini to find some excuse to get out of there. "Ahhh, let's go and check the venue, Yudi." Shalini told him, "I want to see if they have it all under control."

"Okay, but you're all coming back early tonight, right?" Naina asked them, "One of Raj's old friends and batchmates will be joining us for dinner, it would be good if you could all meet him."

"Yes, early…." Neelu said, "But this time I'm definitely knocking on the door before I come in." Raj and Naina both looked as if they were about to die of embarrassment, while Pooja giggled and the rest remained clueless.

Naina noticed that before leaving, Alekh winked at Raj who gave him a thumbs up in return.

"What was that about?" she asked, knowing that something was going on.

"Don't worry about it." Raj told her, "You'll find out tonight. For now, we have a lot of catching up to do and I haven't told you the best news of all. Come on, let's sit comfortably."

Leading her over to the couch, he made her sit first and then lay down, his head in her lap so that he was gazing up into her face. Smiling down at him, Naina began to run her fingers through his hair.

"So what's your news?" she asked him.

"Well very soon you're going to have to start doing this apartment up," Raj told her, "Because we're going to be living here permanently."

"Meaning?" Naina asked him, thinking that she understood but not daring to hope that it was really happening.

"Meaning that my next posting is confirmed. Two months after our wedding I'll be transferred to Delhi, and with any luck I should be here until your studies are finished."

"Oh my god!" Naina was incredibly excited, it had been so difficult to live without him all these months, and now they would be able to live together permanently. Happily she leaned down and kissed him, but when Raj went to deepen the kiss she pulled away playfully.

"There's only three days left until we get married." She told him, "Don't you think you should wait until then?"

"I suppose so," Raj said with a sigh, "And knowing our luck somebody would probably just come and disturb us anyway."

"That's right," Naina replied, laughing. "So don't get too carried away, Major."

"Fine," Raj said reluctantly, before a mischievous grin spread on his face, "But I don't think that a little bit of kissing would hurt too much…"

**

Late in the afternoon, the rest of their friends returned back happily. Huda had found that Delhi girls were much friendlier than those in Rajasthan and had managed to get a few phone numbers from those he had met. Yudi and Shalini had found that everything was under control at the wedding venue and at the hotel that had been booked for most of the wedding guests to stay at. Nobody asked them how they had spent the rest of their afternoon.

Ali and Pooja had also had a good time, visiting various important historical sites in Delhi. Both of their faces glowed with happiness, Ali was as quiet as he usually was, but he was now much more relaxed about things like holding hands with Pooja in public and showing affection. Alekh and Neelu were the last to arrive, and when they did the huge grin on Neelu's face and the twinkle in Alekh's eyes said that something had definitely happened.

"Okay, tell us, what happened?" Pooja asked, wanting to know as soon as possible.

In reply, Neelu just held out one hand, showing them a new ring on her finger. While the design was fairly plain, it was very obvious that it was an engagement ring.

"Hai Rabba!" Pooja exclaimed, and along with Naina she rushed forward and immediately began hugging Neelu and exclaiming over the ring.

Yudi looks the most surprised out of anybody, as he approaches Alekh, everybody worries for a moment that he might be upset, but instead he envelops his friend in the biggest hug ever.

"How could you keep this a secret?" He asked Alekh, "You should've told me! I've been stressing for the longest time about when you and Neelu settling down."

"And that's exactly why I didn't tell you," Alekh replied, "Because I knew you'd spoil the surprise for Neelu somehow. Rajveer Sir helped me to arrange it."

Neelu nods her thanks in Raj's direction, Raj just smiles.

"This is so wonderful," Naina tells them both, "Now the only question is who the next couple to get married will be, Ali and Pooja or Alekh and Neelu." After she's finished hugging Neelu she comes over and hugs Alekh instead, truly happy that he's finally ready to settle down. She knows how important it is to him to have a family, and a place to call his own and Neelu will provide him with that.

"It will be Ali and Pooja," Alekh announces, "Neelu and I have an agreement, we won't be getting married until I can provide for her properly. My wife and my children should never lack anything in life."

"Well then, Ali and Pooja it is." Naina says happily, "I just hope that you're planning on getting married soon so that we've got another excuse to all get together. After all, you've been engaged for around a year now."

"I think it will probably be around another year before we get married." Ali replies, "I agree with Alekhbhai, I should be able to provide for my wife properly. And Pooja is still studying too."

"Well if you two aren't going to have a proper engagement party then we'll have to go out tonight to celebrate instead." Yudi tells Alekh and Neelu, "What do you say guys, how about we go out for dinner and then find somewhere to go dancing?"

This suggestion was met with cheers from everybody, and they were just starting to discuss where they should go when there was a knock on the door.

Raj quickly went to open it, knowing who it would be. "Chauhan Saheb, perfect timing as always." He told the man with long hair standing there.

They hugged each other warmly before Abhimanyu stepped into the room.

"Everybody, this is Captain Abhimanyu Rai Chauhan, my friend and batchmate." Raj announced. "Abhi, I won't tell you full names right now since there's so many of us here, this is Shalini, Yudi, Huda, Pooja, Ali, Alekh, Neelu and…" he paused dramatically before announcing it, "This is Naina."

"So this is the girl who's stolen your heart!" Abhimanyu said happily, "You know Naina, your brother and I were very good friends, and you do remind me a little bit of him. I think you have the same eyes."

Naina smiled at this, happy to meet somebody else who had been Navin's friend. "I hope we'll find some time to talk," she told him, "It's wonderful to finally meet a friend of Raj's."

"Well you'll meet many more," Abhimanyu reassures her, "I think that just about all of our old batchmates are going to try and turn up."

"Well now that the introductions are over, I think it's time to start discussing our plan." Raj told them, "Abhi, you've arrived at exactly the right time, you see our friends Alekh and Neelu have just gotten engaged today and we were thinking of going out to celebrate."

Abhimanyu congratulated them both, and they quickly made a decision where they would be going out to.

The girls of course had to go home first to change into something suitable, and arranged to meet the guys at a restaurant in about an hours time.

The rest of the evening was spent chatting together at the restaurant, and Naina was enthralled as both Raj and Abhimanyu told stories about their days in the academy and all of the pranks and mischief they had gotten up to with Navin. Afterwards they danced the night away at a disco, and for once, Raj didn't object to buying Alekh and Neelu drinks.

By the time they all headed back to sleep, the girls to the Sahni's apartment, the guys to Raj's and Abhimanyu to his hotel, they were pleasantly exhausted. Now there were only two days to go before the wedding and many things to get done before then.

Things were going perfectly, and Naina had begun to feel better as the day of the marriage approached.

She had her friends with her, friends who loved her and who she loved. For the past three years they had been her family, laughed with her and cried with her and they were going to be by her side on the most important day of her life.

Whatever happened in the future, whatever challenges they faced, Naina knew one thing for certain.

They would be friends forever.