And Then I Saw The Real You:Killers pg 51 - Page 7

Two hours later, she was especially glad when the plane landed and she could get away from the very irritated Captain Rajveer. It was a complete torture, she thought, sitting beside him, trying to ignore his sneers. And thus, she was very glad when to be hugged by Alekh. He hugged her and then stepped back to take a good look of herm creepily reminding her of her father.

And then he tutted.

'Hmmm. Naina, you've got to eat more. You're getting way too thin for your own good.'

'Alekh?"

'Yes.'

'Stop doing that.' he looked up at her, and then grinned.

As you say, Major.' And did a mock salute.

She punched his arm playfully and said, 'Let's go.'

Half an hour later, she was sitting on one of the very comfortable sofas in Alekh's house, sipping hot chocolate, while the doorbell ran followed by a high pitched shriek which could have only belonged to Pooja. As she rushed up to greet her friends, she surveyed the married couple. They were definitely glowing in all aspects. Her thoughts were cut short as Ali came forward to greet her and kissed her on the cheek.

'Wow, Major Ali,' she said teasingly, 'I never thought I would see the day you got rid of your principles.' The moment she said the words, she instantly regretted it. It was a particularly painful memory none of them wanted to think about, and one look at Ali confirmed it. His eyes clouded over and become dark, and the others immediately sobered up, none of them wanting to think of that particular event.

3 years ago

'Ali, leave it, lets go! We have to get out of here before the enemy comes.'

'But we're supposed to go the other way, the Major told us.' He was a captain at the army then.

'Ali, are you crazy? Do you want to die? I got information that the bomb is planted right here. Time is ticking away. MOVE IT'

'If you want, you can go, Huda. But I'm not leaving until the Major gives us definite orders.'

'Ali, what is your important to you? Your life or your stupid principles?'

it took him a moment to answer but then he did. 'My principles.'

Huda shook his head dismissively but stayed back with him. Before any of them could utter another word a loud noise in close proximity made them jump out of their skins.

'WHAM'

He could hear the bomb exploding, and feel the sparks etching into every part of his body. Frantically he turned around only to see bodies falling throughout the place. He himself was too hurt to move his limbs or even turn his neck properly, but something about the eerie calm told him that his worst fears were confirmed.

His best friend, arch nemesis was dead.

He still wasn't sure about it, though, when he woke up three weeks later with a false eye and a pacemaker to keep him alive. But then, Naina and Alekh had told him about the memorial service and how his body had been destroyed into shreds.

He had spent the next few weeks in closure, not wanting to talk to anyone about what happened. But Pooja had known something was wrong, and after a lot of coaxing, he had broken down to her and told her everything about Huda's death. And what had surprised him the most was that she didn't hate him after that. They had gotten married a few months after that.

He never cared about his principles any more. It was his chance of redeeming everything, it was his way of showing gratitude to the man who had stayed behind with him only to have gotten himself killed. It was his chance of being sorry for everything he had previously caused.

He had washed his principles away, hoping that one day his late best friend would forgive him for everything since his school days.

Preview for Part 5

'Look what it reduced him to. His perfect ness was what killed him at the end.' By this point, tears were running down her face.

Still awkward with the situation, he scooted closer to her, and awkwardly put an arm around her to comfort her. 'Yes,' he whispered, 'Yes, he was perfect. Always, in everything, he was always the best.