LRL: My Cadet FINISHED on page 41 - Page 10

Hey guys, here's your next part! I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 19:

It didn't take long for Naina to get ready to leave, all she had to do was change her clothes and grab the bag that she had packed this morning after BC had said she could go. Quickly she pulled on a pair of pants, a singlet top and a jacket, put her hair in a ponytail and then headed downstairs.

She had already said goodbye to her friends after the ceremony so nothing was left to be done. Heading outside, she saw Captain Rajveer waiting, now changed into his casual clothes and leaning against his jeep with the keys in his hands. He looked up just as she came down the outside stairs and her heart skipped a beat at the look in his eyes. It was the way that a starving man would look at food which was out of his reach, or with which a drowning person might view the far off shore. Naina shook herself out of her trance and approached him.

"Shall we go, Sir?" she asked, and he nodded mutely.

They were silent during the ride to the bus station, neither knowing quite how to start a conversation. There were many things that each needed to say to the other, but it just didn't quite seem like it was the right time.

Finally when they arrived, Naina got out of the jeep and turned back hesitantly, "I'll just buy the ticket," she told Raj, "Will you wait?"

He couldn't believe how much the hesitation in her voice affected him, had things gone to such an extent that she even had to ask him that? "Of course," he told her reassuringly, "I'll wait here."

Naina walked over to the ticket office, joining a queue of about ten people. Raj was content to sit in the jeep and watch her, noting that she often glanced over in his direction as she waited as if to make sure that he hadn't left. Naina was about fifth in the line when Raj noticed something that might become trouble. At a table nearby a group of about four boys sat drinking soft drink, and were looking in Naina's direction obviously observing her. The one that seemed to be their leader pointed at her and then the rest of their group high fived his hand. Raj had seen enough, he knew these boys would be harmless enough. But Naina didn't need them bothering her today of all days.

Leaving the car he walked quickly over to her, arriving just before the boy from the table did.

"How much longer is this going to take?" he asked her, "I've been waiting ages."

Naina seemed confused at first, wondering why he was making such a fuss about it, and then suddenly noticed the boy in the background glaring at Raj as if he'd just spoiled his day.

Smirking slightly, she decided that she'd take the pretense to the next level. "What's wrong, honey?" she asked him, "You can't stand to be without me for that long?"

And then before he could reply, she reached out and grabbed his hand, entwining his fingers with hers.

Raj was about to protest, but realised that the boy was still standing there watching them. He gave in, and stood there with her hand in his, trying not to think about how small her fingers felt compared to his, or how warm her palm was, or how much he wished that…

He shook his head, trying to get rid of these thoughts. He had already decided that he couldn't do this, he had to stay strong because he could clearly see that it would be very easy to lose his resolve with Naina around.

She looked different with her hair in a ponytail, compared to the harsh braid that she normally wore it in for training. It made her look softer, more feminine. He yearned to run his hands through her hair, to brush it away from her face…

Raj cursed under his breath, he really was losing his mind.

Finally it was Naina's turn and she stepped forward to order her ticket. "One ticket for Nainital, please." She asked the man at the counter, handing over the money.

"Just one?" he asked her, "Your husband isn't going too?"

Naina rolled her eyes at the man's nosiness but replied anyway. "No, I'm just going to my parents' house for a few days."

The ticket seller nodded in understanding and gave her back her change. Together they stepped out of the way of the queue and Raj watched while Naina put both the ticket and her change into her purse.

"So when does the bus leave?" he asked her.

"In an hour," she replied. "Will you stay with me until then? We could get some coffee… and talk."

Raj wanted to refuse, partly because he was scared of what she would say and partly because he was scared that she would all too easily convince him that he was wrong for refusing this relationship. But standing in front of her, as she looked at him with those wide eyes of hers, he couldn't think of any way to say no. He could never refuse her anything that she asked of him.

"Sure." He told her hesitantly, and they walked to a nearby caf.

He was careful to select a booth at the back of the caf, away from where they might be spotted. He was paranoid that somebody from KMA might see them and report them to BC. But he knew he was being ridiculous, who here could guess that they were from KMA, and what was wrong with sitting there and having a coffee with her anyway?

After ordering, they were silent until the coffees arrived, and then he used drinking his as an excuse not to meet her eyes. But Naina wasn't ready to give up. Placing her coffee down on the table, she reached out and touched his hand lightly, indicating that he should put his down too.

"We need to talk about this." She told him. He didn't need to ask what 'this' was.

"Naina, whatever happened this morning shouldn't have." He told her, trying to pretend that he meant it. "We were both… too emotional. We got carried away, and it shouldn't have happened, and it won't happen again." He hoped that he had sounded final enough and that she would agree with him.

She shot him a look that plainly said she wasn't stupid. "Don't pretend that you didn't want it to happen, Sir. I know how you feel about me."

"First of all, why do you think you know how I feel about you? Secondly," and he stopped, feeling completely and utterly frustrated by his own inability to control his feelings, "Don't you realise how wrong this is, Naina? You should be able to tell by the fact that you're still calling me Sir." Trying to remain calm, he picked up his coffee again and began drinking.

"Calling you Sir is just a habit," she told him, "But you're right, it's not appropriate for me to be saying it while we're having this conversation. And, Raj," the way she said his name sent shivers up his spine, he realised it was the first time he had heard it from her lips "Just because you haven't told me how you feel about me, it doesn't mean I haven't figured it out." Then she paused and thought, "Although to be honest, Alekh was the one who first pointed it out to me."

Raj almost spat out his coffee and hurriedly put the cup down before he dropped it. "Alekh??? And why was Alekh pointing out my feelings to you?"

To be honest, he wasn't that surprised though. If there was one cadet who was likely to notice, then it would be Alekh. That boy seemed to figure out everything.

"It doesn't matter why he pointed it out. What matters is what we do next." Naina stopped, and the desperation she was feeling was evident in her eyes. "Raj, don't shut me out this way. We both know that there's something between us, and we both know that we want it."

Suddenly he didn't want to pretend anymore, he wanted to agree with her, he wanted to tell her she was right, but there were so many barriers standing in their way.

"Naina," he said her name almost as a sigh and reached out to take both her hands in his, rubbing his fingertips over her knuckles slowly in a comforting manner. "You know we can't do this, there are so many reasons…"

"Yes Sir…Raj…" Naina corrected herself, still not used to calling him by his first name. "There are a lot of reasons why we shouldn't be together. But there are also many why we should be."

"Naina, the academy's rules… I could be demoted or thrown out of the army, you could be thrown out of the academy. I don't want to ruin your life, and your parents… they'll never accept me. They'll never forgive you."

"Raj…" taking one of her hands out of his, she reached up to touch one of his cheeks and almost against his will, he leaned into her caress, unable to help himself.

"Raj, these are serious problems. But that doesn't mean we give up. I'm not asking you to endanger your career for me, I would never want that. But just because we can't be together until I finish my training, it doesn't mean that we can't live on our hopes for the future. And my parents… well, if we're going to wait until my training is finished, then that means that I have a year left to convince them. Who knows, maybe now that you've helped to prove Navin innocent they'll forgive you."

Raj had been desperately hoping that this was the case, but he couldn't believe that his prayers would actually be answered.

"Maybe you're right, Naina. But if your parents don't give in, then what? Do I take you from them too after I've already taken Navin away from them? Can you really bear to be separated from your parents if they won't forgive us?"

Taking her hand away from his cheek, Naina placed it back into his empty hand, and her heart seemed to jump a little as he tightened his grip on her fingers.

"You know, Raj. Pooja said something wise to me when I was talking to her about this. She told me that I was only thinking about what my parents would want and what I wanted, but not about what Navin would have wanted. Think about it, Raj. Think about what Navin would've wanted for the two of us."

Glancing at her watch, she stands up. "My bus is leaving in ten minutes, we should get going."

Raj pays the bill and they walk back to the bus in silence, he's not sure why, but half way back he leans over and takes her hand, holding it tightly in his as they walk. When they reach the bus they pause outside it, and Naina turns towards him.

"I'll be gone for two weeks." She tells him, "Think about it until I come back. I'll be waiting for your answer." Then coming closer to him, she kisses him softly on the cheek, so close to his lips that she grazes the corner of his mouth. She turns to go, but he doesn't let go of her hand, pulling on it so that she's jerked back to him. He breathes hard, fighting with himself, with his feelings. He hugs her to him roughly, crushing her against him. She's so close to him that he can feel her heart beating through her thin shirt.

He doesn't want her to go. He doesn't want to spend the next two weeks thinking about her question, as every day his resolve becomes weaker and weaker and every night she invades his dreams. He wants her here, with him. The thought of not having her in his life… scares him. He thinks he already knows what his answer will be, and that thought scares him too.

Finally Raj releases Naina slowly, and walks her to the bus's door, letting go of her hand only once she's gone inside. Walking quickly to her seat, she sits down and looks out the window at him. As the bus starts up she raises one hand as a final goodbye, and he finds himself echoing the gesture. Raj stands there with his hand raised until the bus is faded from sight and only then walks back to his jeep.

She had left him with far too many difficult questions to answer. Only one thing was for certain, the next two weeks were going to be long ones.

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Chapter 20:

The older lady sitting next to Naina smiled at her kindly, "It looks like he'll miss you a lot." She told her.

Naina blushed, "Do you think so… I mean, who are you talking about?"

"That young man you dropped you to the bus." The lady replied. "Did you get married recently."

If it was at all possible, Naina started blushing even more. "No, I mean, we're not married."

"Oh, so your boyfriend then. It must be hard leaving him behind."

Naina nodded, the old lady was so friendly that she couldn't help talking to her. However she didn't think she should tell her exactly what the circumstances were. "Yes, but it's only for two weeks. We'll see each other after the holidays."

"Still, two weeks is hard when you're young and in love," the older lady said knowingly.

Naina laughed, it certainly was.

The rest of the bus trip passed uneventfully as Naina's seatmate eventually nodded off to sleep and she was left only with her own thoughts for company. She couldn't believe that it had been only yesterday that Raj had returned successfully from his mission. In a little over 24 hours, her life had changed so much. She knew that the road ahead would be hard, but for the first time she was feeling optimistic that everything would work out fine. Eventually, rocked to sleep by the motion of the bus, Naina also drifted off, only waking up ten minutes before her stop to find that the old lady from before had already gotten off the bus.

Naina's father picked her up at the station, hugging her to him proudly and taking her backpack despite her protests. She supposed that no matter how much strength she might gain as a soldier, she would still be his little girl. Together they went home, and Naina's mother threw her arms around her almost as soon as Naina had entered the house. Naina was happy that BC had let her go early, it was important to spend some time with her parents now that Navin's innocence had been proved.

After giving Naina some tea and snacks and sitting her down on the couch, they began to talk about how it had all happened. Naina was careful to tell the story accurately, letting them both know that it was only due to Captain Rajveer that their son had finally been proved innocent. She was hoping that on hearing this, their hearts might soften towards him and they would forgive him.

"I could never have done it without Captain Rajveer," she told them, "It's because of him that Bhaiya has been proven innocent."

"Well of course he did it," her father replied dismissively, "He had to do something to get rid of his guilt."

Naina felt her heart sink, this hadn't been the reaction she had hoped for.

"Baba, won't you ever forgive him?" she asked, "Surely you can realise that he only killed Navin because there was no other option, because Navin had asked him to."

"No, Naina." Her mother replied, "If he's managed to prove Navin innocent now then it means that Navin didn't have to die. If he hadn't been killed then he might have been alive to see this day." Upset, she walked out of the room, heading towards the kitchen.

"Look, Naina." Her father told her, "I know you're grateful to Captain Rajveer for everything he's done, but it would be best if you had as little to do with him as possible. He's still your brother's killer."

Naina felt like crying, but instead just mutely nodded. If she fought too much about it or let her parents know how she really felt, then they would take her out of the academy. Why couldn't her mother realise that maybe the only way to prove Navin innocent had been for him to die?

All of Naina's earlier optimism began to slip away.

'Bhaiya,' she thought, 'If you were here then you'd be able to make them understand.'

But Navin wasn't, and the only person who could accomplish this task was Naina. It was going to be a long two weeks indeed.

**

Raj tried not to mope, he really did. But there just didn't seem to be any point to being in the academy when Naina wasn't there. The last two days of the academy term only involved the usual exercises anyway, so there was nothing special for him to concentrate on, and nothing to distract him. The day after Naina had left, Raj was at least happy to find out that she had topped all of the written tests and received good marks for the physical drills. It didn't help that whenever he began to get lost in his thoughts or lose his concentration he would regain his attention only to see Pooja Ghai giving him a knowing look as if she knew exactly what he was thinking about.

Although when he considered it, Pooja probably did know exactly what he was thinking about. After all, Naina had said that she had discussed her feelings with Pooja, and that Pooja had given her that advice.

Those words had echoed throughout Raj's head again and again. What would Navin have wanted for the two of them? What would he have thought Raj should do? Again and again, Raj came to the same conclusion. Navin would have been happy for them. Sure, he would want them to wait until Naina's training was finished, but in the end, he would've supported them. This thought at least took away some of Raj's guilt and made him feel more positive about the decision he would have to make.

At the end of the second day all of the cadets left for their homes, and Raj realised that he would miss them almost as much as he was missing Naina. Well, perhaps not quite almost as much. All of his favourite cadets came to bid him goodbye. Raj noticed that Huda was quieter than usual and seemed to be looking at him in a thoughtful way. He just hoped that everything was fine with the young cadet. Alekh and Yudi left together, both heading for Yudi's home as Alekh had nowhere better to go. At least with this excuse he'd be able to spend some time with both Yudi and Neelu. Pooja hung back a little until the others left and then came forward to wish him goodbye.

"We'll all see be back soon, Sir." She said, emphasising the word all. "I'll call Naina once I get home to let her know that she topped in the exams."

"Thanks Cadet Ghai." he told her, and Pooja also left to catch her bus.

Raj didn't know how he was going to manage to spend these two weeks without going crazy. He prayed for the strength to resist Naina, knowing that a large part of him didn't want those prayers to be answered.

**

Raj headed to the apartment he owned in Delhi, not wanting to stay in the academy as everything there reminded him of Naina. For the next week he tried to keep himself busy. He planned his lessons for the next term, exercised, read books and visited old friends, all of whom remarked that he appeared to be much more distracted than he ever had been previously. Finally, he had to give in. He could not get Naina out of his mind. If this was his condition after one week without her, then how could he hope to spend an entire lifetime without her?

He considered their conversation in the caf. She had said that they should wait until she finished her training to begin a relationship and he agreed, she didn't need anything distracting her from her studies and he didn't want to break any rules. But to be able to know that she was his, that would make a difference… To be able to look at her and know that in the future she would be his and only his, he could be content to live for a year on that hope. The problem of her parents was more complicated, but would they really never give in? Would they never forgive him? Would their only child's happiness be less important to them than their hatred of him? He certainly hoped not. He knew he could never expect to share a good relationship with them, but he hoped that they would at least accept him for Naina's sake.

Only one week after Raj had decided he couldn't have a relationship with Naina, his resolve had crumbled. The effect that girl had on him was truly amazing. He needed to see her to tell her this. He needed to be near her, to look at her to his heart's content. But how? How could he manage to see her without her parents finding out? A plan began to form in Raj's mind. He would need help to accomplish it, and he knew the perfect cadet for the job.


**

A week of her holidays were already over, and Naina was hoping that the next week would finish as soon as possible. As soon as the news about Navin had been on the news, suddenly friends and relatives who had ignored them for years had started calling and visiting. Once it was proved that her brother hadn't been a traitor, it seemed that everybody wanted to know them again. Naina had wanted to talk to her parents about Captain Rajveer again but didn't have the courage, knowing that it would only lead to an argument. She might as well stay with them happily for the short time she would be there. Naina was lying on the couch reading a novel when the phone rang. She didn't bother to get up and answer it, guessing that it was just going to be another lost acquaintance that had suddenly found them again.

She heard her mother answer the phone, but it was the next words that made her put down her book and sit down. "Naina?" her mother had said to the person on the other end, "Yes, I'll just go and get her."

Naina wondered who it would be. Raj wouldn't have dared to call. She just hoped that it wasn't Huda ringing up to bother her. The last thing she needed was her parents to get wrong ideas about her liking him.

"Naina," her mother came into the lounge room looking for her, "Your friend Pooja is on the phone."

Naina got up quickly from the couch, excited. She was glad Pooja had called her, she had been missing her roommate and it would be good to hear the sound of her voice.

"Pooja, how are you?" she asked happily.

"My network is working well, I'm just happy I've gotten your connection! Listen, Naina, I've got some important work with you!"

"Important?"

"Yes, would your parents let you come to my house for a couple of days?"

"I think so, but why?"

"I'll tell you the reason in a minute, just see if they say yes first."

"Ma!" Naina called out, and waited until her mother came to stand in front of her before continuing. "Ma, Pooja wants me to come to her house for a couple of days, can I?"

"But why, Naina? We see you so seldom and we only have you for these two weeks…"

Naina didn't know the reason that Pooja was asking her to come, but she guessed it must be important. Besides that, as much as she loved her parents, she was dying to get out of the house.

"Actually Ma, Pooja's parents are trying to pressure her to get married. And she doesn't have the courage to tell them about a boy at the academy that she likes." Naina made up the lie quickly, remembering Pooja's conversation with her mother on the phone when they had been at the academy. "She wants me to come so that I can support her, and help her tell them the truth."

Naina could see that her mother was wavering, almost ready to give in. "Please, Ma," she added "I'll only be gone two days, we'll have almost an entire week together after that."

"Alright," her mother replied finally with a smile, "But only two days."

"Thanks Ma, you're the best!" Naina exclaimed, before turning back to the phone. "Okay Pooja, it's done."

"Fantastic! Now do you want to listen to the real reason why?"

"Of course, hurry up and tell me!"

"This morning, your Rajveer Sir called me on my mobile."

Naina was surprised, "What? Why?"

"Well because he couldn't call you of course." Pooja said it as if it was completely and utterly obvious. "He called me with this plan because he wants to meet you."

Naina smiled, even as her stomach started doing somersaults, it had to be good news…

"So then what's the plan…"

"Alright, so tomorrow you'll take the bus to…."

hey contniue soon........cant wait..anymore...........i want to know rajveer's news..........plz god he and naina should be together........... 😛

getting more n more exciting by each part! 😃 plzzz post the next part as soon as u can!

this is the most amazing ff 👏 i have ever read about raj and naina me loving it so much ,i just love the title my cadet and when raj says this about naina my cadet 😳 😳 😳 please update soon il waiting 😛