Chapter 37:
Half an hour before the ball, Pooja had already left to meet Ali. The two were doubly celebrating as their parents had called just that morning to say that their engagement would be held four days after graduation. And so Naina was alone in the room, still trying to work out how she should drape her sari. She now regretted not paying more attention when her mother was getting dressed up or learning from her, now Raj was due to arrive any minute, and Naina was still only half ready.
Hearing a knock on the door, she opened it a crack and peered out to see Raj standing there, an expectant look on his face.
"You can't come in." she told him.
"Why not?" he asked, sounding disappointed, "I thought that you were the one who told me to come here."
"You can't come in because I'm not ready yet, and I don't know if I ever will be!" Naina exclaimed dramatically.
"What's wrong?" Raj asked her, genuinely worried that perhaps something serious had happened.
"I can't work out how to wear this sari!!" Naina exclaimed with a note of despair in her voice.
Raj had to stop himself from laughing, knowing that Naina wouldn't be too amused if he did.
"Let me in, Naina, and I'll try to help you." He told her, "Otherwise somebody is sure to catch me standing out here in the corridor."
Realising that Raj had a point, Naina quickly let him in and closed the door behind him.
Staring at her, for a moment Raj forgot to breathe.
If she looked like this when she hadn't been able to get the sari right, then how would she look when she was finished?
She had kept her hair loose, and had already completed her makeup. Raj could see the bangles lying on her dresser, waiting to be put on. While she had draped the sari over one shoulder, he could see that the pleats at the bottom were clearly a mess. It didn't matter to him, because she was still the most beautiful sight he had seen in his entire life.
Noticing the far off look in Raj's eyes as he gazed at her, Naina quickly snapped her fingers in front of his face to get him back to reality.
"As happy as I am about your reaction, it's not helping me to get ready!" She moaned, and Raj quickly came back to attention, still struggling not to grin.
"Well, I can try and help you." Raj told her.
"And what do you know about putting saris on?" Naina asked him, "Because for your sake, the answer had better be 'not much'."
"Well the answer is 'not much'," Raj assured her, "But I can still try to help. What if I hold the material for you, and you work on the pleats?"
Naina nodded, right now she didn't have a better idea.
Crouching down, Raj held the material at Raj's waist. Naina tried to concentrate on what she was doing, but his nearness to her, and the way she could feel his warm breath on her waist kept distracting her. Finally after she had tried to fold the same bit of cloth and tuck it in for the fifth time, she gave up.
"This isn't working!" she declared, and Raj looked up, startled out of the daze he had been in while staring at Naina's waist.
"How about we start again?" he asked her, and without waiting for an answer, stood up, and reached forward, about to pull the sari away from where it was draped across her shoulder.
"Raj!" Naina yelled, smacking his fingers away lightly.
"What?" he asked, genuinely confused.
Naina raised her eyebrows at him, "I'm not sure if you're more interested in getting this sari on me or off me." She tells Raj.
"Well the second option doesn't sound too bad either," he tells her with a smile that makes her melt inside.
Naina holds herself together because she has a suspicion that if she lets him take the sari off her shoulder, they'll lose all hope of ever making it to the ball at all.
"Just…" she tells him, "Please go and find me somebody who actually knows how to put on a sari!"
"And where would I find someone who knows how to do that?" Raj asks her, his mind still not quite working since it's stuck on the idea of taking Naina's sari off rather than putting it on.
"Go and ask Dr Shalini!!" Naina tells him, "She should be waiting for you by now, and please go and bring her quickly, we've only got fifteen minutes left until the ball starts."
"Alright," Raj tells her, "But just one kiss first?"
"You'll ruin my makeup." Naina tells him, unable to help smiling anyway.
Taking a step towards her, before Naina can realise what he's doing, he has leaned down and kissed her on her exposed shoulder, sending shivers down her spine. With a last intense look directed at Naina, Raj leaves the room.
**
Shalini was waiting outside the infirmary for Raj, enjoying watching the cadets walk past in their formal wear when Yudi came up to her with a smile.
"Hi ma'am, you're looking beautiful tonight." He told her, "Where's your date?"
"Well Yudi, I expect that right now he's probably with yours." Shalini whispered to him, and they both grinned. Neither of them minded the fact that their dates were more interested in each other than them. "And the same goes for you Cadet, you're looking very handsome tonight."
"Thank you ma'am, actually I…" he was about to say more when Raj came running up, skidding to a stop in front of them.
"Shalini I need your help, it's an emergency!" he exclaimed dramatically.
"What's wrong, Raj?" she asked him, genuinely worried that something might have happened to Naina.
"Naina can't work out how to wear her sari and she needs your help!" Shalini almost burst out laughing, this was the last thing she'd been expecting. Then she looked down at her watch.
"And it took you fifteen minutes to work this out?"
"Shalini, I…" then glancing in Yudi's direction, "Please, not in front of the Cadet!"
"Uh, it's perfectly alright, Sir." Yudi replied, "Whatever goes on between you and Naina is your business. I'm only her date for tonight."
"Alright, I'll go and help Naina and then we'll both come down. You two wait here." Shalini told them, Raj and Yudi both sat down on the bench outside the infirmary, hoping that they didn't have too long to wait.
Ten minutes later the two ladies arrived, and Raj gazed at Naina with utter love and adoration in his eyes. She was now looking even more beautiful than she had when he saw her in the room. With bracelets on her wrists and a shy look in her eyes, she coyly looked at him from under long lashes to judge his reaction.
"Well, shall we go?" Shalini asked, amused to see Raj's reaction. He nodded, and reaching out his arm, almost grabbed the wrong hand. "Ahem." Shalini told him, and Raj once again snapped himself out of his daze and took Shalini's hand instead.
He could hear Naina and Yudi's conversation as the two walked behind them.
"You look beautiful tonight, Naina."
"Thanks Yudi, you're looking very dashing too!"
"Good luck for the best cadet award tonight, I'm sure that you'll get it."
"I hope so, but let's see. I can't wait to see everybody else, I've only seen Pooja's outfit so far."
"Well they'll all probably be there already, I think Neelu was coming about half an hour early to meet Alekh."
As they reached the area for the ball, Naina and Yudi spotted the rest of their friends and went to meet them. Naina glanced back over her shoulder at Raj and smiled, as if to say that she wouldn't be far away.
He nods at her in reply, and follows Shalini over to where the rest of the staff members are standing. But he can barely take his eyes off Naina, trying to watch her without giving away what he's doing to anybody else. However Raj's plan fails when he doesn't look where he's going and trips over a step, almost falling down and only saved because Shalini helps him at the last moment.
"Raj, I know it's difficult," Shalini whispers, "But you can manage to live for a few minutes without looking at your cadet."
Raj smiled, today was the second last day that she would officially be his cadet. After tomorrow's ceremony she would become an army officer, he suspected that it was going to be the proudest moment of his entire life.
Until then, they had the entirety of tonight to enjoy themselves.
He couldn't think of a better way to end his two years at KMA.
Real Estate
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