LRL: My Cadet FINISHED on page 41 - Page 26

great ff

good story

finally RN getting married

pl continue soon

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.

hey dear toogood

pl continue soon

can wait for the next update

great part 👏 👏 cant wait for the wedding cont. soon

so wedding in next part...looking forward fr it!!

its good to hv frns like them...specially alekh...i like him the most!!

hey where are u
pl update

Chapter 49:

The next day everybody had busied themselves with various last minute tasks for the wedding, as there were still a million things to do. Outfits had to be tried on and taken for last minute adjustments, decorations and food arrangements had to be double checked, guests had to be welcomed and looked after. Quite a few of their batchmates had arrived early for the wedding as they were also planning to attend the Sangeet and Mehndi ceremony the following night. Some of Naina's school friends had also decided to attend, so she had to make sure they were well looked after and comfortable. In the end it was a very busy day, and the friends hardly had any time to spend together at all, although they made sure that they met up for lunch in order to compare notes on their progress.

Finally everybody was done for the day and all of the guys had arrived back at Raj's house, and were waiting for the girls to arrive.

"You know now that Alekhbhai is engaged, there's more pressure on you two." Ali joked to Huda and Yudi, "You're falling behind us, you had both better find yourselves somebody to get married to soon."

"What can we do about it?" Yudi joked back, "It seems like your room at the academy must have been the lucky one, since both of you room mates are now engaged. Maybe Huda and I are doomed to stay bachelors."

"Oh I wouldn't bet on that, Yudi." Huda replied confidently. "Huda can find a janani to marry whenever he wants, he just isn't ready yet. And when there's so many beautiful girls out there waiting for Huda's attention… then wouldn't it be a crime for him to choose only one."

Yudi groaned at this, Huda would always remain Huda.

"Then I'll make a bet of my own," Alekh said, "Yudi will definitely be the next one after us to get married. I bet you 1000 rupees, Huda."

"No way," Huda replied, "Huda doesn't make bets that he knows he's going to lose."

"Hey!" Yudi said indignantly, "Why are you all so sure that I'm going to get married first? Hasn't Huda always been the one with all the luck with the girls, none ever even wanted to look at me."

"Yudibhai, you don't need many girls to want to look at you, it only takes one." Ali explained patiently.

"Which you already have." Alekh announced casually, "So stop pretending that you don't."

"I have no idea whatsoever what you're talking about." Yudi announced airily, even as they could see his face turning slightly red.

"Then tell us with a straight face that there's nothing going on between you and Shalini." Huda replied, crossing his arms over his chest, almost as a challenge to Yudi.

"I'll tell you that… that's none of your business." Yudi replied, but they could tell by the smile on his face that he wasn't really offended.

"Tere to…" And Huda began to chase him around the living room, just as Raj opened the door to the apartment accompanied by all the girls, who he had gone to pick up.

Huda and Yudi both froze exactly on the spot, realising that they'd been chasing each other around Raj's living room rather than around their room at the boys' hostel, all they could think was that thank goodness they hadn't broken anything.

"Ahhh, are we disturbing something?" Raj asked them, "Because you know we can go out again and come back later?"

"No Sir, not at all!" Yudi replied very quickly, "We were just uh…"

"We were just having a bet about whether Yudi or I would get married first!" Huda announced with a sneaky look at Yudi, knowing that it would embarrass him.

"Oh it'll be bro, without a doubt." Neelu replied, "He's far more willing to settle down than you are." Saying this, she sent a rather significant look in Shalini's direction, who was trying very hard not to look at anybody at all.

Raj just grinned, it was good to have Shalini be the one who was embarrassed for once.

Revenge was sweet.

**

The next day proved to be just as busy as the one before, so Raj and Naina were not able to get any time actually meet at all before the evening. Raj was busy greeting guests who had just arrived and looking after them, while Naina also had a thousand last minute preparations.

It was five pm and Raj was already getting impatient to see her, knowing that she wouldn't arrive for at least another half an hour. He was just checking his watch for about the hundredth time when somebody grabbed him in a huge bear hug from the back.

"Who's…"

Raj turned around to see that it was Suriji who had hugged him, dressed up formally and with Lolitaji by his side wearing a Bengali style sari.

"It's so fantastic to see you two, thank you for coming!" Raj told them, and then shook Lolita's hand and hugged Suriji again, smiling as he remembered Shalini's advice all those months ago about 'no hugging Suriji'. Well, since he and Naina were about to get officially married, he didn't see any harm in it too.

"Congratulations Putar, Kitni sohni jodi hai." Suriji told him proudly, "We wouldn't have missed it for anything. When's our Naina due to arrive?"

"There's still around half an hour to go," Raj told him, "And I hear that we'll have to be offering you two congratulations soon as well. When's the wedding?"

"It will be in two months." Suriji told him happily, as Lolitaji looked a little shy, "It would've been sooner but our families couldn't decide whether the marriage should be by Punjabi or Bengali customs."

"Well I hope that we'll all be getting an invitation, Sir." Huda told him, choosing that moment to join them. "After all, us former cadets were all cheering on your romance during our academy days."

"Definitely, Putar." Suriji promised him, "I hope that you'll all be able to make it. Now," and he went to pull Huda aside, "What are the arrangements for tonight, I hope that it's going to be a dhoom dhaam celebration."

Raj smiled as they all walked over together, and Alekh came over, pulling uncomfortably at the kurta pajama he was wearing. He still hadn't gotten used to wearing formal clothes.

"Everything alright, Sir?" Alekh asked him, "Don't worry, only half an hour until they get here."

"And I can't wait for it," Raj told him, "Even you must be eager to see Neelu, right?"

"Of course, Sir, after all now I'm a…" Alekh thought about the words for a moment, "Committed man."

By the smile on his face, Raj could tell that Alekh had never been happier in his entire life. Raj thought it was probably a combination of seeing Naina so happy and being about to settle down himself.

It was then that Ali came up to them, holding a mobile phone which Raj was guessing had probably been a present from Pooja.

"They're on their way," he informed them, "They'll be here in about fifteen minutes."

Raj thought that those were probably going to be the longest fifteen minutes of his entire life.

**

The moment that Naina walked in with her friends, the whole room turned to look at her.

She was absolutely glowing with happiness, and it was easy to see. They had barely gotten five steps before Pooja stopped her.

"What is it, Pooja?" Naina asked confused, and very eager to go forward to where she could see Raj waiting.

"There's just something that I have to do," Pooja told her, and then without warning she made the sign to avert the evil eye from Naina and then using her eyeliner, applied a tiny black dot to Naina's cheek. Naina just blushed, as Neelu grinned.

"Now you're ready," Pooja told her, and allowed Naina to walk forward to where Raj was waiting for her.

"Have I ever told you that…"

"This would be the fourth time." Naina said with a grin, knowing exactly what it was that he wanted to say. Raj grinned back at her, and then taking both of her hands in his, he raised them to his lips and kissed them.

Naina tried not to blush, as the room erupted in cheers and whistles, especially from her former batchmates.

They soon sat down on the couch and the chief mehndi artist arrived to begin Naina's hands and feet, since hers was going to be the longest process. In the meantime, friends and colleagues kept coming up to congratulate them all. There was a live band, so some of the crowd had started dancing, while others were happy to just stand around and talk.

Abhimanyu came up to greet them, and enthusiastically hugged Raj.

"Raj you are truly the best! You know, I thought you might not invite Nandini because of everything that happened in the past, but she's actually here! I can't wait to go and catch up, this is the best opportunity to… well…" and then suddenly he caught Naina staring at them both and realised he might have said too much, so he left rather abruptly.

"Who's this Nandini?" Naina asked Raj.

He was rather uncomfortable answering but decided that it was best to be honest. "She was our batchmate." He told her, "And both Abhi and I liked her, I think she liked Abhi rather more than me, but nothing ended up happening between them."

"So should I be jealous?" Naina asked him, only half joking, "Were you serious about her?"

"Not at all," Raj reassured her, "I can realise that now when I know what real love is, and believe me Naina, I'm not even interested in looking at any girls other than you."

Naina practically melted at his words and she would've hugged him right then if she hadn't had mehndi all over her hands already. She settled for leaning her head on his shoulder instead.

Suddenly Naina noticed that she hadn't seen any of her friends for the last few minutes, and that they all seemed to have mysteriously disappeared. She was just wondering where they had gotten to when suddenly a spotlight appeared on the stage, and she saw a familiar figure holding a microphone.

"Listen up, khotiye," Suriji announced, "We're here for a special reason tonight and that's to celebrate the mehndi and sangeet function of Major Rajveer and Lieutenant Naina, as well as attend their wedding tomorrow." This was met with huge cheers from absolutely everybody in the room. "So we're going to make sure tonight's celebration is truly the best, and for that we've got some help from KMA's batch of 2008!"

Naina immediately realised exactly where it was that all of her friends had disappeared to.

The lights went dark and then suddenly the stage was lit up by a spotlight as Alekh, Huda, Ali and Yudi appeared along with Pooja and Yudi. Naina glanced over at Raj but he looked just as clueless as she did, so it was obvious that they had all planned this secretly by themselves.

The music started up and they started performing to the title song of 'Salaam E Ishq', as there were once again huge cheers and whistles from everybody in the audience. Naina had to admit that it was quite a good performance, there weren't any major mistakes and they all seemed to know the steps fairly well. She honestly wished that she could clap along with everybody else, but once again the mehndi on her hands stopped her. When their performance was over, Naina was the one cheering loudest of all, while Raj was clapping very enthusiastically.

As they came over to sit with Raj and Naina afterwards, she shook her head at them in disbelief.

"How did you ever manage to arrange that without either of us finding out?" she asked them, "That was amazing, guys!"

"Well Pooja and Neelu choreographed the steps, and then we've been practicing like mad for the last two days." Yudi told them, "Why do you think we were all out of the house for so long or did you think that we were all simply off romancing?"

"Well…" Naina had to admit, that was exactly what she'd thought they'd been doing.

"Okay, don't answer that then," Yudi told her rather hastily,

"Well some time was spent romancing," Pooja admitted, "And we did have to take care of some arrangements, but the rest of the time we were practicing the steps."

"I can't thank you guys enough," Naina told them, "That was absolutely perfect."

"Could we do anything less for our Phoolan?" Huda asked, "Your wedding should be perfect."

The rest of the evening passed smoothly, everybody was soon dancing as the band played a variety of upbeat filmy songs. Raj was content to simply sit beside Naina for most of the evening, feeding her sweets, and chatting quietly. They were never alone for long as absolutely everybody wanted to come up and congratulate them, and their friends also kept coming over to have a chat. Everybody knew that there would be no chance at the wedding because Raj and Naina were leaving almost immediately after the ceremony in order to catch a flight for their honeymoon.

Neelu, Pooja and Shalini soon came over to join them permanently, as they also had to get their mehndi done before the ceremony the next day. Nandini came over to meet Naina and say congratulations, and Naina was pleased to see that she didn't seem to be interested in Raj and that she kept looking over in Abhimanyu's direction.

It was towards the end of the evening that Raj decided it was probably time he said something. Letting Naina know what he was about to do, he went towards the stage and picked up the microphone. He immediately had everybody's undivided attention, as they couldn't wait to hear what he was about to say. After all, it was one of the most awaited weddings of the year.

"I'd like to thank you all for coming," he told them, "Whether you're old friends or new, batchmates, colleagues or my former students." A huge cheer went up at this, from the batch of 2008. "Whoever you all are, you have a special place in Naina's and my lives, and that's why you're here tonight. And so from both Naina and I, I would like to thank you for your support."

He searched for Naina's eyes across the room before he said his next sentence, and meeting them, saw her nod her support for him. "Things haven't always been easy for us, in fact we've faced many challenges in order to get to this point."

Raj decided that maybe that was a bit of an understatement…

"There were times when we didn't know if we would make it, and if we have then it's only due to the support of some very special people." Raj told them, "So tonight I would like to specially thank those who have stood by us through thick and thin, and who without this wedding wouldn't have been possible. And so now, announcing in no particular order, I would like to thank Shalini, Yudi, Huda, Ali, Pooja, Neelu and Alekh, you're the best friends we could ever ask for."

The room erupted in applause at this, and Raj looked over at Naina to see that she and Pooja were both crying happy tears while even Neelu, Shalini and the guys looked like they were becoming very emotional.

When Raj sat back down next to Naina, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you," she told him, "I couldn't have said it better."

Raj placed an arm around her shoulders and kissed her on the temple affectionately.

"No matter what happens, Naina, whether we have family members or not, we definitely have our friends." He told her.

Naina nodded, no matter what happened, she was ready for tomorrow. It was time for her to begin a new phase in her life, and she would do it with the most important people in her life by her side.

Naina couldn't spend her life regretting the past, she couldn't allow her personal sorrow to ruin her upcoming life with Raj. They had overcome challenges in the past and she knew there would be many more in the future, but they were going to be together and that was what was important.

She was ready to get married.

hey too good

dear

pl get them married fast dear before something comes in between

wwell nice update dear

pl continue soon

hey great and awesome part 👏 👏 cant wait for the wedding. cont. soon

Just a small note guys: if I've got any of the steps in the marriage in the wrong order, then please forgive me, I don't have much experience with describing Hindu marriages, but have done my best!

Chapter 50:

When the girls woke up the next morning, they all exclaimed over the dark colour of Naina's mehndi.

"You know Naina, this means that you and your future husband love each other a lot." Pooja teased her.

"Pooja, did you really need the mehndi to tell you that?" Neelu joked, "I thought that we'd all figured it out a long time ago."

Naina just smiled, she was glad that the mehndi had turned out so well and she was counting down the hours until the actual wedding. But there was something that she had to try and do first, one last time.

Naina dialled a heartbreakingly familiar number, holding her breath until the phone was picked up.

"Hello, Mrs Ahluwalia speaking." The voice on the other end said.

"Ma, it's me Naina, please don't hang up, I promise that if you allow me to talk today, I won't try and call back again.." Naina said in a rush of breath, hoping that for once her mother would listen.

"Fine," Naina's mother replied, "Then go ahead and tell me."

"Ma… today is my wedding day." Naina told her, "Can't you forgive me at least today? Couldn't you and Baba please come and attend? I don't know what to do without you both, please at least today forget this fight between us."

Naina's mother was silent for a long time and when she answered her voice was filled with emotion. "It's too late, Naina." She told her, "We won't be able to come to the wedding, it's too difficult for both of us."

"But Ma, just once couldn't you…."

"Naina, the most I can give you is to tell you that I do hope you'll be happy." Her mother told her sincerely and tears came to Naina's eyes. "Don't ask me for anything else."

When her mother hung up the phone, Naina wiped away her tears. She had tried, and in the end at least she had gotten a blessing from her mother for her happiness. It was final, they would not be coming.

"We're with you, Naina." Pooja told her, giving her best friend a hug. Naina nodded, hugged all of her friends and then did her best to control her emotions.

"Come on guys," she told them, "We've got a lot to do today, so we'd better get started."

**

Meanwhile Raj and the boys were in a very disorganised state at his flat, as everybody tried to work out where they were meant to be going and what they were meant to be doing. It had taken days for them all to simply work out who was going to be from the groom's side and who would be from the bride's. In the end it was decided that from the closest friends of the couple, Pooja, Neelu, Alekh and Ali would be from the bride's side while Huda, Yudi, Shalini and of course Abhimanyu would be from the groom's. This had all been decided after a great deal of swapping around as originally Ali was going to be from the groom's side while Huda was going to be from the bride's. However Huda had bullied Ali into swapping by telling him that he knew he could dance much more impressively as a bharati than Ali would've been able to.

Raj had tried to reassure them all that it didn't really matter who was from which side as long as they all attended the wedding, but nobody was really listening. In fact for the past months leading up to the ceremony, they had all discussed and argued many times about which parts of the ceremony should be traditional and which should be modern. Obviously since they had all arrived only three days before the wedding and because they had limited time, not everything could be included. The lack of relatives on either side of the family also made a more traditional wedding very difficult. Therefore, the ceremony would only have some of the more traditional aspects. Raj had joked that this was probably a good thing, since otherwise Rajput weddings were far too serious, and he didn't know how Huda would cope if he found out he wasn't able to dance as a Bharathi considering that was why he changed sides in the first place.

Shalini arrived shortly before lunch time to help Raj and the rest of the guys get ready, which signalled to Alekh and Ali that it was time for them to get going.

Before leaving, Alekh told Raj that there was one ceremony that had to be completed now, and making Raj sit down, he applied the traditional tilak to his forehead that should have been done by the bride's brother at the official engagement ceremony if they'd held one.

"I know it would've been better if Navin was here to do it," Alekh told him, "But today I'll try to do my best to play his role."

Raj can barely speak he's so choked up by his emotions. Unable to say anything, he hugs Alekh tightly, wondering how they would have ever gotten through everything if he hadn't been there to support them.

Alekh just nods, understanding Raj's feelings and he and Ali leave soon after.

"Well…." Shalini begins, "We've still got quite a few hours left before the wedding, so everybody can relax. It's all under control!"

Raj breathed a sigh of relief, now that Shalini was here he knew that he didn't need to worry, with her take charge attitude she would soon manage everything.

**

Meanwhile things with Naina and the rest of the girls were certainly not under control.

"I can't believe that we didn't think about this before!" Pooja exclaimed, absolutely horrified, "Who's going to welcome him when he arrives??"

"I think we all just hoped that Naina's parents would eventually give in," Neelu commented, "That's why we didn't bother thinking about it."

"Yes but now do we do about it?" Pooja asked, still feeling quite upset about the fact they'd neglected an important part of the ceremony.

"Relax," Naina told them, "It doesn't really matter who welcomes him as long as it's done. One of you can do it if you like."

Pooja and Neelu both gave her looks as if she'd gone crazy. "Uh Naina, no offense," Neelu told her, "But I think I'm just a little bit young to become Major Rajveer's mother-in-law."

Naina couldn't help smiling at this, picturing the scene in her mind and the look on Raj's face when he saw Neelu there to welcome them. "Fine," she replied, still grinning, "Pooja, your parents said that I was like their second daughter, so what if your mother is the one to do the welcome?"

Everybody nodded, agreeing that this was for the best.

**

There were various other small crises though out the day, since nobody among them had actually planned a wedding before. But luckily Pooja's parents were there to manage any problems and to greet the earliest of the guests to arrive.

Naina and the rest of the bridal party were at the venue an hour before the wedding was due to arrive, and waited in a room nervously. Naina had already accepted that her parents weren't coming, and it filled her with a quiet sadness. But she had accepted the consequences the day that she decided to begin a relationship with Raj and she had to deal with them. The only thing remaining in her preparations was to put on the heavy jewellery as she preferred to wait until the last moment to do so.

Coming down to sit beside her on the bed, Alekh took her hand in his and squeezed it. "You make a beautiful bride, Naina." He told her, "Don't take any tension about anything at all today, I'm here to handle it all."

Naina just smiled at him and then at the rest of her friends who were gathered, most of whom were pacing nervously.

"I'm fine, Alekh, really." She reassured him, "I just hope that everything goes well tonight."

"It definitely will," Ali told her, "We're here to see to that."

**

Finally the moment arrived and Raj prepared to climb onto the house. He was dressed quite traditionally in a sherwani, turban, slippers and with a sword at his waist. Abhimanyu's nephew was going to be accompanying him on the horse and Raj could tell that his old friend couldn't be prouder of this moment.

"I just wish that Navin could've been here for this," Abhi told Raj, becoming sad at the thought.

"Navin is with us, Abhi." Raj told him, clasping his friend's hand, "He always has been and he always will be." And Raj truly believed it.

Once Raj was safely onto the horse, Huda let out a loud whistle. "Oy Chak De Phatte!" he yelled out, "Let's get this party started!"

And then accompanied by the band they all danced their way to the venue very enthusiastically. Raj was very glad that they had decided to abandon the tradition of nobody dancing during the bharat, it was worth it just to see Huda doing his best dance moves ever.

Finally they reached the marriage hall and there was much cheering as Raj stepped off the horse, and approached the steps. He smiled when he saw Pooja's mother there with the traditional thali plate, he didn't know what they would've done without her, after she had helped to arrange so much of the wedding.

"Thank you so much, auntyji." He told her, "This really does mean a lot to us."

"You don't need to send me that sms, putar!" Pooja's mother announced happily, "Pooja's pappaji and I have enjoyed our talktime with this wedding very much!"

"Alright auntyji, now let us into the hall!" Huda told her happily, "We've got a groom here who needs to get to his bride!"

Raj could barely contain his excitement, he couldn't wait to see Naina in her bridal outfit for the very first time. He was glad that she hadn't shown it to him before now, as at least now it would be a surprise.

Taking his slippers off, he made his way to the mandap and sat down.

Sitting a little behind him, Shalini leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "Excited? Nervous?" she asked him.

"Both," Raj replied quietly, "But mainly I just can't wait to see Naina."

"Well it looks like your wait is over," Shalini announced to him, and pointed in the direction of the stairs.

Raj looked up, and suddenly he forgot how to breathe.

Being led down by Pooja, Neelu, Alekh and Ali, was Naina. If she had always been the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, then tonight she eclipsed all other occasions. Raj thought that his heart might burst with love it was so full of it, and he stood as she came forward, waiting to welcome her.

Naina was looking downwards, feeling a bit shy as she knew that everybody in the hall was looking at her. Finally the moment came when she was brought to stand face to face with Raj and she looked up into his eyes, her own widening as she saw the way that he was looking at her.

"I love you." Raj announced very suddenly, unable to control himself even more.

"Yes well that's wonderful," Shalini told him from her position by his side, "But why don't we get you two married and make this love a bit more official."

Everyone laughed at this, and with their friends gathered around, Raj and Naina garlanded each other. As much as Huda was tempted to try and lift Raj out of Naina's reach, he knew that neither of them would appreciate the practical joke so he controlled himself.

After the garlanding, they both headed back to their places in the mandap, as the priest began the ceremony.

"Who are the bride's parents here?" he asked, looking towards Pooja's parents, who he had seen welcoming Raj. "Who is going to do the kanyadan?"

Everyone was silent for a moment and Naina looked down, she had been dreading this moment most of all.

It was then that a strong voice spoke out.

"I'll be doing the kanyadan."

Naina looked up in surprise and gratefulness, as next to her, Raj smiled.

Alekh stepped forward to take his place beside her.

"And you are?" The priest asked, clearing thinking that this young man didn't look old enough to be giving anybody away.

"I'm the bride's brother." Alekh announced in a very no nonsense tone, daring anybody to call him a liar.

Happy with this explanation, the priest continued the ceremony and as Alekh gave Naina's hand to Raj, there were tears in her eyes.

Nobody could replace Navin, never. But it was true she had found a new brother, one who would never let her down.

Raj held Naina's hand tightly, vowing that now that he had taken it, he would never let it go.

The rest of the ceremony went perfectly to plan, neither Raj nor Naina could stop glancing at each other, and the looks of happiness on their faces were almost identical. It was another step in a very long journey for them, and they were happy to be taking it.

As the mantras continued, Shalini draped the traditional piece of cloth over Naina's head, patting her affectionately as she did so. She was enjoying her role as Raj's relative in this wedding immensely, and couldn't be prouder or happier for the two of them. Settling back down next to Yudi, she wasn't surprised when he reached out to take her hand. Many things still had to be sorted out between both of them, but one thing was for certain, they were finally ready to give a new definition to their relationship.

The priest signalled that it was time for them to get up and complete the pheres, and letting go of Yudi's hand, Shalini leaned forward to tie the knot that would bind them together, smiling affectionately at both of them.

As they took the seven rounds around the fire, both of them made the promises seriously, knowing that from now on their relationship could only grow stronger and stronger, nothing would ever separate them and nobody could ever come between them. Their friends stood around them, throwing flowers at the couple as they made their way around the fire.

Finally the moment they had all been waiting for arrived and Raj fastened the mangal sutra around Naina's neck and applied the sindoor to the part in her hair. They stood there smiling at each other for a moment, not actually able to believe that it was finally done.

Then forgetting the fact that they were in the middle of their wedding and there were many people watching, Raj leaned forward and hugged Naina, gathering her into his arms. Naina was so caught up in the moment that she didn't even think about the fact that she probably should've been embarrassed, and just hugged him back instead.

"Ahem," Shalini finally said, "There'll be more than enough time for that once you're on your honeymoon. For now maybe you should remember that you're still in the middle of the shaadi hall."

Raj wasn't sure who blushed more, him or Naina, but when he turned around, all of their friends were grinning at them.

"Uh, sorry," Raj apologised sheepishly, "Just got a little too caught up in the moment."

"Well you've still got an hour before you can both leave." Huda told them, "So in that time, you should probably greet some of your guests."

It was then that Brigadier Chandook came forward to greet both of them, and Naina and Raj quickly bent down to take his blessings which he gave gladly.

"I have to congratulate both of you," he told them proudly, "You make a very good looking pair."

"Then you're not angry, Sir?" Raj asked him, slightly worried about what the answer would be.

"I trust that you both didn't break any of the rules while you were still at the academy, did you Major Rajveer?" Brigadier Chandook asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"No Sir, never" Raj assured him seriously, "And I just want you to know that when Major Bhargav made those accusations they really were entirely false."

"You don't need to worry, son." Brigadier Chandook told him, "You both have my blessings, I know that not only will you have a happy life together, you'll also make this country proud."

They greeted more of the guests, took some photos and tried to spend as much time with their friends as possible before they left for the airport. The party was going to continue in their absence as everybody was too happy to stop celebrating just because the bridal couple had left for their honeymoon.

Finally the time for the farewell came, and Naina emotionally hugged all of her friends, not knowing when they would all be in the same place again.

"I'm going to miss you all so much," she told them, "Thank you for everything you've done for us. We could never have gotten this far without you all."

"Don't be so emotional, Naina!" Neelu teased her, "It's not as if you're going to settle abroad or anything, in fact you'll be back with us in Delhi in two weeks time."

"And with any luck, Ali and I will be getting married soon too," Pooja added, "So we'll all have a reason to get together again."

After Raj and Naina had changed into slightly less formal clothes, their friends walked them down to the decorated car that would take them to the airport. There was one more round of hugging before they finally got into the car, while everyone waved at them until they'd driven out of sight. If there were tears in more than a few people's eyes then nobody felt any need to comment on it.

Once they could no longer see the car, and were all staring down the driveway, Huda recaptured all of their attention.

"What are we waiting for, guys?" he asked them, "We've just completed one of the most important missions of our life, why don't we go and celebrate? In case you haven't noticed, inside there's music, food and most important, jananiya!"

Laughing, they all headed back inside to enjoy the rest of their night.

**

Three hours later, in a hotel room overlooking the lake at Udaipur, Raj and Naina sat on the bed as he tried to find his name on her palm.

Naina suspected that he might have already found it quite some time ago, but was just enjoying tracing the lines of mehndi on her palms. It didn't bother her, she wasn't about to stop him. They had all the time in the world, and there were no more obstacles left between them.

Finally finding it, Raj tapped his name softly with a finger before leaning down to kiss her palm. Naina tried not to shiver at this, but after all, tonight was their wedding night.

"I found it," Raj told her quietly, looking up from her palm and into her eyes, without releasing her hand.

"Just on my hand?" Naina asked him softly, "You could looked anywhere and found your name if you really tried. It's been written on my heart for the longest time already."

It might have been something of a filmy statement, but Raj didn't care, it was the most romantic thing he had ever heard.

Slowly, carefully he leaned forward to kiss her, there was passion, but no urgency. Naina's heart soared at the feel of his lips on hers, and she brought one hand up to cup his cheek before sliding it behind his head to tangle in his hair.

"Don't think for a moment that I'm going to allow you to sleep tonight." Raj whispered into her ear, and Naina smiled.

"Did you really think that I'd want to?" she asked him, "Our first night of marriage… I don't want to close my eyes in case I wake up and find out that it was all a dream."

"It's not a dream, Naina." Raj told her, "This is our reality, and we've had to work hard to make it. In the end, everything has been worthwhile, all of the waiting, all of the separation."

Naina had to agree with him, it everything had been worthwhile for this moment in time, for the life they had ahead of them.

And as Raj leaned forward to kiss her again, touching her face almost reverently, Naina was absolutely sure that she had done the right thing.

She had a long and happy life ahead of her with a husband that she loved more than her own life.

Nothing could be better than that.