Chapter 17:
The apartment belonged to one of Anwar's friends, and they could have it for only a very low monthly price for as long as Raj worked for him. Anwar had been more than friendly when Raj had turned up looking for a job, apparently he had met Alekh in prison and had liked him so much that any friend of Alekh's was now welcome to join his small garage.
After giving the keys to the apartment to Raj, Anwar informed him that he could start work tomorrow and then left. Raj went back to the hotel to collect Naina.
When they arrived back at the apartment she surveyed the room, taking in the peeling paint on the walls, the lack of most furniture, and once again, only one bed. The apartment was barely more than one room, the bed was in one corner with two screens in front of it to shield it from view. The 'kitchen' was in another corner and consisted of a bench with a portable gas stove and a sink. There was a great deal of dust settled on everything, leaving Raj to assume that nobody had used the apartment for awhile. Another door led to a small simple bathroom. Raj was expecting Naina to be horrified but she just shrugged.
"Well it's better than the ashram." She told him.
"Good," he replied, "Because this is going to be our home either until we work out a new plan or until somebody catches up with us." He hoped that the first option would be the one that happened.
"Well then," Naina said, sighing in resignation "Let's go and get some things that we'll need to make the place livable."
"And a couple of extra pairs of clothes." Raj added.
"Just make sure we don't go on too big of a shopping spree," Naina warned, "Or people will think that we're not as poor as we're pretending to be."
"Well I guess that means I'll have to forget about those new jeans…"
They left the house and headed towards the closest bazaar, pausing at a busy intersection. Naina still wasn't comfortable wearing a burqa, as somebody who had trained as a soldier, she was used to wearing outfits that didn't restrict her movement or interfere with her vision. Annoyed with not being able to see the road properly and worried about crossing, she swept the veil off her face with one hand.
"Cover yourself up Begum Jaan, if you keep showing your face like that then at least two or three drivers are bound to crash." Raj told her humorously, wanting to lighten the mood. Naina looked up at him and smiled, wondering if he had intended to make the comment quite so flirtatious. For a moment Raj forgot the world around them, enchanted by the way her smile lights up her entire face. "Come on," He finally tells her, "I'll help you across the road." And he offers her his hand, half expecting her to refuse it out of pride. But Naina places her hand into his, lowers her veil again and they step onto the road and head towards the bazaar.
Two hours later they have bought everything they can get to improve the apartment without somebody guessing that they have more money than they should have. Raj also buys new locks for the front door and the door leading to their tiny balcony, wanting to make sure that Naina will be safe while he's at work. Apart from this they buy the ingredients for their evening meal, and some material for new clothes, which they leave with a tailor to be picked up in a couple of days.
It isn't dark yet when they arrive back, and they use the remaining daylight to get the apartment cleaned up and looking better. An old carpet on the floor, new sheets on the bed, some pots and plates added to the kitchen. Suddenly the apartment looks less empty and more like a home.
Once the apartment has been made more livable, they begin preparing dinner.
"I didn't know that you knew how to cook, Sir." Naina says, pleasantly surprised when he starts chopping up the vegetables.
"Naina, I've been in the army for years, if I didn't know how to cook for myself by now then I would've had to always rely on food in the mess. I can't make anything fancy, but I can feed myself." Sneaking a look sideways at her, he notices how confident she is adding ingredients to the pot. "To tell the truth, I didn't know that you could cook either." He remarks.
Naina shrugs, "I was the only girl at home and Ma wanted me to learn. I never used to cook that much while I lived with them, but I would cook for Navin when he was at home to try to impress him." She smiles at the memory and then suddenly becomes sad, avoiding looking at Raj in case he sees the tears in her eyes.
"What's the matter, Naina?" Raj asked her, knowing that something was wrong, "Are you thinking about Navin?"
"No," Naina told him, "I was thinking about my parents. I can't even let them know where I am or what I'm doing and for the second time, one of their children has been accused of being a traitor."
Raj hesitated, he wanted to comfort Naina but he was very aware of the boundaries between them, boundaries that he shouldn't cross. Finally Raj put an arm around Naina's shoulders loosely and hugged her very lightly.
"We'll sort this out, Naina." He promised her, "We'll bring your parents their lost honour back, all of it."
Naina trusted him. Because if she didn't have this much hope, there was nothing to keep fighting for.
**
Two weeks had passed since Huda and Priya's trip to Benaras and Priya continued to be amazed by how he had changed. It was as if Huda had found a sense of peace, he was now calm and didn't get angry so easily at everything she said. He had even starting being friendlier and joking with her. Priya knew she shouldn't become attached to him, that she had to be impartial for her mission's sake, but he intrigued her. She couldn't help thinking that there were things about this case that she didn't know, and in the end she was scared to find out what they might be.
The day after they had arrived back in Delhi, she and Huda had gone to Abhimanyu's office to report their findings to him. He had listened in silence and then congratulated them for their hard work. Huda had been radiating anger and unhappiness ever since they entered the office, and Priya had been afraid that he was going to say something he shouldn't.
"Lieutenant Huda, wait." Captain Abhimanyu had called out just as they were about to leave, both of them had turned around and Huda had stiffly stood to attention.
"Look Huda," Abhimanyu had said in a friendly tone, "I know that it feels like you're betraying your friends, but really you're just doing your duty. And you should feel proud of that."
"You would know a lot about that, wouldn't you, Sir?" Huda replied, his tone dripping with hate.
"You're out of line, Lieutenant Huda." Abhimanyu had answered angrily, standing up from his chair.
"Of course I am, Sir. Because you were only doing your duty when you betrayed Naina and Rajveer Sir, and that makes it all okay."
"I didn't betray them," Abhimanyu said, "And Raj deserved to be punished after what he did to Navin anyway. I feel absolutely no regret about what happened to him at all. I do regret what happened with Naina, she was stupid to get involved in the whole mess."
"Did you ever think, Sir?" Huda asked Abhimanyu "That you couldn't save Navin, and then when Rajveer Sir tried to prove his innocence, you condemned your other friend to death too?"
"Huda, we are soldiers." Abhimanyu told him angrily, "As a good soldier I do my duty, if Raj had been a good soldier then he would've done his duty too." He sat down at his desk again, "You're both dismissed."
Priya turned to go, but she stopped as Huda spoke again, "Sir, today I'll share with you something that Captain Rajveer taught us, something I've never forgotten. To be a good soldier, first of all you need to be a good person." Then angrily he strode from the room and Priya had followed him quickly, wanting to get away from Abhimanyu before he took his anger out on her.
When they had been back at their own desks she had asked Huda something that had puzzled her about the conversation. "Huda, what did Captain Shekawat do to Navin Ahluwalia that Captain Abhimanyu thought he should be punished for?"
"He killed him." Huda replied simply, then on seeing Priya's astonished look, told her the whole story of what had happened between Raj and Navin, and how Navin had asked Raj to kill him.
Now, two weeks later, she kept thinking about that conversation. For months she had thought that she knew who was right and who was wrong. Now she was beginning to wonder whether what she knew was really the truth at all. Why would Naina choose to support her brother's killer instead of her own fianc?
Heading back to her quarters, Priya finds Pooja looking through a photo album.
"Hey Pooja," she greets her, "What's that?"
"Just looking at some old MMS's." Pooja informs her. "Ali called just before and I was missing him terribly so I thought if I looked at some photos I'd feel a bit better. Do you want to see?"
Nodding, Priya sat down next to Pooja and looked at the album, Pooja turned it back to the very first page.
"This is Ali," she informs Priya "I can't believe that I haven't shown you his photo before this. How silly of me." The photo is of a very serious young man, but there is a kindness in his face that's easy to see.
"He doesn't look like the kind of guy I thought you would fall in love with." Priya admits.
Pooja laughs, "That's true, nobody could ever have predicted that Ali and I would make a lifetime connection but somehow our networks work well together."
"Alright, now who's this?"
"That's Alekh, our Qaidi!" seeing Priya in confusion, Pooja decided to explain "He was sent to KMA from a jail, so that he could be reformed. He might be a bit rough, but Alekh's the best friend that you could ever have."
"And this?"
"That's Yudi, our dude!" Pooja giggled, "Yudi was always so much fun, he was a bit nervous, but he proved to everybody that you don't need big muscles to become a soldier."
"And who's this???"
"That's mucchad! Major Nair! He hated girls in the army and he tortured me so much. But I keep his photo there to remind me what I went through to get this far."
Flipping the page over, Priya spots a picture of Pooja and Naina, the two of them are laughing about something, their arms around each others shoulders.
"Naina was your good friend wasn't she?" Priya asks thoughtfully.
"Why?" Pooja asks, only slightly suspicious. She likes Priya but she doesn't want to reveal anything that might help catch Naina. Still, Pooja knows that the chances of her knowing anything like that are very small.
"I want to know a bit more about her," Priya admits, "For months I've been chasing her, with this idea of her in my mind. But the more I find out, the less I understand her." She looked down at the photo again, surely this laughing, happy girl can't be the most wanted traitor in the whole of India.
"Naina was always special." Pooja informs Priya, "She came to KMA to prove her brother innocent, and she never once lost sight of her mission. No matter how tough things got, she never gave up or admitted defeat. She was the best cadet in the academy."
"So was her brother…" Priya murmurs, remembering the case file. Then she speaks up, "Why is it that after everything she's done to him, Huda doesn't feel any anger towards her?"
Pooja smiles at that, "Besides me, Naina was the only girl in the entire academy that wasn't crazy about our Jat. She was the only one that ever had a hope of changing him. Huda pursued her for two years, and she only gave in three days before graduation."
"So you don't think that she was just using her engagement to him as a diversion? That she didn't really love him."
"A diversion?" Pooja thought about it carefully, "No, the engagement was real for Naina. But you're right about one thing, she never really loved Huda."
Priya is stunned by this admission, "But Huda…"
Pooja cuts her off, continuing the sentence, "Huda knew that Naina didn't love him, but he was so crazy about her that he didn't care. It's lucky that he's finally decided to call off the engagement for real, I was worried that he would never do it since I know that Naina won't."
"Then what about Captain Rajveer? How did he fit into all of this?"
"Captain Rajveer was our teacher," Pooja told her, a smile on her face, "He was the best teacher that we ever had and the best officer that we ever met. He was also Naina's mentor. He would've done anything for Naina, and he did. That's why…" Pooja stops suddenly, realising that she's said too much.
"So he loved her? Did she love him?"
"I don't know," Pooja replied with a sigh, "Nobody ever knew, maybe Alekh would know but I don't. Whether they loved each other or not, those two always had a special bond."
"I don't know what to say," Priya tells Pooja, "I'm trying to understand it but nothing makes sense anymore. I can't understand anything at all."
"If you met them, then you'd understand." Pooja informs her.
"But why are you and Huda so loyal to them? I mean, I know that Naina was your friend and that you respect Captain Rajveer as your teacher, but they've committed a crime. They've betrayed the country by stealing our military's secrets and trying to sell it to the enemy."
Pooja laughed, sounding amused. "Is that really what they've told you is in the red box?"
"Of course that's what's in the red box, what else could be in it?"
Pooja shook her head in amazement, "People think that I'm nave, but I think that you're even worse than me, Priya. That's not what's in the box."
"Then what is in the box?" Priya asked, becoming frustrated at the fact that everybody seemed to know except her.
"What both Captain Rajveer and Naina desperately want, the proof of her brother's innocence. Along with evidence of a massive conspiracy within the military and government."
"And I'm supposed to believe this?" Priya asked, still in denial and wanting to believe the official story.
"You can believe what you want, Priya." Pooja said, flicking through the photo album until she reached the end. There one picture stood out, Captain Rajveer was standing in the middle of all the cadets, one of his arms around Naina and the other around Alekh, all of them were grinning at the camera. They all looked so young and carefree. Suddenly Pooja closed the album. "But I know my friends, and I know that they're not traitors."
Priya wished that there was an easy way to know the truth. She wondered whether Pooja and Huda were right, would she really never understand until she met Naina and Captain Rajveer for herself?
**
Hundreds of miles away in Lucknow, Naina lies sleepless in the narrow bed, trying to pretend it doesn't matter to her that Raj is so close to her that she can feel the heat of his body. She tries to pretend that she doesn't want him to roll over in his sleep, throwing a protective and almost possessive arm around her. She knows that in the morning, when he wakes up hurriedly gets out of bed, she'll pretend that she's asleep and that she never noticed him do it.
Raj rolls over, draping one arm over her waist, his face so close that she can feel his even breathing on her skin. Naina tries to pretend that she doesn't regret ever making the promise, she prays for the strength not to break it.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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