**
Naina was listening to one of their instructors speak when she felt the mobile in her pocket buzz yet again, letting her know that she had another message. She was glad she had remembered to set the phone to silent mode otherwise she would've been in serious trouble at the rate that Raj kept sending her messages.
She had still been on the bus when he had called the first time, and knowing that her friends were going to be listening intently, she had picked up the phone, slightly embarrassed.
"Have you arrived yet?" he had asked her, and Naina had tried not to smile, unable to guess whether he had called her because he was genuinely worried or simply because he wanted to hear her voice.
"Not yet," she had replied quietly, trying to ignore the attention she was getting, "Another half an hour I think and we'll be there."
"Well make sure you call me or at least sms me once you arrive, I mean…"
"Raj stop worrying," she scolded him lightly, "Nothing can happen to me in a bus for half an hour more. But yes, I'll call once I arrive and if there's no time then I'll sms."
"I'm not worrying…" he defends himself, and she can tell he's trying not to grin, "Uh… Sherry is! She told me to make sure that you had reached there safely and I don't want to be in trouble with her for failing to do so."
Naina laughs at this, "No, you definitely don't want to be in trouble with Sherry." She agrees, "So I promise that I really will send you a message the moment I step off this bus."
"Alright, I'll call back tonight after you finish… I love you."
"I love you too." Naina tells him back as quietly as possible with a small grin on her face before hanging up the phone.
Her seatmate nudges her, as the girls sitting around her begin a chorus of 'ooooooooooooos'.
"Stop it guys," Naina tells them, blushing slightly, "He's my husband, I'm allowed to tell him I love him on the phone."
"Of course you're allowed to," her seatmate tells her jokingly, "It's just that you two are so incredibly cute. I've never seen a couple still so much in love after marriage."
Naina just blushed even more at this, giving the girls more incentive to keep teasing her.
"Poor Naina," one of them remarked, "How is she going to cope being away from him for three whole days?" leading to another round of giggles.
Naina just shook her head at them, not in the least bit bothered. She had nothing to be ashamed about.
If they had had husbands like Raj… then they would've been acting in exactly the same way.
**
Raj was walking towards his classroom lost in thought when he felt a light tap on his arm and turned around to see his sister smiling at him.
"She's only been gone for three hours, how are you ever going to last three days?" she teased him.
Raj couldn't help but smile back, "I know, I'm a lost case aren't I. What can I do, it's your bhabhie's jadoo." He tells her, placing an arm around her shoulders as they walked to the classroom.
"Arre Bhaiyya, careful." Sherry told him, "If anybody sees us walking like this then they'll start accusing you of favouritism."
"Let them," Raj tells her, "I'm still not giving you any special marks and you'd better have your latest paper in on time or I'm definitely giving you detention."
Sherry rolled her eyes, "It's almost done." She tells him, "Don't stress, Bhaiyya."
"I'm glad to see you so happy finally," Raj tells her sincerely, "I knew you would just need some time to settle in… but you've made friends, haven't you? You are happy here with us?"
"I am…" Sherry admits slowly, "Don't expect me to be happy all the time. I've been known to have mood swings. Just as long as I know you and Bhabhie are happy… that's enough for me."
He tugs on her braid affectionately, before giving her a slight push through the door to the classroom.
He doesn't know what's done it, but he's glad. Now all he can hope for is that she never loses this smile.
**
As Huda and Ali head towards their group's table at lunch time the next day they see that there are two available places left to sit… one beside Sherry and the other beside Pooja. Ali is just about to shyly head to the one beside Pooja when Huda very smoothly cuts him off, sitting down in it and ignoring the slightly annoyed look that Ali sends him.
Yudi exchanges a curious look with Aalekh, wondering why Huda has given up an opportunity to sit next to Sherry when he hasn't been willing to leave her alone since the moment she arrived. Sherry pretends not to notice anything at all, continuing to eat her food quietly after a slightly sympathetic glance in Ali's direction as he sits down beside her.
"Arre Punjaben, you need more food than that." Huda tells her with his trademark grin, "Look at you, so skinny, you know that Punjabis like their women to be a bit plumper than that…"
Pooja looks at him in surprise before shooting a confused look in Sherry's direction.
"Huda, why are you sending me these sms's?" she asks him, "Why does it matter to you what type of model my handset is?"
"Arre… kya baat hai?" Huda asked, leaning a bit closer to her, "Why can't I send these type of sms's to you? Now that you're finally single, maybe I should show a bit more concern. Don't you think we'd make a good pair Punjaben… you're pretty and I'm handsome, I'm sure that my mummyji would like you a lot."
Sherry glances across to see Ali gripping his fork very tightly, his knuckles practically white.
"Huda… I think that some sort of virus has entered your phone." Pooja tells him very seriously, "You need to put yourself into the shop for a service."
Huda just laughs, not at all deterred.
"Don't worry Punjaben, I know that eventually you'll admit how much you like me, my personality is such… how could you refuse?"
Ali's fork clatters onto the table loudly and very abruptly he stands up and walks away without saying anything.
Pooja gives Huda a disgusted look and picking up her plate, moves into Ali's empty place so that she's now sitting next to Sherry.
"No matter how far away you go, I'll still be in your heart." He tells her, winking, and then finishing his own plate, walks away whistling.
"Okay… now what was that?" Yudi asks, completely confused.
"Well there are three options for that." Sherry replies calmly, "Number one, Huda really has fallen for Pooja and wants her to be his girlfriend."
Yudi, Aalekh and Pooja all stare at her as if she's gone absolutely crazy.
"Number two, it's his newest method of trying to get me to fall in love with him, because he thinks it'll make me jealous."
There was a bit of head nodding here, as they all admitted this was quite likely.
"Number three… he's decided to do you a favour and try to make Ali jealous… which seems to have worked." Sherry finishes off, before returning to her food.
Pooja suddenly grins, realising that whatever Huda's intentions were, Ali definitely was showing signs of jealousy.
"Yeh hui na baat!" she exclaims before she can stop herself, and then looks a bit embarrassed. Turning to Sherry, she asks a bit more quietly, "Do you really think it worked?"
But Sherry is distracted, frowning slightly, because she's just spotted a certain sari clad woman approaching Abhimanyu and offering him a cup of coffee.
"She never stops does she…" Sherry mutters under her breath, as Pooja stares at her.
"What?" Pooja asked, "Did you say something?"
"Nothing at all," Sherry tells her, turning away and back towards Pooja, "And yes, I think it worked. Trust me, Ali was definitely jealous. Just let him think about it for awhile, and soon he'll be ready to tell you how he feels. Let Huda keep flirting if he wants to, but make sure it doesn't seem like you're responding."
"How do you know so much about this?" Pooja asked her, "I thought you weren't interested in boys that much."
Sherry shrugs, "I watch a lot of movies." She finally tells Pooja, looking resolutely down at her food and refusing to even glance towards the other table.
Because she is not….
She won't even finish that sentence.
**
"And so have the lessons improved?" Ritu asks Abhi with her best sweet smile, "Are the cadets learning to play their instruments more in tune now?"
Abhi smiles, an almost affectionate look coming to his face as he thinks of his cadets. "Cadets Yudi and Sherry are both excellent," he tells her, "Talented and have a good sense of rhythm, there are some others too who aren't so bad, Cadet Aalekh is wonderful at the harmonica, although he hasn't gotten the hang of any other instruments yet. Cadet Huda, unfortunately, seems to want to put a Bhangra beat into everything, even raagas."
Ritu laughs at this, making certain that she looks suitably amused. "So I take it that you have your favourite students already then?" she asks him.
"I try not to have favourites…" Abhi tells her, "I believe that all students should be encouraged equally, that in fact those who are not doing as well should be encouraged even more."
"Then you must be an excellent teacher," Ritu tells him, making sure that it's in exactly the right flattering tone.
"All I can do is try," Abhi replies, "Whether I succeed or not will prove whether I'm a good teacher or not."
"And you know Captain Rajveer from a long time ago, don't you?" she asks him, "I've heard that you attended KMA together."
"Yes, we were best friends while at the academy… we drifted apart for awhile, but now that we're back together again, I don't think that anything will ever be able to separate us again."
This last line made Ritu frustrated, as long as Abhimanyu was closer to Raj, it decreased her chances of gaining the triggers. If she could find some way of separating the two of them then Abhimanyu would be more likely to confide in her, become closer to her…
"And you only found out about his marriage recently?" she asks with a tone of disbelief, "I would've thought that of all people he would've at least confided in you."
"He would've had his reasons," Abhi answers, although there is a slight note of uncertainty in his tone. "And I think they had both agreed to keep it a secret.
Ritu shrugs as if to imply 'whatever you say'.
"Well… just remember, anytime you need to talk, I'm here." She tells him, "And that offer of a tour of Ambala is still open…"
Then she glides off out of the canteen.
Pooja notices Sherry glaring at Ritu as she walks past them and shakes her slightly. "What is it?" she asks her.
"I was just considering whether I should stick out my leg to trip her or not." Sherry answers with a shrug, "And then decided that it would be a bit too immature."
"But why don't you like Dr Ritu?" Pooja asks her, confused, "She's so…"
"Hot." Yudi finishes, and then looks a bit embarrassed.
"Because I'm a girl… and I don't like people just because they're hot." Sherry replies, shaking her head slightly at Yudi, "And so far I see no reason to like her or trust her at all."
"Why not?" Yudi asks, "You must have some reason."
"Because every time I see her she's wearing a sari." Sherry replies stubbornly, "This is a military academy, not the set of some saas bahu serial."
It's Yudi's turn to shake his head in disbelief, and he gets up, signaling that he'll see them later.
But Aalekh remains seated, looking at Sherry thoughtfully.
"Bole to… apun bhi…" he starts to say, and then stops suddenly, frowning.
Because there had been a moment on the mentorship camp, when they had found out about Naina that he had thought…
But he can't speak on that basis alone.
The three of them stand up and head towards the exit, running into Abhimanyu on the way who smiles at all of them.
"So are you ready for my class, cadets?" he asks them, "Remember to be on time."
"Of course, Sir!" Pooja tells him enthusiastically, still not completely over her crush on him, "In fact I'll go and get my music books right now."
She leaves, and Aalekh and Sherry remain with him.
"And you Aalekh, are you ready to learn a new tune today?" Abhi asks him cheerfully, "You've been picking everything up so fast, I'm really impressed."
"Thanks… Sir." Aalekh tells him, "Actually… I don't mind this music. It reminds me when I was in jail, and I used to play my mouth organ, it would help me forget where I really was."
Sherry and Abhi both look at him for a minute, as if surprised that he's revealed this much, and then Aalekh abruptly walks away, leaving them alone together.
Sherry crosses her arms over her chest, looking at him almost challengingly, and Abhi tries to figure out what it is that she thinks he's done wrong.
"Ah," he finally says, figuring it out. "Don't blame me for that, I wasn't ignoring your advice, but I can't be rude to somebody especially when they bring me coffee."
"What if the coffee was drugged, or poisoned?" Sherry asks him, raising one eyebrow.
"Well then I would probably be killed by my own politeness." Abhi jokes, trying to improve her mood, much happier when he sees her trying to hide a smile.
"I'm not warning you without reason you know," she tells him, "I can always tell about people, and she…"
"Really? And what makes you think that?" Abhi asks, humouring her.
"Who in their right mind would choose to wear a sari every day unless they had an ulterior motive?" Sherry asks him, "Why is she taking that much effort to dress up in a military academy?"
"Good point," Abhi agrees with her, "Maybe she really does have her eye on me."
And he grins, just to let her know it's a joke.
"I wish you would take me seriously," Sherry tells him, "Fine, don't believe it, just wait and see."
"Anyway let's forget about whether Dr Mishra has her eye on me or not," Abhi says dismissively, "How are you today? And have you spoken to your Bhaiyya yet?"
"I'm fine today," Sherry tells him, brightening up "In fact I'm better than fine because for some strange reason Huda has decided that rather than flirting with me he's going to flirt with Pooja which is quite amusing. As for Bhaiyya, he's currently looking as if his pet dog died, and is working up quite a phone bill sending messages to Bhabhie at least every ten minutes."
Abhi laughs at this, and continuing to discuss Raj's state, they head towards the classroom.
**
Shalini tried hard not to laugh as Raj checked his watch for what must have been the tenth time in two minutes.
"Really Captain Rajveer, there's only an hour until she's scheduled to get back." She tells him, "I can't believe you… after only three days you can be this anxious. What are you going to do if you're assigned a mission where you have to be away from her for a long time?"
"Don't even suggest that," Raj says seriously, "I know that the day will come eventually, but I'm hoping that it will be later rather than sooner."
"So are you going to go and pick Naina up?" Abhi asks him as they all sit around in Shalini's office after classes have finished for the day. "When will you be leaving?"
"Probably in about fifteen minutes," Raj says, "I don't want to be late, and in case they're back early…"
Shalini and Abhi exchange knowing looks, they know how restless he's been over the past few days, how eagerly he's waited for her to return.
"I have no idea how you survived without her for two years." Shalini tells him, obviously amused.
"Neither do I…" Raj says without thinking, "Actually that was different, we didn't know each other then so…"
"It's okay, relax, I was just teasing you." Shalini tells him, "Just make sure that you always look after her in exactly way the same way that you do now."
"Oh I can promise you of that," Raj says sincerely, "I'll never let anything happen to her, no matter what."
He glances at his watch again and Abhi sighs and is about to say something when Raj's phone beeps.
Checking it, he grins and abruptly gets up from his seat.
"Naina says they'll be back early," he tells them, "I'll leave to pick her up now."
And before either of them can reply, he's already gone.
**
Raj arrives early and parks his jeep under a tree to wait for them. The moment that he sees the bus arriving in the distance, he gets out, forcing himself to stand there calmly as he waits for it to stop and for the girls to all climb out. Naina is one of the first to come down the steps, and Raj strides forward to meet her, ignoring the girls who are all nudging her, obviously teasing her about him.
Raj doesn't hug her or kiss her as he wishes to, well aware that Naina will be embarrassed if he does so. Instead he picks up her bag, placing the strap over his shoulder, and takes her hand.
"How was the camp?" he asks as he tries hard not to grin at her.
"It was great!" Naina tells him, "Excellent experience, quite tiring though… I didn't sleep much."
He notices how tired she looks, and squeezes her hand.
"Let's get you home then," he tells her, "And you can have an early night then tell me everything in the morning."
Naina nods and after waving goodbye to her friends, the two of them head for the jeep.
As soon as they've driven away, Raj turns to her.
"I really missed you," he tells her, "Actually everyone at the academy missed you, Suriji was just telling me this afternoon that he was looking forward to you coming back."
Naina smiles at him tiredly, leaning her head back against the seat.
"Do I really need to tell you that I missed you too?" she asks him, "I couldn't even sleep properly without you, I've gotten so used to having you with me."
"Good," Raj replies with a grin, "Then I know you won't want to leave me and go away anywhere in the future. After all, you need to have a good night's sleep."
He glances over and finds that she's already dozed off, unable to stop himself from smiling at her adoringly.
Finally stopping the jeep outside KMA, he climbs out, going around to her side, he touches her face gently and she opens her eyes.
"Do you want me to carry you inside?" he asks, only half joking, and Naina shakes her head resolutely.
"No," she tells him, "But you can give me your arm for me to lean on."
Raj obligingly offers her his arm, and she takes it, half leaning against his shoulder as they make their way to their room.
Once inside, he puts her bag down as she kicks off her shoes, and without waiting for anything else, climbs straight into bed.
He's about to go out of the room, when she stops him, calling out from behind.
"Won't you stay with me?" she asks him sleepily, "I told you I can't sleep properly without you."
"Then consider me your personal pillow." He tells her, kicking off his own shoes and climbing into bed beside her.
Taking him seriously, Naina pulls him closer, so that in the end she's half sprawled across his chest, her head resting above his heart, one arm around his waist and her legs tangled with his.
Within a few minutes she's gone to sleep, as Raj can tell by her deep breathing, he settles his own arm around her shoulders but doesn't close his eyes just yet.
After three days, for now he just wishes to watch her to his heart's content.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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