room and hugged his sister proudly, "I never realized my little sister was so grown up." He told her, "I'm going to have to be careful with you looking like this tonight, I'm sure a lot of boys are going to be after you." He joked.
Despite her dull mood, Sherry smiled at Raj's joke. "Don't worry Bhaiyya, I know how to keep them away." She told him, "I've been managing all this time."
"Still… Seeing you tonight I've realized I'll have to find a groom for you soon." He told her, now half joking and half serious, "I want only
responsibilities for finding a groom, our Sherry deserves nothing less than a prince." She deliberately didn't look in Abhi's direction as she said it, wondering if he would guess about
double meaning of her words. If she had looked then she would've seen him flush slightly as she said it.
"Of course." Raj agreed with her proudly, turning around to grin at Naina, "Well from now on
responsibility is in your hands. Once we've made a proper soldier out of her, we'll get her married too."
she'd given enough hints for tonight already. Leaving his sister's side, Raj extended his arm to her, and Naina slipped her hand into
crook of his elbow, walking out with him.
Abhi continued to stare at Sherry, and she finally looked up, meeting his eyes briefly.
The depths of emotion she saw in them almost took her breath away and she hurriedly looked away again, too afraid to maintain eye contact in case he might guess what she was thinking.
"Well, shall we go?" she asked him, and he hesitated, wondering whether he should offer her his arm too, but she had already walked ahead and as they followed Raj and Naina he decided
that for now it would be best to only walk alongside her, ready for when she needed him.
And when
the time came
that she was ready to take his hand… he would be right there and waiting.
The moment they entered the hall, Sherry left them, going to find her friends. She could feel Abhi's eyes on her as she went and decided that staying away from him tonight was definitely a good idea. If he had been blown away by her appearance then she had been equally as impressed by his. Wearing his formal uniform with his hair tied back neatly he was even more gorgeous than ever.
She had wanted to tell him that he was looking good, but had decided that was definitely not a good idea. She joined her friends where, as predicted by Pooja, Huda went absolutely flat as soon as he saw her. While Ali and Yudi complimented her politely, Aalekh gave her a small nod as if to tell her he approved. Huda just gaped.
Ignoring him, Sherry turned to Neelu instead "Hey Neelu, it's good you could join us." Sherry told her, "We don't get to see you often enough."
"Yeah, at least it's something fun for a change." Neelu replied, "Otherwise I was just getting bored sitting at home."
"But I still don't see why…" Yudi started to say before Pooja cut him off.
"Oh look, there's Dr Shalini and Dr Ritu!" She pointed out, "Don't they look gorgeous in their new covers tonight?"
Aalekh breathed a sigh of relief as Yudi became distracted. With everything he had to accomplish tonight, the last thing he needed was for Yudi to get too curious.
**
Raj, Naina and Abhi had just finished chatting to one of the superior officers attending the ball when Shalini and Ritu approached them, Ritu wearing her characteristic sari and Shalini in a lengha outfit.
"Don't you look gorgeous, Naina!" Shalini gushed, hugging her warmly, "Captain Rajveer, anyone can tell that you keep your wife happy, she's positively glowing."
"Yes, she is." Ritu agreed in the fake sweet tone that Naina hated so much, "And won't the gentlemen here give us some compliments too?" She glanced flirtatiously at Abhimanyu as she said it, causing Naina to frown. It was obvious to everyone that Ritu had her eye on him but Naina suspected that the feeling was definitely not mutual.
"Of course, you both look lovely," Raj told them smilingly, and Abhi nodded, looking slightly uncomfortable.
"Would you like to dance with me, Dr Shalini?" he asked suddenly as he saw Ritu move forward as if to stand next to him.
Shalini was surprised by his request but nodded, placing her hand in the one that was held out. She waited to ask her question until they were on the dance floor, away from the others.
"Why is it that I feel you're avoiding Ritu?" she asked him with one eyebrow raised and he looked at her in shock, "Any special reason?"
"Avoid her? Why would I avoid her?" Abhi asked, "I just felt like asking you for a dance."
"Please, Captain, I'm not that dumb," Shalini told him, "It's not just tonight… these days whenever she comes in a room you make an excuse to leave, almost as if you're afraid she'll ask you out again. If you're not interested in her then just tell her."
"And you think she'll just accept that?" Abhi asked a bit disbelievingly, "So far she's been quite, uh, persistent."
"Tell her that you like somebody else." Shalini advised, taking pity on him. "She won't be able to argue with that."
Abhi nodded and was quiet, obviously thinking about her advice. Shalini decided that it would be best to change the topic.
"Aren't our cadets looking wonderful tonight?" she asked him, "They seem so much more mature now than when they had all first arrived, it's easy to see the effect the training has had on them."
Abhi nodded, his gaze shifting to where the cadets were standing. Pooja appeared to be trying to convince Ali to dance with her, while the rest were encouraging them. As he watched, Huda appeared to say something, and then held out his hand to Sherry as if asking her to dance. She shook her head as if to refuse him, and then seemingly at Pooja's request sighed and accepted. The moment that Huda and Sherry went onto the dance floor, Ali and Pooja followed them and Abhi suddenly understood, Ali must have been feeling uncomfortable to be the only cadet pair to dance.
Shalini turned her head to watch them and let out a short laugh, "Poor Cadet Huda," she remarked, "He just keeps on trying. At least he's had some luck for once tonight."
"As long as he doesn't upset her," Abhi replied without thinking, a slight frown on his face, "She's had a hard enough day as it is and she doesn't need any more trouble."
"You're very protective of her, aren't you?" Shalini commented thoughtfully as something suddenly clicked into place. "You worry about her a lot."
"Of course… she's… well, she's Raj's sister. We're all very protective of her." Abhi explained, suddenly seeming a bit nervous.
Shalini wondered who exactly he thought he was fooling because it certainly wasn't her.
**
"See, dancing with me isn't that bad, is it?" Huda asked her and Sherry just rolled her eyes.
"You know I'm only dancing with you for Ali and Pooja's sake don't you?" she asked him, "Don't even think that it has any other meaning."
She glanced over his shoulder to where Abhi was dancing with Shalini, apparently deep in conversation.
"What's so bad about me?" Huda asked her, sounding terribly serious for once and she sighed, realizing that it was going to be a long night.
"There's nothing bad about you," she told him, "I just don't like you in that way. You're not really my type. Admit it Huda, if I'd been interested in you then you would've forgotten about me in a week, you just like the challenge."
He was silent, as if thinking about her words and then, he said something to her in a serious tone of voice, something that made her look him in the eye. "If you tell me that you like somebody else then I'll leave you alone." Huda told her, "Just tell me honestly… I'm Huda, I don't need to run after girls…. There's enough running after me."
Sherry knew that it was a way for him to save face, to back out without seeming like he had lost. She wondered what had happened to make him change or whether he had finally just gotten sick of her rejecting him again and again.
"There's nothing going on between us..." she started to say, "I already told you…."
"That wasn't what I asked." Huda told her, "Just tell me once and for all."
"And you won't…"
"No I won't make a scene," he tells her, "I still remember that punch." And he grinned. Despite herself, she laughed.
"I'm glad to see that punch knocked some sense into you." She told him and he smiled at her in his typical way.
"So… yes or no."
"Yes… I do." Sherry replied to him, "But nothing like what you thought is going on."
"Fine…" Huda told her, glancing over his shoulder at Abhimanyu, "But I still don't know why you prefer that jhabreela to me, my hair is much better, it's definitely your loss." And he grinned.
"You know I think maybe we can finally be friends now." Sherry told him, "So how about it?"
"Friends then." Huda agreed, "But don't expect me to stop flirting with you."
"That would definitely be too much to hope…" Sherry had told him, and they had both laughed.
Seeing Sherry so happy for once with Huda, Abhi had frowned, confused. Most of the time she looked like she would prefer to be as far away from him as possible and tonight…
Seeing him frown once again, Shalini had sighed. Men were hopeless.
"Well, shall we go back?" she asked him as the music ended, and he nodded, seemingly still distracted.
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