Chapter 4:
She was standing there, looking so beautiful. Her simplicity always had him awestruck. His mind always seemed to be occupied with these types of thoughts of her now…
*Flashback*
…"Naina Ah -
Singh…"…
…Naina standing
in her simple nightdress in his room…
…Naina's smiling
face at the mentorship programme…
*End of Flashback*
The first rays of sunlight caressed her cheeks as she stood in the balcony. She pulled her hair back, giving him a heavenly view of her bare neck. He felt the strong desire run through his body, to reach out to her, to feel her soft skin against his, to – no, he shouldn't be having these thoughts about her… not now at least. He resisted his temptations and cleared his throat to make his presence known.
Naina turned around and smiled at him. Rajveer almost wanted to run away to stop himself from doing anything he shouldn't; one simple smile on her face was enough to drive him insane.
She knew he was standing there, simply watching her. If it was so simple, though, why did she feel an unknown kind of feeling run through her body just thinking about it? She had always felt uncomfortable when people stared at her, but with him… it was different.
Her train of thoughts was broken by his cough. She turned around and smiled. She could see his desire, and felt it stir up in her as well. No, she had to prevent her thoughts turning this way… but even seeing a lock of his hair falling in his eyes made her want to reach out and move it, running her hands down his cheeks, brushing her fingers over his lips – he was saying something!
"… going to see them off?" he asked.
"Uh… oh yeah…" Rajveer stood back and waited for a few moments to calm himself down. Stepping inside, he felt like laughing at the irony of the situation. Pooja married Ali, and ended up spending her marriage night at her ex-fianc's house! Yes, right now they four were at Rohit Ahuja's* house, getting ready to bid the couple goodbye.
*Flashback*
…Ali and Pooja performing the marriage rituals…
…The four walking
by the edge of the street, Captain Rajveer and Naina side by side, followed by
the newlywed couple who tightly holding hands, all of them knowing their target
but not knowing the path to it…
…Strong gusts of
wind and rain hitting them, almost as if urging them to a certain direction…
…The cadets
recognising the path, and for a change, leading their leader…
*Change of Flashback*
…Rajveer and
Naina sitting on the floor against the couch in the dark…
…Him glancing at
her as the moonlight from a distant window reflects off her skin, making her
glow…
…Her smiling at
him as they chat quietly about anything and everything…
…Her head resting
against his chest and his arm protectively around her as they both doze off to
sleep…
*End of Flashback*
~*~*~
"Cadets roaming around the grounds after lights are out, cadets eloping from a military academy, cadets – I mean Cadet Ahluwalia running off with a traitor… my my my, what is happening to KMA? It's even more off track than before! No problem though… now that I'm here to straighten everything out before the Ball…" Major Bhargav ranted on, pacing up and down as the faculty members and first year cadets (the ones who were left) exchanged uneasy glances.
Poor Yudi's mind went completely blank as Bhargav stood directly facing him, only a few centimetres away. Anyone could tell by the smirk on his face that he was going to trap Yudi in some way or other. Huda had made a plan to help Bhargav before alright, but had forgotten to think of how Bhargav had a knack to twist everything. As soon as Bhargav started to say something though, he was cut off.
"Cadets Huda and Yudi weren't roaming around, Major Bhargav!" Captain Abhimanyu said. "They were out on my request." Now Bhargav turned around to face him, and Yudi sighed in relief. Major Nair glared at Abhimanyu.
"On your request? And what exactly would be so important that cadets had to be out after midnight?"
"As you know I'm the music instructor at KMA, so obviously music holds an utmost importance to me!"
"Don't try to twist the topic, Captain Abhimanyu! Answer the question." At the first comment, most of them to suppress their laughs, remembering how Bhargav himself did it in most cases.
"Right, Major. I wanted to… take a special music class… for the ones who were interested… uh…"
"Exactly, sir! And-" Huda tried to help Abhimanyu (and that too, willingly!) but Major Bhargav held up his hand, shutting Huda up.
"Go on Captain."
"Well you see I have this theory that music late at night under the open sky has a completely different feeling to it… a different rhythm… and I wanted the students to experience music, hidden in nature… that can only be heard at late at night…"
"Really? And pray tell me, how is this related to their education at KMA?" Bhargav and Nair both smirked at having trapped Abhimanyu, but he wasn't going to give up so easily.
"Well… night time during war can be troubling if soldiers don't have good sense of direction… but if you can recognise the difference in sounds in different areas, and-" Bhargav cut him off.
"Enough Captain, I've heard enough. But this doesn't explain Cadets Ali Begh and Pooja Ghai eloping, not to mention Cadet Ahluwalia escaping with a traitor!"
"Uh Major! How can you say they eloped?! Actually… there was a phone call from Cadet Begh's house… one of his sisters is really ill, and his presence was needed… so I gave him permission to leave…" Shalini tried her best to make it sound believable, and thankfully it worked.
"And… Pooja… uh… she's…" Huda tried to make up an excuse, failing miserably.
*Thanks to Tess (poetess13) for correcting the name! 😊
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