Left Right Left - The Revival...

VIII

Captain Rajveer waited for Dr. Shalini and Dr. Mishra, for a friendly dinner, just to enjoy themselves and celebrate first day at KMA. But if he knew Shalini, which he was sure he did, he was sure she was trying set him up with Dr. Ritu Mishra. Whole afternoon, at first she was teasing him about Naina, and then started asking questions about Dr.Mishra. He usually would have denied such dinner cum date but right now he really needed something to get his mind off the things.
At first, there is a Cadet, who is surely hiding something. And has a photograph of a previous cadet in her room. He was sure that the photograph he saw in her room was of some ex-cadet because that photostudio used to print only KMA pictures and annual photo book. And the cadet was of his batch, the year written on it made it very clear.
After leaving Naina in her room, he was called to Brigadier's office, where he had a verbal fight with Major Nair. And now, although with help of Shalini he was able to persuade Brigadier that the punishment was not justified, he was sure that he had created an enemy for lifetime. Major Nair was one of the people who held grudges and could go to any extant to get revenge. But he was not worried about that. There was only one person who was in his mind whole afternoon and evening, Cadet Naina Ah Singh, a girl with many secrets.

A knock on his door, forced him out of his thoughts and he walked slowly towards it, to open it. He expected two members of faculty standing in front of him, not a cadet, who should be resting at that time.

"Sir, I want to thank you for today. " before Naina could continue, Rajveer said ," There is nothing is be thankful about. I would have saved any cadet if he would have been in your place. But I highly doubt it. " "Why?" Naina couldn't stop herself from asking.

" Because there is not a single cadet in this batch who is as brave and as stupid as you are. " "What was that?  A compliment or something else? "
Naina asked while entering his room, when Rajveer moved aside. " There is a really thin line that parts braveness from stupidity, you bravely tried to save your friends but because of stupidity accepted the hanging punishment. A soldier knows this line and if he crosses this line during a war he also crosses the line of life and death. " Naina did realize that accepting such punishment even when her team mates were ready to take the punishment was stupidity, but her brother always said that a soldier do not only has to save himself and the country during war but also his team mates. She was confused a little bit right now, but let it slid, because right now she really wanted to know whether Captain really suspected her or not.
A sudden scream, followed by another female scream caught attention of Rajveer and Naina. Rajveer nodded towards Naina, clearly telling her to go, while he may see what was happening. Without a question, she went away. This shocked him, because he thought that she was a person, who wouldn't follow any order blindly and without asking any questions. But now.....
Another scream and Rajveer knew it was Shalini who was screaming at top of her voice. He ran, following the voice, which wasn't a difficult task at that time, but what he saw was least expected. He couldn't have imagined that Dr. Shalini, Dr. Mishra and Suri ji were scared of a rat, who itself looked pretty scared, and wanted to run away from the scene. But the little creature couldn't move because 3 human beings were screaming and jumping like maniacs.
He went near them, and tried to calm them down, while the rat tried to escape. Dr. Mishra, out of fear, grabbed his hand, and started to shout for help. Rajveer was shocked from sudden friendliness but didn't say anything. Once everyone was calmed down, with the departure of the rat, they all panted a little bit from the exercise they all just did.
"Really, you all were afraid of a Rat? "
Rajveer really enjoyed this situation, because he finally got something to tease Shalini about. A little blush appeared on everyone's face. But Suri ji was first to reply, " What rat? We were just doing a form of yoga. You know to keep our voice in check and to keep our knees fit. " "Oh... My bad, it looked like you all were trying to bring down KMA building. Are you sure, this was a kind of yoga, Shalini? " Rajveer again said with a special emphasis on the name. "Captain, I think we should go and have our dinner. Thank you Suri ji, for... teaching us yoga. It's good to do before having dinner. " Shalini spoke for the first time and grabbed Ritu's hand, dragging her to Captain's room.
Once, three of them were comfortably seated, and started to talk about some random stuff, a sudden sound startled Rajveer. This sound was not some kind of trick played by his ears, he knew this for sure. "Ladies, please enjoy yourself, I need to take care of something." he excused himself and went into his bedroom, to find a girl, facing his back towards him in a tense position. He knew that he had caught her red handed and she also was well aware by that fact. "Cadet Naina Ah Singh...  Are you sure you want to be a soldier?  Not a spy or detective? "
"No sir. I want to be a soldier only. " she replied instantly.
"I seriously doubt that. You know, usually soldiers practice their skills in grounds not in someone's bedroom. So do you mind telling me what are you doing here? "
"Yes sir. I mean no sir I don't mind but sir" Naina's stuttering was enough to show how nervous she was.
"Very well. Sit here, calm down your nerves and do not try to come out. That won't be a good scene in front of faculty members, a cadet coming out of her teachers room after lights out." he ordered Naina and went back to his guests, locking the bedroom door behind him.
Naina, sat silently on the bed, still cursing the moment she decided to trick the captain and come back to his room to find some secrets of him. She wasn't going to sit here, one last drawer was still left. She couldn't stop herself from opening that drawer.

But what she found inside was a shock to her. In the picture, Captain Rajveer Singh Shekhawat was standing alongside Captain Naveen Singh Ahluwalia, her brother. But her brother never mentioned any Rajveer, and in this picture, they both were smiling and laughing, had hands around each others shoulder. This picture showed they were great friends.
Rajveer bid his guests farewell, and apologized to cut short the dinner because he didn't feel well. He didn't want to leave Naina alone in his bedroom, because he was afraid what else she might find out. She was too sneaky for her own good. And Rajveer had too many secrets to leave a sneaky cat in the room alone.

"He was my best friend, I know you must be shocked to see my picture with a Traitor, but it is what people who doesn't know him, call him. He was the best cadet KMA ever had. " Rajveer said, as he entered the room and saw Naina holding the last picture of Naveen, he had. He didn't know why he told Naina all this, but it was just his heart speaking. Naina just put the picture down and wished Captain good night before leaving his room. Rajveer was too caught on emotions to stop Naina, but he knew that he needed some help. He decided that it was the right time to call Lieutenant Balshankar, his most trustworthy assistant and friend. He was the best in finding information about any person.

Next morning, Naina sat on the breakfast table, glaring at Huda who was sitting right in front of her with her other friends. "Yudi and Huda, sitting here, are our Room Neighbours. " Ali introduced them to Naina, when he sensed confusion in her eyes."Is Room Neighbors really something? "Naina asked, but everyone ignored her comment. After that, no one paid attention to the cold stare that Naina was giving to Huda. Pooja and Ali started talking among themselves, they seemed like they were some long lost friends.
Aalekh was silent as usual and Yudi just greeted Naina and dug in his breakfast. Huda was feeling his guilt returning as he saw Naina. "Cadet Huda, you have a call from your home." Suri ji signalled him to come and receive his call soon. Huda ran towards the phone, because he knew that it was his mother. Her mother was his best friend but moreover his world.
"Huda, I am so happy to hear your voice again.... " she replied when Huda asked her about her well being. "You know, Gauri came around, yesterday. She was happy that you apologized for your mistake. I also told her that my son obviously does little pranks but later also apologize for his mistake. You know I was so proud, that you didn't let your pride come in between and did something that I would regret. "
Huda was speechless, earlier his pride didn't come in between but this time how can he tell his mother, who was so proud of her son, that this time he let his pride and ego win. He did something that a girl had to suffer. He wanted to do an innocent prank which didn't turn out to be so innocent. His mother always taught him to respect girls but moreover she always told him that it is never too late to realize your mistake and apologize for it.

Huda, finally decided to say sorry to his favorite girl, Naina.

Rajveer was too happy when he saw Balshankar as head cook, a great disguise. Now he was sure that Cadet Naina's secret was not far away from its revelation.

And Naina was confused from what Captain Rajveer said but was more confused when she saw Huda walking towards her, with an unknown emotion in his eyes. Even though that emotion was unknown but it was clear that Huda was going to do something and Naina was really hoping that this time it won't be any new drama, that she would be part of.

A/n
I know I was not supposed to update today, as I have exam tomorrow but I have completed the syllabus and wanted to calm my nerves, so this was the best way. And your all comments and votes inspired me wrote more and update more. This is double update in a single day...
And I am very very happy to tell you all that LRL-The Revival is right now #7 in what's hot in adventure.. Thanks to all votes and comments and reads.....
Happy reading..... 😘