Manjha A String of Complicated Relations

The Other Child

The next morning, they reached Gaya on time and were escorted to IMA. Graduating cadets from NDA were also present this time. It was a whole new experience for the girls. After all, IMA was the largest Army Academy of India.

The National Defence Academy cadets were much younger than them, they were cadets fresh from their Inter colleges, and doing graduation along with the Army. IOTA and IMA were for specialized Cadets who had already graduated either from NDA or other Universities.

The IMA campus was huge and beautiful. It had been established in 1932 and was an all-gentlemen Cadets Academy. Shambhavi was a bit reluctant to be there but she was one of the toppers in her batch.

They were welcomed by some other Captains and Cadets and were informed about the location of their stay. The captains were given a different room in another part of the building while the cadets were sent to another part of the whole campus, they were to share a building with all the lady cadets from different Army Academies, along with the NDA lady cadets. So, there were some ladies in the house.

The four cadets were also handed their schedules. Anant had almost scowled at that paper. Since they had arrived at nine, almost ten, in the morning, they would only be attending the evening sports and drill that day, followed by dinner and lights out.

They went to their respective rooms, unpacked their things and took some rest. Evening came by and they got dressed for the drill. The drill was nice but a bit tougher. Shambhavi and Anant had been able to complete it along with IMA's cadets. That had impressed the training officers of IMA as very few lady cadets had been able to complete the drill but Shambhavi had completed it within the time limit.
That brought Shambhavi to limelight. A girl in the army, strong, yet beautiful, the IMA cadets had hit a jackpot. And if the looks Shambhavi had been getting since after the drill, were a bit weird after some time.

Speaking of looks, if looks could kill, half the IMA cadets would be six feet under. Aniket was not sure whether he should be proud of her, or envious for her. Advith would have laughed at his brother's predicament if he had been in a similar situation himself. A few cadets were also ogling at Anisha and Shreya, while Anant fended them off.

Anant could fend off other cadets openly and away from Shreya, but unfortunately, our beloved Captains could not do anything but fume at the men gaping at their women. What a feeling it is to be a bit older than your love and feel love's keen sting.

The day ended with the sun setting beyond the horizon and giving way to the moon and stars. It was dinner time and few gentlemen had approached our very intelligent ladies. Anisha had refused politely, Shreya had not been given a chance to speak by Anant and Shamhavi's stare was enough to tell the gentlemen where exactly to stick their interests.

They had a lovely dinner and retired for the night. The next day was like any other but for Shambhavi it was going to bring a storm. Unaware of the upcoming uproar, she went about her day. The drills were good, the breakfast even better.

They had their theory classes, sharing them with the NDA cadets as the roll call went on and the name Raghav Yash Vashishth came up. She was frozen to her spot. The name was the bane of her life but the person was someone whom she would adore no matter what the circumstances.

Her eyes searched the room until she found the voice of the cadet who had said yes. He was a first-year cadet, a young man of eighteen. Bright vivid black eyes and a mischievous smile on his face as he was teased around by his friends.

He looked much like his father, same face cut, same eyes, the smile must have been similar to his mother's because Yash Narayan Vashishth would never smile like that. He was teasing one of his friends for some time and then laughed and Shambhavi chuckled along with him, unknowingly.

As the roll call went on they went from R letter to S letter names and Shambhavi's name was called out. Raghav stopped talking to his friend. He had the same expression that Shambhavi had a few seconds ago. Shambhavi called out, "Present sir," all the while looking at Raghav.

Raghav heard her and turned to see who had spoken. He looked at her and she at him. Tears filled both their eyes and if they were not in class they would have run towards each other. He smiled a full-blown tooth showing smile and Shambhavi also smiled a genuine smile, one often seen when she was with her sisters.

They were ecstatic. No word could have described the feeling that they felt after hearing each other's name and seeing each other, face to face. They both had imagined what the other was like, so many times, but nothing did justice to any of their imaginations at that moment.

The class was called to attention and they had to break eye contact. But neither of them stopped thinking about the other and taking peeks at one another. All throughout the class, Shambhavi was in a state of shock mixed with euphoria.

Raghav was also in a similar state and wanted the classes to end as soon as possible. He had to go to her, meet her, talk to her, tell her stories. So much had to be said and so much had to be heard. It was an unexpected event and Raghav had set his mind to it. No matter what, he would make the most of it, even if Shambhavi refused to talk to him.

Raghav Yash Narayan Vashishth was Brigadier Yash Narayan Vashishth's only son, and as far as people knew he was the only child. It was not true, of course, for Yash Narayan Vashishth had three daughters as well, Nitya Vyas being the youngest one, only a few months elder to Raghav, Adhya Mrityunjay Vyas-Bajaj the middle child, now married, and Shambhavi Sakshi Vyas the eldest daughter and child he had.