Hello, Mr. Major General (1)

Chapter 52: The Pajamas Under the Pillow

“She’s grown up now and has to learn to be independent, she can’t rely on others anymore.” Sidharth typically
never explained himself, but had made an exception this time. He turned the corner and went towards Shehnaaz’s
bedroom.

Deepak was following him and continued to express his displeasure. “You’re correct, sir. But, can you not be so brusque? She’s not tough or thick skinned like me and Rohit, nor is she one of your Special Ops soldiers! Cutting her off so resolutely will make a young girl like her weep!”

“I’ve made arrangements, don’t worry.” Sidharth was unperturbed. He stopped walking and stood in front of Shehnaaz’s room before turning to glance at Deepak.

Although his face was calm, his eyes were hard. It was clear that Deepak was getting on Sidharth’s nerves.
Terrified, Deepak ducked his neck, but he still refused to back down and muttered, ” Sana is especially timid,
she was so scared before she even lost her memories.

Aren’t you concerned that she’ll get scared again and forget you too?”
Sidharth did not bother to answer such hypothetical questions. His gaze shifted around Shehnaaz’s room. She
had kept it very neat and tidy. White, bamboo-print sheets with an 1800 thread count that were spun from Egyptian cotton, covered a comfortable and large bed. She had
placed several dolls by the headboard—they wore ornate princess frocks, had heavy bangs, round eyes,
heart-shaped faces and petite figures. They were unlike typical Western-style dolls, and were reminiscent of ancient Empire-style dolls. Someone with a discerning eye would know that they
hadn’t been purchased in a department, but had been custom-made. An image of a 12-year old Shehnaaz clutching these dolls flashed through Sidharth’s mind. He had been just as busy back then, so he couldn’t make much time to be with her everyday. She would cry every time she couldn’t see him. Later, Sandeep suggested that, according to studies in developmental and child
psychology, her anxiety could be relieved if they gave her something familiar. These dolls were like the ones she hugged in the photos, so they counted as familiar objects.

They had then custom ordered dolls that mirrored the ones in the photos.

“Did you check this room?” Sidharth’s eyes moved calmly from the dolls to Deepak. “Remove everything
that belongs to me.”

“This is Sana’s room, why would your things be in here?!”

It took all of Deepak’s willpower to not roll his eyes in front of Sidharth.

Sidharth folded his hands behind his back, his posture straight and his expression stoic. “This is a military order.”

Deepak was tongue-tied, and had no choice but to answer loudly, “Yes, Sir!”

Military orders are absolute, so how could I possibly question it? But, this is Shehnaaz’s room. Can’t we just have an orderly comb through it? Deepak  rambled his complaints in his head.

Deepak was still hesitant, so Sidharth said firmly, “Be thorough.”

Fine, Deepak sighed, I’ll do it myself. Since the room had to be scoured and could leave no indication that anything had been touched, it could only be up to him, the unfortunate and
exceptionally meticulous personal
secretary. Deepak coughed before he held his head high and walked in. Shehnaaz’s room was actually sparse
and neatly organized. He carefully made his way through her belongings and even peeked into the bathroom
cabinets, a place a young lady would keep her personal items, but didn’t see anything that belonged to Sidharth.

“Tch, what a psycho. Why would a young lady have his manly things in her room.” Deepak secretly berated
Sidharth as he left the bathroom. He looked up to see Sidharth sitting on Shehnaaz’s bed and his feet immediately snapped together as he reported loudly,

“Reporting to Chief! This room does not contain your items!”

“You looked through everything?” Sidharth looked up at Deepak, “All the places? Without missing anything?”

Deepak scratched his head and cursed himself internally. Have I missed something? Sidharth usually asked these kinds of questions when he was about to reveal their mistakes. Deepak pressed his lips together and kept silent.

Sidharth stared at him as he reached a hand under Shehnaaz’s pillow to pull out a black T-shirt and waved it at
him. “What’s this then?”

Deepak’s eyes were about to pop out!
What the h*ll?! Why is there a man’s T-shirt under her pillow?!

Sidharth actually didn’t know why his shirt was there either, and even more so, why he had flipped her pillow over.

“Take it away.” Sidharth flung the large black T-shirt at Deepak.

Deepak had intended to take one last shot and question how the general knew it was his. It wasn’t as if Major General Shukla was the only one in the world to wear such a shirt! But, upon inspecting the tag on the shirt, Deepak
could only shut his mouth. It was really his. This was casual wear distributed by the military.

Considering Sidharth’s rank, all his items had a unique code.

Deepak rubbed his nose and began to comb through Shehnaaz’s closet again.

Sidharth got up to leave and went to his study to put something into the safe.

Deepak scrutinized the room several more times to confirm that there weren’t any more of Sidharth’s items before he secretly called Shehnaaz.

“Sana, why is the General’s T-shirt under your pillow?”

Shehnaaz had been eating in the cafeteria. “Oh? Those are my pajamas! Where else would I have them?”

“You use his T-shirt as pajamas?!” Deepak was even more shocked. “Are you serious? He didn’t even get you
pajamas?”

Shehnaaz’s face flushed. “Little
Brother Deepak, don’t freak out. It’s not what you think.”

“What am I thinking?” Deepak shoved the T-shirt in a plastic bag with resentment. “I’ll have to ask Rohit about how exactly he was taking care of you? Mr. Shukla might be busy, but Rohit isn’t!”

Shehnaaz hurriedly muffled the phone and turned towards the window, then said quietly, ” Little Brother Deepak, you misunderstand: I like wearing men’s T-shirts to sleep! They’re 100% cotton, breathable, and sweat absorbent. Plus, they’re also really comfy. I’ve been wearing my uncle’s
shirts as pajamas since I was 12, and I guess I just got used to it.”

Shehnaaz’s words were half true.
The truth was, no one had prepared pajamas for her when she started living with Sidharth. He was just a rugged bachelor and unfamiliar with the world of women, so to save trouble, he’d tossed a new black T-shirt from the Special Ops for her to use as pajamas. She wasn’t
accustomed to it in the beginning, but grew to like it after a while. Other than the one under her pillow that they found in the apartment, she had also hidden three or four more brand new black t-shirts that the military had distributed. Sidharth had probably forgotten all about this. In the past two years, Shehnaaz never appeared before him in pajamas. Sidharth also never went to her room.

Deepak confirmed and asked curiously, “Is it that comfy? I didn’t think so.”

Shehnaaz giggled, “Maybe you’ll find out once you give it a try?” Then she had suddenly realised, “Huh? Wait, how do you know I have my pajamas under my pillow?!”

Deepak laughed and closed the suitcase he had been organizing with a click. He said to Shehnaaz, “I have something to take care of, we’ll talk after.”

He hung up.

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I hope you enjoy reading it.
Love you all.