Love Amidst Chaos

Chapter 11

Even till the next day, the cadets were stuck on the puzzle given by their Captain Sir. 

Rajveer on the other hand, was quite distracted. He couldn't focus on a single thing. His gut feeling was telling that something bad was going to happen today. And somehow, he had a feeling that it would involve Naina.

The cadets were gathered in the middle of the jungle for today's drill. 

"Since, last time we had some over-smart people over here. We have to repeat this drill again." Major Nair taunted Naina.

Naina on the other hand just glared at him. It happened 3 days ago but still he wouldn't leave a chance to provoke her.

'You just wait, Cadet Naina Singh Ahluwalia. One of these days, your facade will fall and everyone else will see that you too, have the blood of a traitor. I will not allow traitors like you to destroy the sanctity of this academy.' Major Nair smirked at his own thoughts.

(I always felt that Major Nair was a bit uptight regarding the rules and regulations of the academy. I am not justifying his behavior. But somehow, trying to decipher it. Therefore, I personally feel that the reason why he hated Naina so much was because to him, she was the sister of a traitor, which for him, unfortunately was a traitor itself. And hence, his intentions were always to kick her out of the academy and possibly 'reveal her real reason' for joining the academy which could have earned him a promotion and maybe some good stats.)

The drill began like before. Only this time, Naina was paired up with Cadet Alekh Sharma. If Naina was short-tempered then Alekh was a simmering volcano, waiting to explode.

Ever since he came in the academy, he was at the center of constant jabs of his course-mates, who somehow believed that their speculations were far above than the decisions of the Army. They couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that the Army allowed a prisoner like him to join the academy.

It wouldn't be wrong to say that everyone was hiding their own secrets. It was only a matter of time until they are discovered.

Naina glanced at Alekh who was standing passively and staring blankly ahead. All these days, Naina never talked to him. She wasn't sure how to even strike a conversation with someone she barely knew. But that's what the Army is all about. You just have trust each other. Once you are in there, there are no strangers... only your team.

So, she just took a deep breath and put out her hand in front of herself.

"Hi, I am Naina."

Alekh just stared at her hand and then ignored the handshake. Naina put her hand down, not in anger, just a bit of disappointment.

"Jab tu apun ka naam jaanti-ich hai aur apun tera naam jaanta-ich to ye sab magajmaari kaiko?" Alekh said in his low gruff voice. (When you already know my name and I already know yours, then why bother with the formalities?)

Naina looked at him, unsure what to say, "Well, maybe because we never formally met."

Suddenly, they heard a snicker behind them. Huda along with the girl on his team was standing there. He was shaking with anger, or was it jealousy in his eyes?

"Look Huda, that's why I was telling you not to doubt Sir's decision. See, they both look very comfortable with each other. After all a traitor and a murderer do belong with each other." The girl said as she stared at the latter team.

Naina almost took a step towards the girl but was stopped by a voice behind her. "Topper khali fokat muh chalane se nahi banegi.. jaa nikal aur jaa ke uski chaplusi kar." (You won't become a topper by spewing nonsense... Go and be a teacher's pet.)