A/N : No name came to my head, so commoner again.😅

Flashbacks in Italics

......

He hadn't been home in years.

He had come back from the headquaters, and called Abhimanyu to give him the news.
Abhi wasn't surprised at his listless voice.

Raj : Um...wo..main..ghar ja raha hu...kuch dino ke liye.

Abhi : Raj, aap akele ....I mean...do you think this...

Raj (cutting him) : Ha Abhi..kuch wakt akeli rehna chahta hu.

Abhi : Thik hai Raj, aapse baad me milta hu.

Abhi had relayed the information to the rest, and everyone was overjoyed, but surprised as to why Raj had left alone.

Only Naina and Huda knew about his indecision about staying in the army, and were worried.

......

Raj is driving a rented car, to his home, near the outskirts of Delhi, about 2 hours away from the headquaters.

He was trying not to think about Naina, but was failing.
He wondered what she had done, to convince Captain Salve.
Whatever it must be, he was sure it must not have been easy.
She had gone through so much trouble, even after knowing his indesicion about staying in the army.
Just for his honour.
And he hadn't even talked to her, let alone thank her, before leaving.
Trying to stop thinking about her, he diverted his mind to where he was going.
It was a pretty road, and he remembered how much he had loved comming home.

He, Naveen and Abhimanyu had spent some time there together, after  their graduation, as it was peaceful and secluded.
Raj's grandmom was alive then. He had stayed with her, since the age of 15, when his parents had died.

His grandmom had died soon after that visit, unfortunately for him, that was the last time, in a long time he would visit home.

Raj hadn't been able to bring himself to go home to a empty house, and after Naveen's death, he never had the time.
He was too busy struggling, juggling his duties with Naveen's case, to even think about taking time off.

And now, for the first time in years, he found himself with nothing to do, and unable to decide whether to stay, or leave.

Emmersed in his thoughts, he arrived all too soon.
Getting down, his eyes travelled to the severely overgrown lawn.

Abhi angrily chasing a laughing Raj and Naveen, across the lawn, who had poured water down his bugle, as he was attempting to play a new tune on it.

He strode over, and unlocked a rusty lock.

A 17 year old Raj, hugging his granny, as he came home from his hostel, for vacations.

Sighing, Raj dropped shut the door, hung his keys and walked along, passing the sitting room, on the way to his bedroom.
Everything was covered with a layer of dust.

Raj lying lazily on the couch, watching TV, while his granny fussed over how thin he had become, while simultaneously complaining he spent too much time lazing around, and too little studying.

A smile came to his lips involuntarily, at the memory, and shaking his head, still smiling, he went on to his room.

Raj sitting there, alone, back from the funeral of his only living relative, having refused his friends offer to go with them, preferring to be alone.

The smile disappeared from his face, as he dumped his bag in a corner, and with a sigh, started to clean up the room a bit, change the sheets, etc, before falling on the bed exhausted, and falling into a deep sleep.

After all, he had some 5 years of sleep to catch up on.