Days passed, as he started to realise just how much alive he was feeling these days.
It wasn't just due to the fact that he had the opportunity to be close to her, it was also due to the intellectual stimulation, that her company provided. Something he did not even realised how much he had missed.

Till now, she had managed to surprise him every single time he came up with a new subject for her to study.
Soon, he found himself lost in lengthy discussions with her, while on field, about not only the things he was supposed to teach her, but about many random interesting subjetcts too.

When he had met her that night, he had been tensed.
Tensed about the awkwardness between them, and how it might affect their work.
Tensed that he might never be able to converse freely with her, like he used to, earlier. After all, now that justice was served to Naveen, what topic did they have in common, to talk on?

And then there was his resolution of staying away from her, romantically.

What with so many things on his mind, no wonder, he was overwhelmed, and therefore, a little too cold towards her.
He had felt guilty about it, yet did not know how to remedy it.
He struggling to behave in a way that was professional enough, yet polite enough.

However, his Lt Naina Ah Singh, did not fail to amaze him, as always, yet again.
He found she was interested in subjects which interested him too, she was eager to learn from his areas of expertise, and though new to this field, her ideas were worth something.
He found conversation with her came easily, and often, they would be in the middle of heated discussion, before he realised he was supposed to be playing it cool.

And as days passed, he started realising, that he hardly knew the real Naina.

He had not known, that she had wished to pursue Theoretical Physics, before Naveen's death.
He had not known, that behind her tough girl image, there was a nerd, who loved comics, as much as he did.
This had come as a shock to both, and proved to be a huge icebreaker, as both excitedly discussed and questioned the other, about their favourites.
Their conversation had almost returned to the normal carefree way of KMA days, that day, and Naina had thought, maybe it would stay that way.
She had been dissapointed though, when Raj did not talk as openly, the the next day.
Yet, it was progress.

To say Raj was confused by his own self, was an understatement.
Just a couple of weeks, and he found himself so used to her company, he often wondered, how dull existence must be, before her.
He had always been a geek and a nerd, making him quite out of place even during his academy days, as what intrigued him, did not even exist for others.
Naveen and Abhi, though his best friends, did not share much of these interests with him, which anyways took a backseat, during his training.

Now, after so many years, Naina's company was like the first whiff of spring air, cool, brisk and refreshing, reminding him of forgotten interests, reminding him of his lost zeal for life.

He found himself falling for her, all over again.
This time even harder, as this time, he was falling for her with full consciousness of each of the qualities he admired in her.

Maybe, Abhi was right. Maybe, all that was needed was kindness, to overcome the bitterness he felt, to restore his trust in humanity.

And he did not know, but kindness is always around the corner.

......

A/N : Do apologize for this non dialoguey update. Will update soon, hopefully, and that will be a dialoguey one, promise :).