"i went with her on coffee date"
He informed alekh as he worked on his pizza slice.

"With whom
Dr.Shalini "?
Alekh mocked eating his own slice

"Yes "

And alekh choked on pizza.

Ud was dying to see his reaction...

Ud allowed him to get normal then filled him up with all the details...

Alekh end up grinning by the end

He is the first one ud had to tell...if anything happens in his life...

He know that his friends will never judge him...

"Ye asan nahi hoga ..."
Alekh tried to inform him

"You think I didn't thought of it
But I can't help it
It's been her , always....""

"Wo. Kya bolte english mein
I am happy for you".

Ud smiled....
He believes every word from that .

"Sun kma mein humne Jo harkat ki thi uski wajah se mam awkward na ho...
Isliye abhi aur kisi ko mat batana....
Thoda low key rakh...."

"Rajveer sir aur Naina ke jaise"

"Wo dono to vichitr prani hai
Unki bat mat kar
Unka to itna low key hai ke unhe bhi nahi pata hai ke dono date kkar rahe hai."

And both laughed hard on their friends expense

_______

It's been a 5 days since the reunion party
And both off them had exchange only couple of calls
And that too one of them was
'Call me when you reach home safe' call.

He was. Not sure how much right he hold
Exactly when he should call
What's the line

While she was struggling too.
Waiting for him to approach
And then from two days she is trying to decide a reasonable excuse to call him.

"Hii... Disturb to nahi kiya "

"Nahi bolo na "
Came his reply.....

"I got my hands on this book in library
Bipin....
Is it any good ...
I mean I know you read a lot"

"Yeah
I have read it
Its about Vikram sood
He was in Indian intelligence

He used to lead India's external intelligence agency called the Research and Analysis Wing, explains the secretive world of spies. He covers the Cold War period , discussing surveillance states, psychological warfare, cyberwarfare, and the process of gathering and using intelligence.

It's a peep into the world of spying...
You should give it a try "

He gave a brief and Naina smiled at his prompt ness on the topic...

"Ok I will
Thanks
So how is the new batch there in kma..."

She quickly thought of something to keep the call going.

"Mentally disturbing"
He snark and she chuckled

"There is something I need to tell you regarding new batch
I was gonna call you tonight"
He added with some business tone

"Kya "

"There is a cadet here
Purvi bisht....
I was a bit sceptical about her , so I dug
And guess what who she is...."

"Kaun "

"She is dr Ritu Mishra 's sister "

"What "?

"You stay away from her "
Was her first reaction...

"I mean why is she there and what does she want "

"Relax Naina
She use to be a super model and now she want to serve the country...
This is all I could get...
Nothing fishy till now "

"But you have to be vigilant "

"I will
I got to go
Meri class ka time ho. Rahaa hai"

"I will call you back"

"Yeah by"

"Bye"

__________

KMA
Next day he got a message from the orderly that he has a visitor

He went to check on waiting room and saw her in agitated body language

"Nana "?
He was happy surprised....

"Sorry for crashing like this "

"Yes but what made you come all the way
Aren't  you on leave ....
Not That I mind but ......"

"Wo actually main..."

She was fishing for any answer when he gave an analytical look and cracked the code....

"You are here to see her
Cadet bisht , am I right"

She was caught guilty, she nodded a yes and he shook his head in disbelief...

"Main kya karun tumhara"

"Listen
I can't rest until I am convinced that she is not  a threat to you...
I mean , what does she even want
Is she here to seek answers on her sisters death.... Like me

And if she finds out that it was you....
Then how is she gonna react
What are her feelings about all this
How much she knows "??

"And there are so many questions like this
Aren't you bothered by them...."?

"Naina breath "

And he starts breathing himself  as if teaching her to do the same

She took a long breathe and he made her sit on sofa holding her shoulders and sat beside her

Completely off topic something chime inside  her hearing her name from him
The way he takes her name it feels nice.

But she shook that thought away.

He pressed her hand for reassurance as he said

"Naina stop being on survival mode....
The worst is over
Stop exhausting yourself"

"I am sorry
I am a lot of work....
Ap irritate nahi ho jate ho mujhse ""

She asked with a tiring tone... And he gave her a wonderful smile.

"Tum Naveen se kum irritating ho"
He said with so much honesty that he earned a. Smack from her

"Did you just hit your senior "

He faked getting offenceive

"Duhhh i have even shot you once"

"Yeah I forgot"
He said as if remembering it and then agreeing to it.

She laughed at this and he joined her too.

The laugh got toned down and they saw eachother....and realised how far they have came ....
All the trauma they had went through
Now they are joking about it.

This was the moment they realised that they. Have become a lot more than just junior senior officers.

He saw how she looks at him nowadays.
With that longing in her looks.
She gets soft for him...
She smiles for him...

And then he realised that they are still holding hands
And no one is caring about it...
Infact she has made a grip too on his fingers.

Maybe they should let go their hands but just few seconds more he thought
So that he can imprint  her feel on his skin.

And as she acknowledged his hands on hers .... She felt elevated...

His touch .....

How will it feel to have his hands on her hairs
She thought and imagined his fingers running through her hairs and then her jawline.

He pulled back his hands and she let him go.

"Let's go to the mess
We can have coffee and cadets will be there for lunch
I will point her out for you
Take a look
It will help you so that your imagination don't go wild."
He suggested and she nodded .

They sat there sipping coffee as the first year cadets entered one by one and he signal her as cadet purvi came in

Naina observed her , overheard her
She seems to be just like any other girl she thought....

While Rajveer was just glad to sit with her
For. Coffee....
To be able to sit with her and not getting judge is more than enough.

_________

As he walked Her to her car it took every ounce in his body to stop himself from side hugging her to say goodbye
Or to just kiss her hand

Instead he said

"Drive safe and ghar pohoch ke call karna "

She nodded in agreement

"Naina i have been meaning to ask you something"

"Yeah"?

"Have you told your parents yet about me and Naveen and everything "

He saw her face colour changing...

"Haven't thought about it
I mean is it really necessary to put them through this...
I don't wana give them any visuals to cry upon..."

"You think they will hate me"
He made a statement

"I don't know what they will do
And I can't afford them to hate you... I don't wana take this chance...
I wanna keep you in my life and I am not gonna do anything to jeopardize that."

"Han par aisa karna to sahi nah hoga na"
He contradict her

"Har bar sahi karna zaruri nahi hota hai
Kabhi kabhi wo karna chahiye jo humare liye achcha ho"

She replied instantly
Earning a beautiful look by him.

"It sounds appealing but
I don't agree"

"That's what huda was talking about "
She remarked

And he raised his eyebrows

"To make you drunk to see the normal you"
And involuntarily she just pulled his cheeks out of affection...

Making him surprise
And as she drove off he just can't stop grinning....

_______

"What's with you smiling over your phone all the time, nowadays "

Abhimanyu appeared suddenly in front of his table and he got startled and immediately locked his phone and. Kept down.

"Han kya , matlab"
He stumbled

Abhimanyu  was smiling with a hint of tease
And Rajveer knew that he doesn't have any concrete evidence against him.

"Relax
I was here to just share the news that
Advocate adwani wants to see us regarding some paper work of Naveen's case..."

"Par wo sab to complete ho gaya tha na "

"Just some technical glitch I guess...
Nothing serious
Plus you get to see your protege again..
Yeaayyyy"

And he again got a mini heart attack

"Chauhan sahab ca u please talk like a normal person...."

"Hum normal nahi hai??
You are pinning over a girl from God knows how long and still you have no guts to do something about it
And I am not normal "

Rajveer immediately checked his. Surroundings
To see if there is any risk off getting overheard.

"Abhi kya bol raha hai tu"

"Raj please deny mat karna
Hum apko aise corner nahi karna chahte the par enough is enough now .
I mean if I keep pretending that I don't understand anything than I will look like a fool.
Please don't insult my intelligence

You think we people don't know "

Rajveer realised that he is trapped now
There is not point in denying...

He relaxed hiis body which was tensed till now and gave a sigh of defeat.

"You think I am a bad person"
He said as he raised his head which was bowed down

"Why would I think like that raj"

Abhimanyu touched his arm in reassurance.

"You know like
She is younger and
Friend's sister and
My x student
And the list can go on...."

Abhimanyu snorted a laugh

"My misery is amusing to you "

"Misery????
Raj that girl is completely into you...
Have you seen how she looks at you
Think so high off you.

You should hear the way she talks about you
Aisa lagta hai bhagwan vishnu ke 8th avtar hai ap.
Just tell her how you feel."

"What if she gets uncomfortable
Itni mushkil se humare beech sab theek hua hai
I don't wana scare her off."

He rolled his eyes on him...

"Listen jaisa chal raha hai
Waisa hi chalne de....
I don't wana risk and loose everything "

"And what if You risk. And  win everything "

He left the mess on that note and raj went back on his phone to check her reply.
Pondering over what abhi said .
___________