Chapter 28:

By 6pm all of the cadets were in their rooms getting ready for the night ahead of them. Naina was glad that she and Pooja had gone shopping for clothes when they had been together during the holidays, otherwise she would've had nothing suitable to wear. Naina couldn't believe how excited and girlish she felt, as if she was a teenager getting ready for her first date. It wasn't even as if her and Raj would be alone, considering that all of her friends would be there too, and Dr Shalini as well. Pooja and Naina were glad she was coming along, sometimes they got sick of being the only girls in a crowd full of boys.

For the next hour or so, they acted like typical young girls getting ready to go out, trying to work out which jewelry and shoes would go well with their outfits and how they should do their hair and makeup.

"You know Naina," Pooja told her, as they were both getting ready, "I've really missed doing this since I left Punjab University. I used to really enjoy getting dressed up and going out with my friends."

"Me too, Pooja." Naina agreed with her, "I know that we're training to be soldiers, but surely there can't be anything wrong with dressing up once in awhile."

Then the girls continued their preparations, helping each other to get ready.

At five to seven, Raj was already waiting by his jeep, where they had agreed to meet. It wasn't long before the boys joined him, and a few more minutes after that, Dr Shalini arrived wearing a simple yet nice flowery print dress.

"You look very nice, ma'am." Yudi told her.

"Thank you, Cadet Yudi, that's very sweet of you." She replied, smiling at him.

All of the boys were dressed quite casually in jeans or pants with a t-shirt or a button up shirt. Raj was wearing jeans with a black, short sleeved shirt and a leather jacket.

Raj checked his watch, it was already seven and Naina and Pooja had yet to appear. What could be taking them so long?

Seeing his expression, Shalini smiled, "Major, they're girls." She informed him, "They're going to take longer than you to get ready."

"Oh come on," Huda replied, "Are we going to wait for them all night? Somebody should go and get them."

"I'll do it," Shalini volunteered, and left to get the girls.

A few minutes later she returned with them, and Raj had to admit, they had both put their time to good use. The rest of the boys obviously agreed, as Huda let out a whistle which made both Pooja and Naina laugh.

Ali was staring at Pooja as if transfixed, not able to believe how beautiful she looked. She was wearing a blue and white print halterneck dress with part of her hair pinned up. Pooja quickly walked over to join him, she didn't mind that Ali hadn't said anything yet. She knew he was too shy to say anything in front of the others, and the look on his face was all the praise she needed.

As for Naina…

Raj had always known she was beautiful, but he could tell that tonight she had made an effort. She wasn't overdressed or wearing too much make up, but it had always been the simplicity of her beauty that he had loved. She had on a black dress with a full skirt that went down to her knee, and she had kept her hair loose.

Raj couldn't tell Naina what he thought in front of everybody else but he gave her a look which clearly said he couldn't wait to get her alone later on. Naina blushed and looked away, which was noticed by Shalini. She nudged Yudi and they grinned at each other.

Everybody piled into the jeep, allowing Shalini to sit in the front seat besides Raj since she was their teacher. The ride was fairly uneventful, except for Pooja and Alekh getting into a fight because he had accidentally stood on her foot while getting into the back. Raj turned the radio on, and they clapped and sung along to some of the songs, all of them excited about a night outside of the academy. On the way they picked up Neelu, making the back of the van even more squashed, which also made it even more fun as they all laughed, trying to make room for each other.

Raj drove them to a restaurant on the outskirts of Ambala where there would also be a live band later that evening so that they could dance. He intended to make it as good a night as possible for all of his cadets. Not just Naina, all of them had a special place in his heart. He was so proud of the way they'd matured over the last year and knew they were going to become great soldiers. They deserved to enjoy themselves once in awhile.

Raj told them to order whatever they wanted off the menu, and everyone started deciding what they wanted, with Huda listing a number of quite expensive dishes.

"Dude!" Yudi, who was sitting next to him hissed, "Don't take too much advantage of your teacher!"

"Arre Yudi-o," Huda said, in that confident way of his, "I'm not taking advantage of my teacher, I'm taking advantage of our Phoolan's boyfriend." Unfortunately he said it a bit louder than he'd intended and the whole table heard. Raj choked on the water he'd been drinking, and began a coughing fit, leading Naina to start rubbing his back to try and get him to stop.

Everybody else tried not to laugh as Neelu leaned closer to Alekh and whispered, "Major Rajveer is Naina's boyfriend, since when? Now that's hatke."

"I'll tell you about it later." Alekh whispered back, and then trying to distract everyone from what had just happened said, "So Sir, can we have alcohol too?"

Raj stopped coughing at this and said, "Most definitely not, Alekh. You can drink if you want to, but I'm not going to encourage you to do so by paying for it."

"But Sir," Huda said sounding disappointed, "What about a toast?"

"We'll have one with soft drink." He said, in a tone that clearly said he wasn't going to argue about this. "I clearly remember what happened the last time you all went out of the academy and got drunk, and I'm not beating up any bikers tonight."

Everybody laughed at this except Shalini and Neelu who had no idea what they were talking about, which led to the story being explained.

"So that's why you kept going into the bedroom while we were there!" Shalini exclaimed, finally understanding it.

The food arrived then and everybody started eating, enjoying their food. They made a couple to toasts (Alekh grumbling about the fact that he had to do it with soft drink) and by the time they had finished the band had started playing.

"Okay guys," Raj informed them, "We've got to be back in the academy by 11pm, so do whatever you like until 10:30 when we'll be leaving." He then thought about what he had just said, "And by anything you like, I mean anything except getting into any fights."

Alekh and Neelu were the first to leave the table, heading over to the bar. It didn't take long after that for Huda to spot a couple of girls sitting by themselves and go over to flirt with them. Ali and Pooja were talking quietly and thinking about going to dance, and Shalini and Yudi were chatting in a very friendly and funny way. Raj thought that it was the right moment and that Naina and he could finally leave. He turned to find Naina watching the band, and humming along to the song.

"Want to go for a walk?" he asked her, Naina smiled and nodded her head.

Raj tapped Shalini on the shoulder, "We're just, uh, going for a walk." He explained, "Could you keep an eye on everybody else while I'm gone."

"Sure," Shalini replied with a smile, "Enjoy yourselves and make sure you don't go too far." Raj groaned at the double meaning in her words, giving her a look that clearly said he wasn't amused.

He offered a hand to Naina, who took it shyly, checking to see that nobody was watching them first. She needn't have worried, because everybody was involved in what they were doing, and none of the other customers knew who they were anyway.

The night air outside was cold as they walked through the restaurant's gardens until they were far enough away that the band's music could barely be heard. The night air was slightly cold and Naina shivered, as the dress she was wearing wasn't made of the thickest material.

Taking his jacket off, Raj offered it to Naina which made her laugh even as she accepted it and put it on.

"What are you laughing about?" he asked her.

"Just that it's a very filmy thing for you to do." She said, smiling at him teasingly.

"Oh, so you think that I don't know how to be filmy," he teased her back, taking a step closer. "Well, madam, I think that perhaps it's time for me to show you exactly how filmy I can be."

Laughing, Naina went to take a step away, intending to make him chase her, but her heel got caught in the grass and fell off her foot.

Raj quickly reached her, and placed his hands on her back under the coat, pulling her closer to him.

"Raj, my shoe…" Naina whispered, already half distracted by the intense way he was looking at her.

"Just forget about the shoe." He told her, and pulled her even closer until her body was pressed tightly against his, he could feel her chest moving as she breathed, making him more and more aroused with every movement.

Bending down, he quickly captured her lips with his, kissing her deeply. Naina forgot all about her shoe, and the fact that her foot was becoming wet on the grass and kissed him back, allowing him full access to her mouth as heat spread throughout her entire body.

Finally breaking away, Raj took one of his hands from her back to entangle his fingers through her hair. "You look beautiful," he whispers to her, "You knew I would want your hair to be loose didn't you?"

Naina smiles, an obvious yes. Brushing her hair back from her neck with his hand, he leans forward and kisses her just beneath her jaw, where he can feel her pulse beating rapidly. Leaning his head against her, his mouth close by to her temple, Raj sways back and forth with her, moving in time to the beat of the music that he can barely hear in the distance. They stay that way for a few minutes until Naina suddenly exclaims "Ow!" and breaks away from him.

"What is it?" Raj asked her, confused about whether he had accidentally done something.

"I stepped on a stone," she informs him, "I told you that my shoe had fallen off!" Laughing slightly he leans down and helps her with the shoe, as she places one hand on his shoulder to balance.

"Better?" he asks, and she nods. Winding one arm around Naina's waist, they walk a bit further until they find a bench where they sit down. He brushes a lock of hair away from her eyes and just sits there with a look of contentment on his face, he would be happy to just look at her all night if he could get away with it.

"Raj," Naina breaks the spell, "What's going to happen to us?"

"What do you mean?" he asks her, even though he already has an idea what it is that she's talking about.

"We've got less than a year left until I finish KMA. After that you'll be assigned somewhere else and I have no idea where I'll be. How often will we be able to see each other?" She sounds so worried that he leans forward and kisses her lightly on the cheek to reassure her, then takes both her hands in his.

"Naina, that's the way that an army life is." He informs her, "Once we're married then we'll be able to request a posting together, but until then we might be apart from each other for months at a time. It's not going to be enjoyable but we'll have to endure it, it's what all couples go through when one or both of them are in the army."

Naina nodded, she hadn't thought about this before falling in love with him, and it was too late now to change her mind. Both of them had selected this life, and they had to deal with the bad points as well as the good ones.

"Look, Naina." Raj continues, "Don't worry too much. Even if I'm posted far away from you, we'll both get leave. We can visit each other then. We've already been through a lot together, we'll survive this too."

Naina nods, and then leans her head on his shoulder, content to just sit like this for awhile, knowing that they might not get another opportunity to do so again for awhile. Raj places his arm around her shoulders and leans his head on top of hers. He sometimes forgets that Naina's not as used to life in the army as he is, that would be worried about what the future will bring. To tell the truth, he's not keen on leaving her behind for months either, but he knows that it will only be temporary. They have their whole lives ahead of them, and he hopes that one day they'll be able to look back at the difficult times and laugh about them. Eventually Naina notices that Raj is shivering slightly and looks up.

"You're cold, aren't you?" she asks him, "Why didn't you say anything?"

Raj laughs, "Because I knew that as soon as I did, you'd make us go back inside."

"Well you were right," Naina tells him, "Let's go back in before you get a cold. The others must be wondering where we are, anyway."

"I bet they haven't even noticed we're gone." Raj tells her.

He's right, by the time they get back, everybody is on the dance floor enjoying themselves.

"Well, shall we?" Raj asks her, and Naina grins, taking off his jacket and hanging it on the back of a chair. Making their way over to the rest of their friends, they begin dancing to the fast music, enjoying themselves.

Finally it was 10:30 and time to go, although everybody was extremely reluctant to. Raj herded them all towards the jeep and everybody piled in, this time Alekh stepped on Neelu's foot instead, but she didn't mind too much. After they had dropped Neelu at home, the rest of them headed back to the academy. However a nasty surprise awaited them at the entrance as they walked in still laughing and chatting, there stood Major Nair.

"Captain," he said, "Exactly what do you think you're doing, coming in at this time with these cadets,"

"Well Major Nair," Raj replied, perfectly calmly, "Firstly, I think you've forgotten that my proper title is Major. Secondly, I had taken these cadets out to celebrate my promotion as a thank you for their role in it. I feel they deserved it. Now if you think I've broken any rules, then I'll be waiting to inform you which ones they are." At the astonished look on Major Nair's face, Raj had to stop himself from grinning. "And as you can see, Dr Shalini was also with me to help supervise the cadets, and we can ensure you that they behaved themselves properly. Now, I think it would be good if the cadets headed up to bed as they have a busy day tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Sir." Everybody replied, and quickly headed off towards their hostels before Major Nair could say anything else. Nair scowled at Raj, but realising that he couldn't actually accuse him of anything, stomped back to his room.

Raj and Shalini grinned at each other.

Raj realised that Huda had been right, the best bit about him being a Major really was that he didn't have to listen to Major Nair anymore.