Thanks to RJ and Yogini for the ideas they gave me for a chapter! I think that I'm going to go with that very soon! For now, here's the next one, I know it's not too romantic, but it's more of a joining chapter. Sorry I didn't post yesterday, I wasn't feeling too good but am back to normal today!

Chapter 29:

After the brief celebration for Raj's promotion, things returned to normal at the academy. Major Nair was just as tough on the cadets, BC was just as strict about disciplinary standards, Suriji and Lolita kept flirting and Raj and Shalini kept trying to keep the cadets out of trouble. Meanwhile, Naina and her friends had been told to write an assignment on an aspect of the Indian Army's history, something which was met with by universal groans, except by Ali who was quite excited. Eventually after much complaining to Lolitaji, it was decided that they could write the assignment in pairs instead of on their own. In the end Ali and Pooja chose to work together, Huda with Yudi and Naina with Alekh. At least that way, there was one strong partner in each pair.

Naina knew that Alekh wasn't going to be much good at the actual writing part, so she got him to start researching in the library. As they sat there in the afternoon, scribbling down notes, Alekh finally closed the book in disgust.

"Naina, I can't do this anymore." He told her, "My head is about to fall off from all this reading."

Naina laughed, "Alright we'll take a break then, we're quite far ahead as it is." Dropping her pen, she raised her hands above her head and stretched, yawning.

Alekh looked around to see that nobody was within hearing distance and then turned to Naina and whispered "Do we really have to do all this? Couldn't we get Rajveer Sir to help us?"

"Alekh!" Naina said, horrified. "You know that he's not going to give me any special favours just because, well, you know."

Alekh rolled his eyes, "Just forget about your morals and go and ask, all that you need to do is smile at him and he'll agree."

Naina whacked Alekh on the arm quite hard, leaving him rubbing his arm and glaring at her. "Shut up, Alekh!" she told him, "We are not asking Raj… Rajveer Sir for help and that's final. You and I can do this assignment by ourselves."

Alekh groaned, and opened up the book again, wishing that Naina didn't have quite so many principles.

Naina was just about to open her book too when an orderly came in. "Naina Singh, you have a call." He told her.

Smiling, Alekh closed his book once again. "It's a sign," he told Naina, "We're not meant to work on this any more today."

"Fine," Naina told him, "We'll stop for today, but you'd better be ready to work hard tomorrow."

Gathering her notes, she left for the phone and picked it up.

"Hello?" She said, picking up the receiver.

"Hello Naina Beti," It was her mother on the other end of the line.

"Hi Ma, how are you? How's Baba?"

"We're fine, Naina, how are you?"

"Everything is going well here, Ma. What made you call?"

"Well we thought we should call you as today we received a good proposal for you, Beti."

Naina froze, this was the last thing that she'd wanted to hear. "But Ma, I…"

"Just listen to the whole thing, Beti." Her mother told her, "The boy has a business but his father was in the army, so they have nothing against having a daughter in law in the army. It's a very good proposal, you should think about it. The boy is good looking and well settled, you would have a good life."

"But Ma, I'm not ready to get married, you know that. My training at KMA isn't even over yet, and after that I want to focus on my career." Naina prayed that her mother would accept this as a good excuse.

"Naina, you've got less than five months left at KMA," her mother informed her, "And marriage won't stop your career. We can hold the engagement after you graduate."

"But Ma I want to study more!" Naina told her, "I've decided that I want to become a doctor in the army so I'll be going onto medical training!" She had said the first thing that came into her head without even thinking about it.

"But Naina, this proposal…"

"Please, Ma, I don't want to think about any proposals until my medical training is complete, please accept what I'm asking and refuse the proposal."

"Well alright," her mother said reluctantly, "But if you change your mind then let us know soon."

"I won't, Ma." Naina informed her, "Say hi to Baba for me, I've got to go now."

Hanging up the phone she groaned, not able to believe that her mother had to start thinking about proposals for her at this time.

Naina grabbed her notes again and headed for Raj's office, knocking before she opened the door."

"Hey Naina," he said, looking up from what he was working on, "What's up?"

"I've decided to do medical training after graduation." She informs him, sinking down into one of the chairs.

"That's wonderful," Raj tells her, sounding a bit surprised, "When did you decide that?"

"Just now, when my mother told me that they wanted to accept a proposal for me."

"Ah," Raj replies, "So you said it to avoid the proposal. But Seriously, Naina, I think it's a good idea for you to do medical training, you've always been good at it."

"Well I just said it as an excuse, but the more that I think about it, the more I think I wouldn't mind becoming a doctor."

They smile at each other and Naina rubs her forehead to try and get rid of her headache.

"You look tired." Raj tells her.

"It's this history assignment I'm working on with Alekh, it's really difficult."

"I know you'll be able to get it done, Naina, and that you'll do it well too."

Naina laughed, remembering Alekh's words from earlier. "Alekh's sick of working on it, he wanted me to ask you for help. He seems to think that I can get anything I want just by smiling at you."

"He's right," Raj said, grinning at her flirtatiously, "You could get anything you wanted simply by smiling at me. But the difference is that I know you and I know that you won't do that."

Naina smiled back at him, he knew her perfectly. Just as she knew that she could easily take advantage of him, he also knew that she never ever would.

"I hardly ever get the chance to see you anymore." She tells him in a sad tone of voice, "I wish there was a way that we could get away from KMA for awhile and just spend some time together."

"Well your prayers just might be answered." Raj told her, with a smile on his face that clearly said he knew something that she didn't.

"And how is that?" Naina asked him, immediately curious to know what he was talking about.

"Wait and see," Raj told her, "You'll find out within the next few days."

Making a face at him to say that she was disappointed, Naina wandered over to Raj's chair and bent down to kiss him on the cheek. When he went to pull her closer, she moved away quickly.

"Then you'll find out what it's like to kiss me after a few days." She told him mischievously, and left the room.

Raj sighed, he just hoped that BC would make the announcement sooner rather than later.