Chapter Twenty One
The next time that Sherry sees Captain Abhimanyu is two days after her acquittal on her morning jog. They hadn't had a class together the previous day and he had been absent from each of the meals she had taken in the cafeteria.
He's there as they round a bend away from the academy, stretching, and she almost expects him to turn away or start in the opposite direction when he sees them approach. She wouldn't blame him really, whether his avoidance has been based on worry for his career or due to the bombshell she'd dropped on him the day before.
Does he worry that she might expose him somehow, is that why he's stayed away? Whatever the reason is, it's affected her, even as she's tried to pretend that it hasn't.
They slow down as they approach him, while Captain Abhimanyu stays fixed in his place, not intending to run away after all.
"Good morning, cadets." He greets them and Naina and Pooja politely call out their greetings in return. Sherry waits. "Would you mind if I borrowed Cadet Sherry for a moment?"
Naina looks questioningly at Sherry, checking to see if she's happy to be left alone with him and Sherry nods. "Wait for me just ahead then we'll go on together."
They jog on, Pooja looking back curiously until they've turned the corner and are out of sight.
"You were waiting for me here." Sherry comments.
"Yes, I was."
"Because that's not inappropriate at all you know, memorising a student's timetable so that you can meet them in private."
Sherry places her hands on her hips, eyebrows raised as Abhimanyu sputters.
"How do you always do this to me?"
"You were the one waiting for me hidden in the forest. If you wanted to talk to me you could've come to see me anytime over the past two days."
"It's not that I didn't want to." Abhimanyu starts quickly, taking a step towards her. "I wanted to be there when you were released but Naveen warned me to stay away. He thinks it's better if I'm not seen with you at the moment."
"Due to the effect on your reputation?" Sherry tilts her head, looking up at him. "I would've understood, you just needed to tell me that. There's no need to avoid me."
"Uh, not quite in the way you're thinking." Abhimanyu pauses. "Things got a bit heated in the meeting after Dr Mishra's session with you. I accused her of bias and in return she suggested I was a little too partial towards you."
"Well you are, aren't you?" Sherry asks matter of factly. "You've made it clear that you support me, that shouldn't have been a surprise."
Abhimanyu coughs self consciously. "I think she meant to suggest another type of partiality."
"Oh." Sherry is not the type of girl to blush and she hopes desperately that she's not going to start now. "And you thought the best way to shut down those rumours was to meet me in private in the academy grounds?"
"No, I..." Abhimanyu sighs. "Would you stop doing that?"
"Doing what?"
"Deflecting any type of emotion with smart comments!"
"Are you sure it's not just because I keep embarrassing you?" Sherry mutters but she holds up her hands in surrender to show she'll try. "Why did you come here to meet me?"
"Because I didn't want you to think precisely what you have been thinking," Abhimanyu takes another step towards her. "That I'd abandoned you to save my own skin. I don't give up on the people I care about, so I want you to know that I'm still here for you. It's just important that we're not seen together at the moment, I don't want either Dr Mishra or Major Bhargav twisting it into something else to use against either of us."
Sherry nods seriously. "I can understand that. I'll avoid approaching you unless it's something important. Why can't we just speak normally though like you do with your other students? What does Captain Naveen object to in that?"
"Ah." Abhimanyu pauses, slightly self conscious. "He says I'm far too much of an open book, the truth about how I feel is usually written on my face."
Sherry stares at Abhimanyu and wishes that she could not read him quite so clearly.
"I've been told," she swallows, her throat dry. "That I'm far too hard to read, that I keep everything hidden."
"I would agree to that. Occasionally I think I get a glimpse though." Abhimanyu's smile is warm and Sherry finds herself smiling in return.
"One day, when it's safe, I'll tell you everything." She promises him. "Until then maybe it would be better if you were to take a few pages out of my book instead."
Abhimanyu nods and Sherry tries to smother her smile, turning towards the path and beginning to jog. She doesn't look back at him to see if he's watching.
Naina and Pooja are waiting around the bend, stretching, and they straighten up when they see her, joining her on the path once again.
"What did Captain Abhimanyu want?" Pooja asks, unable to contain her curiosity.
"He wanted to warn me not to look for information about my brother, that they're waiting for me to break the rules so that they can trap me."
"That was good of him. He always knows the correct messages to send you!" Pooja is satisfied with the response but Naina gives her a sharp look, and Sherry knows it won't be the last time they discuss it.
/
"Captain Naveen!"
Naveen quickly hides the instinctive wince that comes to his face as he hears Ritu's voice. He'd managed to buy himself two days time since promising her that he would come to find her and he knows that it's past time he confronted his own concerns.
"Dr Ritu." He greets her, trying to keep his expression relaxed.
"I see that you're back to Doctor." Ritu comments, her tone downcast, her expression almost worried as if she's holding it back and Naveen falters.
He might be wrong, he could be.
"And you're back to Captain."
She gives him a hesitant smile. "I wasn't sure where we stood anymore after you avoided me for the past two days."
"I needed some time to get my head together before we spoke." Naveen responds honestly, he owes her that much for whatever they've shared. "Shall we walk towards the grounds as we talk?"
They walk in silence until they're out of the academy, conscious of the students milling around in the midst of their own discussions.
"Are you upset that I took Brigadier Chandook's side during the investigation?" Ritu asks him, and Naveen realises that something else he's always liked about her is that she gets straight to the point.
"I was disappointed that you seemed to have already made up your mind before any investigation started." Naveen responds honestly. "I had expected you to examine both sides and be fair in your judgement."
"And were you and Captain Abhimanyu fair in your judgement?" Ritu asks bluntly. "You had also already made up your minds before the investigation."
"I would argue that that's a different case."
"How so?"
"We've both had far more opportunities to interact with Cadet Sherry than you have. We've seen her in both classes and drills, while you've only had one session so far with the cadets and have only interacted in detail with those who have chosen to visit you. Our teaching duties have allowed Chauhan and I to understand who she is, which is why I was never concerned that she would cause any damage to the academy."
"Is that the real reason? Or is it your friend's unprofessional attachment towards her?"
Naveen sees it now, in the hardening of Ritu's eyes, the expression of contempt in the twisting of the corner of her mouth. She hides it just as quickly but he's seen it, right when he needed to in order to remember why this confrontation is necessary in the first place.
"Why would you even think that? Abhimanyu has been a mentor to Sherry since she entered the academy, he's tried to guide her so that she can complete her training successfully, knowing the challenges she would face. There's nothing inappropriate in that and no reason why he wouldn't stand in her defence."
"And if I told you that allowing Cadet Sherry to remain at this academy was dangerous? That in my professional opinion she's a ticking time bomb just as her brother was, then what?"
Naveen stiffens, he will never get used to Raj being spoken about in that way. "I'd be curious to know how you came to that opinion. Have you spoken to someone else about her? Did Major Bhargav share anything prior to your psychoanalysis?"
Ritu waves a hand dismissively. "Major Bhargav would see it as beneath himself to do so. He thought that his stunt was enough to have her dismissed and hadn't thought beyond that."
Naveen wants to freeze, he wants to challenge her right there and then on what she's just said but he knows he needs to tread carefully, especially if he's to get the information that Naina has requested.
"Why do you think he was so keen to have her dismissed in the first place though? It seemed almost as if he was on a mission when he arrived."
"Perhaps that's something you should ask Major Bhargav. He's barely spoken to me since he arrived so I can't be expected to know his thoughts."
Not Major Bhargav then. Naveen tries another tact.
"If there had been more time to plan then it might have been better for you to get an opinion from a member of Sherry's household before the psychoanalysis, they know her best after all. I was surprised you didn't try to speak to them before coming to a conclusion.
"And who said that I didn't, Captain? I know how to do my job."
"I'm relieved to hear that you could. Did you manage to get a hold of Gehlot Saheb? He can be difficult to track down and it must have been tough with so little time."
"That's confidential, Captain." Ritu's lips are pursed and Naveen knows he's not likely to get anymore out of her today. Mentally he's calculating though. From the drill they had all gone into the meeting. From the meeting, Ritu had gone directly to the psychoanalysis. Where was the time to speak to a household member, whether Sherry's father or otherwise, and find out about her mother's death?
Unless she had been forewarned of what was about to happen and had already spoken to someone.
There are two possibilities here that Naveen can see. The first is that Ritu is lying and Major Bhargav had spoken to her in advance, somehow with his own access to the information. The second option is that she has heard it directly from someone else, most likely Sherry's father. Naveen is not certain what the answer is but he knows now that Lala Gehlot was more than likely involved in trying to have his own daughter kicked out of the academy.
/
"What was that about this morning?" Naina asks Sherry as they make their way towards their rooms after dinner, Pooja remaining behind in the mess as she studies with Ali.
"What was what about?" Sherry asks innocently and Naina gives her a look. "Oh, Captain Abhimanyu. He wanted me to know why he'd been avoiding me."
Naina opens the door to hers and Pooja's room, knowing that their friend won't be back for a while. She shuts it as soon as Sherry enters.
"And why has he been avoiding you?" Even Naina had found it strange considering what a fixture Captain Abhimanyu had become until that point in anything involving Sherry. She had noticed how his defection affected her friend's mood even as Sherry tried to pretend it didn't.
"Ah, well apparently your brother told him to."
"Naveen? Did he think he should keep a low profile or something?"
Sherry hesitates and Naina knows there's something going on here. "Yes?"
"Yes?" Naina raises her eyebrows. "Yes what?"
"Jeez, you're not even married yet and you're already acting like my Bhabhi." Sherry mutters.
Naina blushes, caught off guard, and then realises that's exactly what Sherry had intended to happen.
"Yeah well, as the closest you're ever likely to get to an actual Bhabhi if we don't prove your brother's innocence, I expect to be told what's going on."
Sherry looks at Naina's posture, her hands on her hips, and raises her eyebrows. "Maybe you should stamp your foot too."
"Sherry!"
"Alright, Naveen told him to stay away because Dr Mishra made a suggestion in the meeting that Captain Abhimanyu is a little too attached to me, if you know what I mean."
Naina looks at Sherry, at her deliberate nonchalance even as she waits to see Naina's reaction, and sighs. "I'm not certain that she's wrong."
"What? Naina!"
"There's been a strange connection between the two of you from the time we joined, and whatever other things Captain Abhimanyu might be good at, hiding his feelings is not one of them."
"Do you really think so?" Naina looks at Sherry to see her struggling to hide a smile.
"He's your teacher, Sherry!"
Sherry rolls her eyes. "Oh yes and you're making all the great life choices aren't you, Naina? At least I'm not in love with a convicted traitor on the run from the authorities."
"I hope you remember that's your brother you're talking about."
Naina tries to maintain a serious expression but they both end up breaking into laughter, Sherry allowing herself to fall sideways onto Pooja's bed.
Naina wipes away her tears. "I'm serious though Sherry, the last thing we need is more attention if someone starts spreading rumours. Stay away from him for the time being, it's for the best."
"How do we expose Dr Mishra though? If we can trap her then that's half of our problem gone."
"Leave that to me," Naina replies, "I've pointed Naveen in the right direction and if all goes well he'll do the rest for us. What we need to worry about is how to get Major Bhargav out of the academy before Diwali so that we can make a second attempt for the red box."
"Maybe I can do something about that." Sherry muses. "Major Bhargav thinks he knows all of my secrets but he doesn't realise that I've guessed a couple of his."
/
Abhimanyu is lacing up his shoes when Naveen knocks at his open door. "Are you ready?"
"Almost."
The last tie in place and they head off, rounding the bend away from the academy just as the cadets are coming back around it.
Abhimanyu catches Sherry's eye for a moment, her cheeks flushed with exercise, her eyes bright as she discusses something with Aalekh, and wishes he could call out to her.
There's no need though, she's well and she's happy and Naveen is right, he needs to keep his distance for more reasons than just Dr Mishra's sharp eyes.
Naveen gives him a look. "I'm glad to see you're taking my advice."
"Would I ever ignore it?" Abhimanyu asks rhetorically. "How did your chat with Dr Mishra go?"
Naveen grimaces. "I should have listened to you earlier."
"There you go, even I have good advice to give on occasion. Did you break things off?"
"I'm not certain things were even settled enough for anything to be broken off. In the end that's the only thing I didn't do. Naina had given me a task to carry out."
"Naina?"
"She wanted me to find out how Dr Mishra knew about Sherry's mother and whether it was due to Major Bhargav. I don't have a proper answer yet but I don't think it was him."
"Who then?" The corner of Naveen's mouth twists and Abhimanyu has his answer. "Her father."
"You're not surprised?"
"No, I'm not. He gave her a warning at the fresher's ball and told her he'd have her expelled if she didn't fall into line. Major Bhargav has a reputation, Gehlot must have known he could get him to do his dirty work."
"But the connection with Ritu..."
"You introduced them at the fresher's ball, he must have remembered."
Naveen shakes his head, something about the way everything is adding up still doesn't feel right but he still can't put his finger on what the issue actually is. "Well, it's time for me to try and fulfil the next part of Naina's task."
"Naina has given you a task?"
"She wants me to retrieve photos of alumni night so that we can see who was with Raj. She says I need to do it now that Sherry can't, that she deserves to have that mystery solved."
Abhimanyu straightens up. "Why don't you let me do that?"
Naveen gives his friend a stern look. "Because I still don't think it's a good idea that you're anywhere near her for the time being and you've never been as good at subterfuge as I have. I'll let you know once I have them."
Abhimanyu nods reluctantly before changing the topic. "Do you not find it strange that your sister is giving you orders and that you're listening to them?"
Naveen shrugs. "She was very authoritative."
"You're going to realise I was right eventually, there's something going on with Naina that she's not telling you about."
Naveen pauses, drumming his fingers against his thigh as he thinks. "You were right, Chauhan, I admit that now. I think most of it is that she's been helping Sherry since the beginning."
"And the rest?"
"The rest... we'll have to see."
With a last smile, Naveen speeds up to finish their lap, forcing Abhimanyu to do the same.
/
"Suriji, if I wanted to find old photos of academy events, where would they be?"
Suriji looks over Naveen with that gaze of his, the one that seems to know everything. "And why do you want to know, Putar?"
"I was thinking of having the cadets who stay back over Diwali do a project. It's time that we categorised everything and then digitalised it so that it's easy to refer to in future."
Suriji looks suitably impressed and Naveen hides a smile at finally managing to pull the wool over the older man's eyes after so many years.
"The idea isn't bad, Putar. As far as I know, the photos are with Major Nair. You'll need to get his permission."
Naveen stifles a groan; just when he had thought he was getting somewhere. "Thank you, Suriji."
He's about to turn to leave when there's a tap on his shoulder and Shalini appears beside him. "Did I hear correctly that you wanted something from Major Nair?"
"Ah, yes. I was hoping to get copies of the photos of old KMA events so that we can begin categorising them. I thought we might give it to the cadets to do as a project."
"I thought History was Subedar Sen's department." Shalini raises her eyebrows.
"But Communications is mine, and part of that is the recording and archiving of information." Naveen answers smoothly with a grin. "Do you have a solution for me Dr Shalini?"
"Well, I expect that Major Nair might be more receptive if the request were to come from someone other than you." Naveen raises his own eyebrows in return and Shalini laughs. "I'm perceptive, Captain. Leave it with me, I'll get you the photos by the end of the week."
"Thank you, Dr Shalini. Can I ask why you're doing it though?"
Shalini suddenly turns serious. "Only this, Captain, because I'm certain the reason you just gave isn't the real reason you're doing it and I like to help others."
As Shalini leaves towards her office, Naveen is left to consider the Doctor. She has displayed empathy at every turn throughout this ordeal and showed her willingness to stand up for the cadets, despite there being no benefit to her in doing so.
There couldn't be a clearer contrast to Ritu's behaviour and actions.
Whistling a tune, Naveen heads towards his first class, stopping abruptly when he spots Naina and Sherry huddled in the corridor together, speaking.
"I'll do it as soon as possible." Sherry tells Naina, "One way or another I'll find out."
"Remember that we need him..." Naina stops as she spots Naveen, touching Sherry's arm to bring his arrival to her attention.
"Shouldn't you two be in class?" Naveen asks them, attempting to keep a neutral expression.
"Lolitaji sent us to fetch some materials, Bhaiyya, we were just on our way to the library."
"Well perhaps you'd better hurry rather than holding discussions in the corridor. Anyone would think that you two were planning something."
Naveen gives Naina a sharp look, his sister should know better than to risk drawing attention like this.
"Of course, Bhaiyya." Naina tells him contritely and they turn towards the library, hurrying away.
There is a great deal that Naveen still doesn't understand. Part of which is this, if Naina is assisting Sherry, why does she seem to always be the one making the plans?
A/N: A big thank you for the guests who reviewed once again, it always gives me a big smile when the notifications pop up in my email!