"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is your Captain speaking. The time is 1.29 p.m. local time. We are now flying in the Rajasthan air space and we will be landing at Jodhpur Airport in 20 minutes. Thank you for flying I Air" the pilot's voice boomed through the speakers in the plane waking up every sleeping souls.

So did Jagdish with anticipation at the highest level. The closer he got to the city she was in, an untold feeling arose within him. In last few hours, he couldn't remember the number of times he had their memories playing in his mind. Every little thing he came across reminded him of Yashodha. Fresh and vivid.

These were the times where he often feel helpless and weak as if he was slowly breaking the wall he built around himself.

Was he going to break what he had built and kept strong all this while?

He took a deep breath soothing his thumping heart and mind, bracing himself. 'I can do this. Nothing is difficult for Jagdish'

Salim who was seat directly behind Jagdish leaned forward jerking the latter's seat and whispered, "We are here! I'm so excited to meet Yashodha" he giggled.

The more his friends felt excited the more anxious he was. Worried and hoping they wouldn't blurt about her to any of their other friends.

At the mention of friends, Jagdish's mind subconsciously drifted to a question he had asked her back then.

"Question"

"Shoot"

"I remember you had told me the other day that you consider me as your only friend. Why?"

Yashodha's gaze shifted from her Choco chip muffin to him. They were at the Cafe Marina once again, seated at the very same spot and it has been the only place they meet apart from occasional encounters in the yard or domain.

"You are the only one as far as I have come across who interacts with me without any intention. I meant without the wrong one. I don't know about the naval officers but the medical officers are a little.... Attention seeker... As if... You know... How do I explain..."

"I think I understand" he interjected.

" Thank you... Those are mostly the young ones and the older officers aren't really interested in making friends. The ladies are wonderful but... Only to some extend... Tolerable until they begin talking about others. In short, turning into gossip mongers.

In one of those talks was when, I heard about you. I was pretty impressed. The girls spoke highly about you. They are crazy of you like anything. I adore how you carry yourself professionally, how you care for your friends and being all helpful when needed."

Yashodha paused, staring at the man who was looking contented listening to the praises she was throwing. Jagdish loves positive things and enjoys listening to people talk about happy things, it makes him happy.

"Hey, you are not the only one, dude. There are a bunch of officers who are heartthrobs here, okay" she reminded him, just in case if he had forgotten about it.

"Of course I know. But who cares, let me enjoy some nice things about me" he smiled, squeezing his eyes and motioned his hand for her to continue.

Yashodha smacked that waving hand and laughed out loud.

"Come on... go on. I rarely get to hear nice things."

"HaHa. Fine... They adore you.Your firmness in everything you do is what makes you expensive" she laughed.

"Expensive? That's the word you found to describe me? Not fair...

It isn't cool... Am I expensive?" He whined, not happy.

"Of course you are... Dreamt by many but afford by none" she said, wiggling an eye brow with a smirk.

"Ah... alright. Thank you... Anyway, is that what made you be friend with me? Because of all those they have said about me?" Jagdish brought their diverting conversation back to his question. 

"No! How will describing about your handsome face and well built physic would impress me to be friend with you? Those that I said earlier isn't praises from the girls. It's from me from what I have seen in you. As an army man, one can be respected for his profession but not every respected man would be kind and caring and loving. 

You are. When Abraham met in an accident, you weren't even present there but it's you who keeps checking on him every alternate days. Not other officers who was practically there when he was hit by the rope, came to visit Abraham.

You understand? I can never be impressed by looks. 

I see things far beyond beauty. I believe you too do that otherwise you would have gotten some other name" she said with a small smile and concentrated on the coffee. 

A comfortable silence enveloped them in the bustling cafe, enjoying the coffee and the view outside the window. But for Jagdish, he wasn't really enjoying the view outside but the woman before him. 

It's almost unusual to meet a lady with such thinking in the place where he belongs. A place where women are hardly seen and when seen... 

those were the ones he encounters in the medical domain, they gawk at him as if a predator watching it's prey. 

Not all women are the same, he realised after meeting Yashodha. 

"Hey, now stop thinking about my overly top statement. That's just for your information" she snapped him out of his thought bubble. 

Thanks for the reminder he said inwardly, Jagdish almost forgot the most important thing yet it was hardly believable. "Do you really know how to mind read? I still can't believe it" 

A playful smile worked across her face, "I'll tell you about it some other time. Like where I learnt this trick and how to do it... I'll teach you" she whispered. 

"Oh, Yasho... you can't do this"

"Come on... I'll tell you some other time... let's get out of here, now" she chortled at his pouting face.

----

It was a Wednesday afternoon and Jagdish's class was given an early lunch break.  Heading towards the canteen to have his lunch with his batchmates, he found Yashodha seated alone in the canteen. As much as he wanted to accompany her , it didn't seem right to leave his team mates and join her hence, he sat with the rest. All the while watching her from a reasonable distance. 

Something wasn't right, Yashodha was oddly silent and reserve as she had her lunch. Though there were two other medical officers, one of them were taller than the other, joined her table chatting. There was no exchange of words from her end.

In the pass three months of knowing her, Jagdish had hardly came across a gloomy and quiet Yashodha. Scratch that, he never met an annoyed Yashodha before. Today was unusual.

He begin to worry about her, is she alright or did something happened in between?  But she did seemed fine from the exterior. However, he kept an eye on her and tried to listen to the officers conversation. 

"What are you saying, officer?" one of the officers asked the taller who had shared something, pretending to be shocked. 

"Yeah, didn't  you notice? The new medic and one of the heartthrob Lieutenant  are seen together" said the taller one. 

"Really? How did I miss this?"

"Tch... Are you even here? They were seen going out and spending time outside the unit for almost two months now. It wouldn't surprise me if some other news begin to speculate around"  the taller one added.

"Some other news? You mean... extreme close?"

"Obviously or how else do you think they can get close in such a short span of time. The lady did not give me a chance even. Had I know, I would have invited her to my quarters the first day itself" they laughed. The conversation was on purpose.

It was to aggravate the lady who sat opposite them. She remained unaffected.

Their indirect conversation was clear, Jagdish knew they were talking about him and Yashodha. However, addressing the issue immediately would only make things worst than its already is. While the words they were using evoked anger in him, Yashodha's calmness was another factor he considered before reacting. 

After another set of lame assumption exchanged between the two officers, Yashodha cleared her throat, prepared herself for a counter respond to the men.

"Excuse me officers. Sorry to interrupt your super deep conversation. But I'm keen to know about this medical officer. She sounds to be an interesting woman. Something like my type; instant hook-up, one night stand sort of thing" a corner of her lips curved upwards as she arched an eye brow at them. 

The officer who were gleefully gossiping, now had their jaw drop at her sudden intervene. So, it did to Jagdish.

"What was her name, again?" she continued. 

"Y—You... are..." the shorter one stammered as if ghost stricken.

"Yeah. Yeah. What's surprising in one being a bisexual, huh?" she rolled her eyes. 

At the other side, Jagdish was finding it hard to control his laugh looking at the officers unexpected reaction. 

"I like both man and woman, alright... Just tell me her name. I'll find her" Yashodha continued pretending to be annoyed, without acknowledging their horrified look. 

The tall officer however, gathered himself back, "I'm getting late for my drill. Let's go, Sean" he managed to say. They immediately left the table as fast as they could. 

"Hey, you haven't tell me her name yet" she yelled.

"I don't know. Will let you know" the shorter one replied hastily. 

"Alright" she flashed a fake smile, "asshole" she cursed lowly at the retreating figure and burried her face in her hands. 

Soon after they were gone, Jagdish took the seat opposite her. 

"Hi, sweetheart!"

"Hey, heartthrob Lieutenant" she greeted.

"Do you know, that only you could pulled that off effortlessly" he looked at her with admiration. 

"Pull what? That act? We were just playing..."

"Liar... I heard them talking" he interjected. 

"Oh that! Yeah, I heard them too. They were talking about a lady medical officer being close with one of the naval officers. It seems one of them saw and they were making assumption of them two"  she said casually and sipped her half filled cup of orange juice.

Yashodha's take on the issue surprised him. She acted as if the conversation wasn't about them at all. 

How could one not react when it was indirectly focusing on both of them?, he thought and leaned closer to the table, "You are aware that they were talking about us, right?" he asked. 

"Did they? Because I don't remember them mentioning our names?" she tapped her chin lightly in attempt to recall the conversation. 

"Seriously, Yash?" They did mentioned about medical officer " he pointed at her "...and lieutenant" he then pointed at himself. 

She remained silent for a very long time. Jagdish wished she had thought him how to read mind as he wondered what was going on in her's. 

"I know" she answered. "Imagine if I had reacted parallel to my emotions probably arguing with them. My action alone would have contributed a supporting proof that all they said was true. And I don't think it's worth it for me to argue with them.

Officer Laksh did this on purpose because I gave him a piece of my mind the other day. He couldn't take a 'no', you know. Ego hurt. Hence, this happened. 

Same goes to you. Arguing for baseless shits is not worth your time nor your personality. You are one of the most adored officers here, your name should not be stained for arguing with this worthless specimens" she said.

Jagdish was highly impressed with her thinking and the way she handles matters that are sensitive. Yashodha's approach to problem solving was beyond imaginable. Something he wish to follow.

"By the way, is it true? That you are..."

*********

Lots of flashback, isn't it?

Sometimes even the smallest memory stays longer because they were precious little moments. And it needs to be told.

Present day meet will take a few more updates, meanwhile enjoy their flashback, loves.

:)