Third Person's POV

Naina sighed in relief after hearing the final verdict. Brigadier Chandok has allowed her to stay and train at KMA.

She will be able to continue her mission now.

She knows she will have to lay low for a while and let the matter cool down first, but she can do that as long as she did not have to leave KMA.

Turning toward Captain Rajveer, she gave him a warm smile. It is because of his belief and his support that she has been allowed to continue her training at KMA.

Seeing him fight for her had warmed her heart. If it were not for him, there would not have been a trial, and she would have thrown out of the academy right after that psychoanalysis.

Looking at Naina smiling at him, Rajveer smiled back at her. He is happy that the verdict was in her favor and she is not being expelled from KMA.

He walked towards her and extended his hand. "Congratulations, Cadet Singh. You have won this first battle."

Naina shook his hand and started speaking.

"Not me, Sir, WE have won this battle. It is only because of you that I can stay here at KMA. Thank you so much, Sir," she said and gave him a dazzling smile.

Rajveer's heart fluttered, seeing that smile of hers.

Huda watched the interaction between Rajveer and Naina, and he felt a twinge of jealousy seeing them. This is the first time in his life that he has felt something more for a girl, and it hurts him when she insults him at every turn and does not give him any attention.

'What is so special in this Captain that she behaves so nicely with him?' Huda thought, annoyed seeing Naina talking with- and smiling at Captain Rajveer.

Huda decided then that he should do something to make Naina fall for him soon.

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The mentor – protégé's list for the first term of KMA was out, and everyone was discussing about who they got as their mentor.

"Oh, no. My connection has been made with Major Nair. How will I survive this program with him? I am sure my battery will be drained at the end of this," Pooja complained, not liking her mentor at all.

"My mentor is Dr. Shalini, and I know how to charm her. All of you just wait and see; I will have so much fun in this program," Huda said confidently, and everyone rolled their eyes at him.

"I do not even know who my mentor is. I mean, she is not a faculty here and is only visiting for this program. Her name sounds cool, though. Simran Malhotra. I hope she is as cool as her name." Yudi was worried and also slightly disappointed that Dr. Shalini is Huda's mentor and not his.

"My mentor is Lolita Ma'am. Well, she is strict but nice too. So, I am not worried," Ali told everyone but was disappointed when no one paid him any attention.

Ali knew they all were angry at him because of his views on Naina's brother, but he cannot help it. He cannot just go against the whole army system and support Naina. He has been taught by his father to trust this system, and it is hard for him to change the belief he has been brought up with.

"Look at my mentor, and you will feel that you are all lucky compared to me. I have been given Major Bhargav as my mentor," Aalekh said, and everyone agreed with him. He had the worst mentor of them all.

Meanwhile, Naina stayed quiet, not replying to any of them. She is happy about Captain Rajveer being her mentor because she knows no one other than him can be a good mentor for her.

"Umm, guys, I just remembered I have some work to do. I will see you all later," Naina told her friends and excitedly walked towards Captain Rajveer's room, not noticing the evil smirk on Bhargav's face who was standing at the corner of the hall observing their interaction.

'Go, Cadet Singh. Go to your dear mentor. I will make such a deep web to trap both of you that by the end of this mentorship program, you both will be thrown out of the academy,' Bhargav thought and adjusted his uniform cap.

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Ritu was seething in anger due to the failure of her plan. She knows all this was Captain Rajveer's doing and wondered if he knew about her being a spy.

'Nah. The Captain does not know. I was cautious not to leave any traces behind me last time, and he was not even here during that alumni night. He does not know I was the one who had trapped Naveen,' she thought confidently.

Ritu was still in deep thought when she heard her phone ring. Seeing the caller ID, she quickly received the call.

"Yes, Sir. You heard correctly. Naina is still in the academy. Captain Rajveer managed to stop her expulsion," Ritu said to the caller and closed her eyes when he shouted at her.

"I am sorry, Sir. I underestimated Captain Rajveer. I know Naina can be a danger to us and our mission. I will quickly throw her out of KMA, and this time Captain Rajveer won't be able to help her." she smirked cunningly and ended the call.

She knows she cannot harm or kill Rajveer until she gets those triggers, but she can certainly make him disappear for a few days and then deal with Naina in his absence.

"Well, Captain, you won this time, but the next hand will be mine," she said aloud and made few more calls to put her plan into action.

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Rajveer was sitting in his living room, reading a file, when he heard his door being opened.

"Tell me, Cadet Singh, to what do I owe this visit?" he asked her without looking up from the file, and Naina was surprised.

"Sir, you didn't even look up from the file. How did you know it was me?" Naina asked him.

"In this whole academy, there is only one person who comes to my room without knocking. And that person is none other than my protégé, Cadet Naina Ah... Singh," he replied, smiling at her.

"Sir, how do you know I am your protégé? The list just got posted on the academy board in the hall. I too just read the list and came here to tell you." Naina was confused.

"Well, Naina. Major Bhargav is overseeing this mentorship program, and I had requested him to make me your mentor. I had not thought he would heed to my request, but I am glad that he did," Rajveer told her.

Naina felt her heart flutter at the statement. He had requested to be her mentor. She did not know why, but it felt good to know that.

"I too am glad, Sir, that Major Bhargav heeded to your request. I cannot get a better mentor than you." Naina smiled at him, and Rajveer felt something weird in his chest.

"Umm, Sir, a notice was also posted alongside the list regarding the tasks for this mentorship program. I wanted to know when we will start our first task?" Naina asked him.

Rajveer had also been given the notice about the list of tasks, and he knew the first task was to make mentor and protégé know each other better.

"Come here sharp at 1900 hours for the task, Naina. And please wear something casual, not your uniform. Ok?" he told her.

"Ok, Sir. I will be here sharp at 1900 hours. See you then," Naina replied and walked out of his quarter.

Rajveer kept staring at the door for a long time, even after Naina walked out of the room.

He does not know what happens to him when Naina is around.

Why does he feel so different, so light around her?

After Naveen's death, he had a hollow in his chest, which had been making him drown in despair for the last four years.

But ever since he has met Naina and has started spending time with her, he has started smiling more often and has started feeling happy too. He does not know why, but he feels like spending more and more time with her, each day, every day.

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Rajveer heard a knock at his door sharp at 1900 hours and knew it was Naina as he had told her to be here at this time. But he was confused about why she started knocking now when she never did it before.

He walked towards the door and opened it.

One look at her and he was mesmerized.

She was wearing a simple blue salwar suit. Her hair left open, and her face devoid of makeup except for eyeliner around her eyes, which made her eyes look more beautiful.

"Sir, may I come in?" Naina asked Rajveer, feeling her face go warm at the way he was looking at her.

Instead of feeling conscious or angry due to his stare, she was feeling shy.

Rajveer jolted out of his reverie when he heard her speak. He quickly stwpped aside, inviting her in. "I am sorry, Cadet Singh. Please do come inside."

Naina walked inside his living room and was pleasantly surprised seeing candles lit around the whole room.

"Sir, why these candles?" She asked him, to which he replied, "Well, Naina, our first task is to get to know each other. I thought we both need to be comfortable if we are going to share something personal about us."

Naina smiled at that. If it were anyone else, she would have been worried, but she always felt safe and secure around him. She feels like she can share her every secret with him, and he will keep those secrets safe with him.

Rajveer indicated her to sit on the couch, and himself sat on the sofa beside her.

"So, Cadet Singh, shall we start then?" He asked her, and she nodded.

"I want to meet Naina today. I want to know who Naina is outside this KMA. I want to know more about that Naina, who is hiding beneath the layer of Cadet Singh," Rajveer said to Naina.

He wants to know more about her not only for this mentorship program but also for him.

After meeting her, he has been curious about her, and this is the perfect opportunity to get to know her better.

"There is not much to know about me, Sir. Before coming to KMA, I was a simple college going girl whose life revolved around her family and friends. There is nothing much to know about me." She gave him a sad smile, and Rajveer knew that he needed to try another tactic.

"Hmm, after seeing you mix that powder in Major Nair's drink the other day, I figured you are quite a prankster. And you must have done some pranks in your college too. Tell me about them," he told her and noticed that she was immediately excited.

Not realizing what she was doing, Naina stood up from the couch and walked up to sit on the sofa beside him.

"Ok, Sir. I will tell you. But promise me you will not lecture me about what I did was wrong and all that because I have played some nasty pranks on my teachers," she told him.

Rajveer smiled, looking at her childlike excitement and glee. He felt a rush of emotion toward her seeing her like that.

"Ok, Naina, I promise. No matter how nasty those pranks were, I will not scold you and will not give you any lecture," he promised her.

"Ok, Sir. Then let me tell you about some of my memorable pranks.

"You know, a teacher in my college did not like one of my friends and used to punish her even without any fault of hers. One day, he punished her so severely that she cried for hours. That is when I decided to do something about it.

"So, every time he punished her, I punished him too. I started with small pranks, which progressed with time.

"First, I poured ink in his bag when he was not looking. The second time he punished her, I went to his office and covered his whole office with aluminum foil. It took him a whole day to clean it up, and he was so mad but could not do anything about it because he did not know who did it," she told him, and Rajveer laughed.

"You are one mischievous genius, Naina. Then, what happened after that? Did he stop punishing your friend?" He was curious.

"No, Sir. Not yet. The third time he punished her, I got hundreds of plastic glasses, and I filled them with water. Then I placed them everywhere on his office floor. Due to that, he again had to spend hours picking up those cups and clean his office." Naina laughed, remembering her teacher's face.

"After that, he started seeing the pattern. Whenever he punished my friend, he was pranked too. And when he understood that, he stopped punishing my friend without any reason," Naina finished her story, and Rajveer smiled at her.

"So, you only prank those people who do something wrong. Like this teacher who punished your student for no fault of hers, and Major Nair, who punished you for no fault of yours?" Rajveer understood her reason behind her mischief.

"Yes, Sir. I do not like those people who accuse and punish others without any reason. Same as what happened with Naveen. He too was punished without any fault of his, and that took his life. I will never forgive those people who framed him," Naina told him earnestly, and Rajveer nodded.

"Don't worry, Naina. I assure you, they will be punished one day," he reassured her, and she smiled at him.

"I also wanted to ask something else, Naina.

"How are you? How is everyone in the academy behaving with you after knowing about you being Naveen's sister?

"I know people can be nasty when things like this come out, and I want to know how you are handling all of it." Rajveer was concerned about her because he knew she must be facing accusations inside the academy.

"It's ok, Sir. I am used to all this. I had faced even worse from those so-called society people when they had known about Naveen being declared a traitor. I am used to people calling me names. I am used to people accusing me and my family.

"First, it used to bother me. I used to shout at them and run to my room and cry for hours, but then I understood that I should be stronger than that.

"I understood that the more I react and shout, the more they will tease me, and the more I let my tears fall, the more they will make me cry.

"So, I just stopped reacting and stopped crying. Instead, I made all those taunts and humiliation, my inspiration to come here and prove my brother's innocence. That is what I am doing now too," she told him, and Rajveer was stunned listening to her.

The more he gets to know about her, the more he is in awe of her. Her innocence, childishness, bravery, maturity, and courage are rare to see these days.

Rajveer vowed to himself that he will always protect her, and he will fight to help her prove Naveen's innocence till his last breath.