Third Person's POV

The next morning, all the Cadets and the faculty members were gathered at the academy ground for the mentorship program's second task.

Major Bhargav stood in front of them and started explaining the task.

"This second task is designed to check how much mentors trust their protégé. For this task, we have a pulley here. One end of the rope in this pulley is attached to a sac containing 40 pounds weight. Subedar Suri is currently catching the other end of the rope.

"Subedar Suri will call out the pair of mentors and their protégé one by one. The mentor will then stand below the pulley, and the protégé will stand 25 feet far from the mentor. Subedar Suri will leave the rope on my whistle, and the sac with 40 pounds weight will start falling rapidly towards the mentor.

"The protégé will then run toward the mentor as fast as possible and stop the sac from hitting their mentor.

"If the protégé is unable to reach there on time, the mentor can leave the place to prevent themselves from the injury. But, if the mentor does so, it will be apparent that they do not trust their protégé," Bhargav finished explaining the task and then ordered Suri to call the mentor-protégé pair one by one.

Subedar Suri called out the first pair - Major Prabhat Nair and Cadet Pooja Ghai.

Nair walked forward and stood below the weight.

On Bhargav's whistle, Suri left the rope, and the sac started falling toward Nair. Pooja started running as fast as she could, but Nair moved away after a while, even though Pooja reached there on time.

"I do not trust girls, Cadet Ghai," Nair told her and walked away, making Pooja furious.

The next pair called by Subedar Suri was Captain Simran Malhotra and Cadet Yadhuvansh Sahani.

Simran stood below the sac and spoke to Yudi. "Calm down, Cadet, and give your best. I know you can do it," she encouraged Yudi, and he smiled at her.

Once the whistle was heard, Yudi started running and caught the rope on time.

The next pair was Subedar Lolita Sen and Cadet Ali Baig. Ali too caught the rope on time and saved his mentor.

After Lolita and Ali, the next pair called were Major Bhargav and Cadet Aalekh Sharma.

Bhargav stood below the weight and looked at Aalekh with an evil smirk on his face. Aalekh also gave Bhargav a look of disgust.

When the whistle was heard, Aalekh reached the spot on time but did not catch the rope. Instead, he looked at Bhargav, challenging him to step away.

Bhargav did not back out and continued staring back at Aalekh, challenging him not to catch the rope.

But, at the last moment, when the weight was about to hit Bhargav, Aalekh caught the rope, preventing Bhargav from the injury.

"You are not as cruel as me yet, Cadet." Bhargav smirked at Aalekh and walked away.

After them, Captain Rajveer Singh Shekhawat and Cadet Naina Singh Ahluwalia were called.

Rajveer stood below the weight and, smiling at Naina, closed his eyes, letting her know that he completely trusts her. Naina was surprised seeing his blind trust at her but nodded her head, vowing not to let him down.

When the whistle was heard, Naina started running, but after covering a few feet, she fell.

When she looked up, she saw that the weight was rapidly falling towards Rajveer, and he was still standing there with his eyes closed.

Other cadets shouted at Rajveer, telling him to step away, but he did not heed to anyone. Instead, he calmly stood there.

Seeing that, Naina quickly stood up and started running toward Rajveer. She was about to reach there but noticed that the weight was about to fall on him.

She realizes then that even if she catches the rope now, it will still hurt Rajveer. So, without thinking anything, she jumped, pushing him with her, and both fell to the ground.

"Are you ok, Sir?" Naina asked Rajveer as soon as they hit the ground.

The sac did not touch him, but he fell on his left shoulder, where he had sustained bullet wound two days back.

"I am fine, Cadet Singh." Rajveer smiled at her, knowing she was asking about his bullet wound.

Both then stood up and took their position on the ground.

Amidst all this, Huda was silently watching Rajveer and Naina's interaction and burning with jealousy. He was so engrossed in his thoughts about Naina and Rajveer that he did not hear his name being called and missed the whistle.

Huda startled out of his thoughts when Ali nudged him and saw that his mentor, Dr. Shalini Singhal, was currently standing below the weight, and it was already halfway from reaching her.

Seeing that, Huda immediately broke into the run and tried to reach there as quickly as possible.

He was able to catch the rope, but the weight still hit Shalini on her right shoulder.

"What is wrong with you, Cadet? What were you thinking? Is this how you will protect your country?" Shalini glared at him and walked away from there.

Feeling disheartened, Huda started walking back to take his position when Bhargav stopped him.

"Captain Rajveer and Cadet Naina blindly trust each other. But can Cadet Naina trust you the way she trusts Captain Rajveer?" Bhargav questioned Huda, knowing very well that this will cause some crack between Huda and Naina's friendship.

Huda wanted to reply to Bhargav and wanted to tell him whatever he is saying is wrong, but he could not do that. Instead, he dejectedly walked back to take his position, leaving Bhargav smirking evilly behind him.

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The few days following the mentorship program's second task quickly passed, and soon it was the day of Valentine's day ball. All the KMA's cadets were excited about it.

Pooja and Naina were sitting in the mess discussing the dress they were going to wear for the ball when Huda walked to them.

"Naina, may I talk with you alone?" Huda asked her, and Naina was about to refuse, but seeing his serious face, she nodded her head, curious to know what he wanted to talk about.

Reaching the academy garden, both sat on a bench, and Huda started speaking.

"Naina, I have been with many girls in my life, but you are the first girl with whom I have fallen in love. So, please tell me honestly today. Do you also like me?" Huda asked her directly, and Naina sighed.

"Look, Huda. I have told you before also, and I will tell you now too. You are one of my good friends, and I like you as my friend. I don't think I will ever consider you as anything else other than a friend," she told him truthfully.

"Ok, Naina. I can completely understand if you do not like me. But please tell me, do you like someone else?" Huda indirectly asked Naina about Captain Rajveer.

"No, Huda. There is no one in my life right now. I am here to prove my brother's innocence, and unless I do that, I do not have time for anything else. Not even for love," Naina told him but was confused when Rajveer's face flashed in her mind as she said that.

Huda smiled, hearing Naina. "So, it means you do not like anyone right now?" He asked her cheerfully, relieved that nothing is going on between Captain Rajveer and Naina.

"Umm, no. I do not," Naina replied to Huda, but she felt like she was lying.

'Why do I feel like this? Do I like someone? I would know if I did, right?' Naina thought, wondering why Rajveer's face flashed in her mind when she answered Huda.

Naina was lost in her thoughts and got startled when Huda clicked his fingers in front of her face.

"Naina, did you hear what I just said?" Huda asked her, to which she replied, "I am sorry. I was thinking about something else. What did you say?"

"I was saying that since you do not like anyone else, I will keep on trying to win your heart. Who knows, you might fall in love with me someday," Huda said to Naina and walked away from there before she could say something.

Shaking her head, Naina too walked toward her room to get ready for the ball.

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Rajveer looked around the room once more, hoping to see Naina.

He arrived at the ball with Shalini about an hour ago, and this was the fifth time he looked around the room in the last ten minutes.

'Where is she?' he wondered why Naina had not arrived yet and confused as to why he was waiting for her.

Ever since their dinner and that dance in his room that night, he has been unable to take her out of his mind.

"Captain, I have been observing you since the time we entered the ballroom. Why do you look so lost?" Shalini asked him, and Rajveer almost choked on the drink he was drinking.

'Is it that obvious?' he thought and decided to shake himself out of it before someone gets too suspicious.

He quickly smiled and started speaking. "No, Shalini. It is nothing like that. I am just keeping an eye on all cadets. I do not want them to drink too much and get into trouble," he lied smoothly, and Shalini nodded her head, buying his lie.

"So, Captain. Tell me. Who was your date for Valentine's day ball when you were a cadet here?" Shalini asked him.

"I was too shy then to ask anyone for the ball, Shalini. That is why my friend set up a date for me. But it was horrible. Due to my shyness I could not talk properly with her, and eventually, she got bored and left me. I don't even remember her name now," he replied to Shalini, remembering how his date had ditched him and how Naveen had later shouted at him for ruining all his hard work of finding him a date.

"Oh, look, there are Naina and Yudi. I had thought Naina would be Huda's date. Well, this is a surprise," Shalini said, and he immediately turned to look at Naina.

He sucked in his breath as he saw her. She was wearing a red dress, which came up to her knee.

Seeing her in that color, he decided red was his favorite color from now on.

Her hair was left open, and she had mild makeup on, which made her look glamorous. Eyeliner around her eyes made them look more beautiful, and the red lipstick applied on her lips made it look more sensuous. She looked so elegant and so graceful that he could not take his eyes off her.

'Why am I feeling like this? Why can't I take my eyes off her? What is happening to me?' Rajveer had many questions in his mind but no answers for them.

Naina felt someone looking at her and turned to see Rajveer staring at her.

His stare was so intense that she felt goosebumps erupt in her whole body. Not that she was complaining. She did not know why, but it pleased her to find him looking at her that way.

He looked handsome too. He always looks attractive, but today, dressed in that crisp black tuxedo, he looked like every girl's dream.

She stared back at him and was lost thinking about him when she heard Yudi clear his throat. She shook herself out of Rajveer's thoughts and turned to look at Yudi.

"Umm, Naina. Let's go. All our friends are waiting for us," Yudi told her.

"Yes, let's go, Yudi." she smiled at him, and both walked towards the table where others were seated.

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"What took you two so long to get here? We have been waiting for you for ages," Aalekh asked Yudi and Naina as soon as they reached the table.

"I am sorry. I took a long time to get ready, and Yudi had to wait for me," Naina replied apologetically, and Aalekh looked at her thoughtfully.

He had seen Naina looking at Captain Rajveer a few minutes back, and he had also noticed Captain Rajveer looking at her.

He wondered if something is going on between these two.

Since the mentorship program has started, Bhargav has been hinting towards Captain Rajveer and Naina's relationship, but he did not give it much thought, knowing about Bhargav's nature.

But now, seeing them look at each other that way, he started thinking if Bhargav was right all along.

'Well, even if it is true, I will always support Naina in whatever decision she makes.' Aalekh decided.

She has not told him yet, but he knows she has suffered a lot in her life. He knows because he has seen it in her eyes and her quiet courage.

And if she is getting her much deserved happiness with Captain Rajveer, he will stand by her side. After all, he thinks of her as his sister, and he will fulfill his duty as a brother.

'I will always protect you and will always stand by your side, Naina,' Aalekh vowed, looking at Naina.