Third Person’s POV

"Naina, do you still think I am lying?" Aalekh asks.

They are seated at the academy's mess, having their dinner.

"Look, Aalekh, I am exhausted after a whole day's training, and now I just want to eat my dinner in peace," Naina says, toying with her food on the plate.

"You very well know, Naina. You will not get any peace and won't even be able to eat properly until you talk with Rajveer Sir about what I told you. I don't know why you are refusing to believe me? Don't you trust me, Naina?" Aalekh asks, sounding a bit hurt due to her distrust.

He did talk with Rajveer Sir and asked him why he did not tell Naina the truth about Captain Naveen's death before he got engaged to her.

Even he thought it was not right of Rajveer Sir to deceive Naina and her parents that way when he was going to be a part of that family by getting engaged and later married to her.

Rajveer Sir then told him everything. He said why he did not reveal the truth to Naina initially when he found out she was Captain Naveen's sister.

He also revealed that, after their love confession, he was afraid to lose her, and that fear had stopped him from telling her the truth then.

Rajveer Sir even said that he told the truth to Naina's parents before the engagement and had wanted to tell Naina the truth too because he did not want to make their relationship official before telling her everything about her brother's death.

But it was Naina's parents who stopped him from telling her the truth.

They feared Naina would not understand the dilemma he faced as she had not seen how Captain Naveen's condition was at that time.

And this is what he told Naina immediately after walking out of Rajveer Sir's quarter, but she refused to believe it.

She feels Rajveer Sir is telling another lie to get her to return in his life.

"I do trust you, Aalekh. I really do," Naina says, interrupting Aalekh's thought. "But I do not trust Captain Rajveer anymore. I know he must have told you this lie to make me forgive him."

Aalekh sighs, seeing anger flashing in Naina's eyes.

"Ok. I understand you have difficulty in trusting Rajveer Sir after what happened. But you do trust your parents, don't you?

"This is why I have gotten Suri Sir's mobile for you. Meet me outside the academy's mailroom after ten minutes. I will give you the phone then, and you can call and ask your parents if Rajveer Sir had told them the truth about Captain Naveen's death or not," Aalekh tells Naina, and she looks at him with uncertainty marring her face.

"But what if Captain Rajveer is lying? Maa and Papa will be devastated after knowing that the person whom they thought to be the perfect life partner for their daughter is the one who killed their son. They will never forgive Captain Rajveer," Naina says.

"Why are you thinking about that, Naina? You hate Rajveer Sir, Right? So, it should not matter to you if your parents will forgive him or not," Aalekh says, gauging the thoughtful expression on Naina's face.

"I think you should call your parents and clear everything once and for all. That way, you will know if Rajveer Sir betrayed you and your parents or not," he continues.

"It is your decision now, Naina. I will be waiting for you outside the academy's mailroom. Come there at 2030 hours if you decide to call your parents. I will wait for you for fifteen minutes there before returning the mobile phone to Suri Sir."

"You do not need to wait for me there, Aalekh. I have my mobile phone with me. I had brought it with me when I joined the academy to make it easier for me to communicate with my contacts and investigate Naveen's case. I will call my parents from my phone," Naina says, deciding to verify the truth in Rajveer's words.

Ever since Aalekh told her the truth, she has been torn.

Part of her wants to believe in Rajveer, and another part of her says he is a liar.

Amidst the battle of which part to choose, she is scared too.

Because, if Rajveer is telling the truth, she made a horrible mistake by not trusting him, and if he is telling a lie, her already bleeding heart will break more.

She is not sure if she will be able to bear more betrayal and more hurt from the person she had trusted the most in this world.

------------------------

Naina

Sitting on the bed, I look at the phone in my hand, swiping my finger across the screen over Papa’s number.

Earlier, after talking with Aalekh, I had decided to talk with my parents to find out if Rajveer told them the truth of Naveen’s death before our engagement or not, but now, as I am about to do it, I again feel dilemma rising within me about whether or not to tap on the call button.

"Come on, Naina. You need to do this," I tell myself, and taking a deep breath, I press the call button

The line connects and rings for a while before Papa receives the call.

"Hello, Naina. How are you?" He asks.

"I am fine, Baba. How are you? And Maa?"

"We are also fine, Naina. Why are you calling this late at night? Is everything ok in the academy?"

"Actually, Baba. There is one important thing I need to ask you. Could you also call Maa and put the phone on the speaker? I want to talk with you both," I tell him.

"Ira is right here with me, Naina, and the phone is already on the speaker. We both can hear you," he says.

I inhale deeply and let the breath out, giving myself a moment before asking the direct question.

"Did you both know Captain Rajveer was the one who pulled the trigger on Naveen? He says he had told you this truth before our engagement. Did he really tell you this?"

I wait for the answer with bated breath.

After a few seconds of complete silence from the other side of the line, Maa starts speaking.

"Did Rajveer tell you the truth then? He had told us the entire truth of what had happened during Naveen's transfer when we put forth the condition of you two getting engaged before returning to the academy. We had requested him not to tell you anything and—"

"Why did you do that? Didn't I have the right to know who killed my brother?" I ask, interrupting Maa. "How could you two get me engaged to the man who shot my brother dead?"

"This is precisely why we asked him not to tell you, Naina. We knew you would not understand. We knew you would see Rajveer as Naveen's killer, not as the person who freed your brother from his misery," Papa tries to reason with me.

"Captain Rajveer shot Naveen, Papa. It is because of Captain Rajveer that my brother is not with me now. How can you not hold him responsible for your son's death? HOW?" I shout on the phone, frustratingly running my hand across my hair.

"Naveen had forbidden you to visit him in the cell. That is why you could not see how broken your brother was in that prison. We had seen him, Naina. He looked so vacant, as if his soul had already left his body. Being accused of treason when he loved his country the most messed him up. He was already dying slowly because of that.

"And the tortures he had to face in that cell. The beatings he had to bear. Whenever we met him, we noticed his bloodied clothes, dried wounds on his face and arms, nails cut off from his bandaged fingers. You had no idea how much Naveen was suffering.

"You say Rajveer killed Naveen. But he was being transferred to a bigger cell in Delhi, Naina. We had appealed days before to go and meet him there too, but our appeal had been denied. They said that Naveen would not be allowed to meet anyone anymore.

"Who knows what torture our Naveen would have faced after reaching that cell. Who knows how much more torment he would have had to bear before finally giving up and dying in that cell alone.

"Maybe Naveen knew this too. That is why he asked that favor from his best friend. And Rajveer might also have known this, which is why he freed his best friend from his misery.

"Sadness engulfed us when we heard about Naveen’s death because we thought then that a stranger killed our son without any mercy. But some peace settled in our hearts knowing that Naveen was given a merciful death by his friend, that too on his request, on his terms.

"At least, Naveen had the last say on how he wanted to go from this world. The system could not snatch that chance from our son, from your brother, Naina. And we are thankful to God for that. We really are," Papa finishes tearily, and I also hear her Maa’s soft sobs in the background.

"It means Rajveer is not guilty. He had no choice at that time other than to pull the trigger," I whisper, feeling heaviness settle within my chest as I recall all the accusations I hurled at Rajveer in my blind anger.

"I used to think you are so honorable and so good a person that you cannot betray anyone in your life. But I was so wrong. When you can betray the girl you claim to love the most, it must be easy for you to betray anyone, even our nation."

"I brought this gun today with me with an intention to kill you. I wanted to give you the same pain that you gave my brother. But I am not able to do it. I hate myself for that."

"I HATE YOU, CAPTAIN RAJVEER. I HATE YOU WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING."

"You betrayed not only my love and trust, but you betrayed my parents' trust too. How could you be so selfish? JUST HOW?"

"Don't you dare, Captain Rajveer. Don't you dare call them Maa and Papa. I will not give you that right anymore. Not after knowing that you are the one who killed their son."

"I cannot give your place to anyone else, Captain Rajveer. Because you do not have any place in my life anymore."

"You killed our relationship with your betrayal and lies. And that relationship will remain broken forever."

"You are the one who killed my brother, Captain Rajveer, and I will never forgive you for that."

Raw pain passes through me when the hurtful words I threw at Rajveer reverberates in my mind.

I did not give him even one chance to explain why he pulled the trigger on his best friend, who he considered his brother. I also did not let him explain why he did not tell me about it at least before our engagemet.

Without trying even once to understand his pain and dilemma, I judged him to be guilty.

"What have I done?"

My grip on the phone loosens and it drops down along with me slumping on the floor, shaking in my culpability and regret.