Naina

Standing in front of Rajveer's quarter, I wait for him to come out.

The academic appraisal starts today, and the first test is the inspection of the participating faculty member.

Each participant will be scored based on how proper their uniform and presentation are.

Being Rajveer's supporter, I am here to check whether he is wearing everything correctly and if his uniform is missing something.

I look up when the door opens and my heart skips a beat, seeing him in the uniform.

I have always marveled at how good he looks in his uniform.

'Well, he does look swoon-worthy in everything he wears,' my heart quips.

"Cadet Naina Singh, if you are done gawking at me, we should get going. I do not want to get late for the first test," he says stiffly, and I feel a pinch in my heart.

Our last conversation about us had been two days back, when he told me to give him some time and space.

Although feeling heartbroken about it, I had agreed to it.

Lots of angst and tears were involved for the last two days until I came to the realization that I could not just stand back and let him distance himself from me.

Recounting what he told me that night, I decided to focus on how to clear his doubt.

My behavior toward him has led him to believe that I do not value him and our relationship.

So, I will now show him how much he and our relationship mean to me.

"Cadet Singh, did you decide to become my supporter, so you could make me late for the tests and ultimately make me lose in this appraisal?"

"No, of course not, Sir. I am sorry, I got lost in some thoughts," I say.

"Well, get lost in your thoughts in your own time, Cadet. We need to get going now," he tells me, and is about to walk to the assembly hall, where inspection will take place, when I stop him.

"Umm, Sir--" I begin to say, but he interrupts me.

"What now, Cadet Singh?" He asks.

"Your collar is not properly set," I say, and step closer toward him.

"Cadet, what are you....," Rajveer trails off when I grab his collar and start to set it properly.

"It's perfect now," I tell him after a while, still holding on to his collar.

I am aware of how close I am to him, my lips just a few centimeters apart, my body so close to his that I can feel the heat radiating off him.

"We are getting late for the test. Let's go," Rajveer says, immediately stepping back.

"Yes, Sir."

I follow him to the hall, feeling disappointed due to his withdrawal but trying my best not to show it on my face.

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Third Person's POV

When all the participants and the cadets reach the academy ground for the appraisal's second test, Brigadier starts explaining the second task.

"As you all can see in the short distance from you that there is a start point and the end point a few meters away from it.

"For the second task, all the participants will have to reach to that end point after overcoming all the barriers in the way. The participant to reach the end point taking least time will be the winner in this round.

"The first barrier the participants will overcome are the benches huddled together by the wire. All of you will have to slide beneath the bench as fast as you can making sure that you are not gashed by the wire around the benches. If you are injured, as a penalty ten seconds will be added to your overall time.

"The second barrier will be balancing yourself on the plank kept above the rocks in the middle point between the start and the end. While you are balancing yourself on the plank, water jet will be pointed at you with gush of water trying to disbalance you. If any of you fall from the plank at that time, you will be disqualified from the task then and there.

"After that, the third barrier will be the net thrown at you as soon as you step down after reaching the end of the plank. Try your best to escape the net because if you come underneath it, it will be almost impossible for you to come out of it.

"When you escape the net, you will come across the heap of sacs. You will have to carry one sac over your shoulder and get into the minefield we have created just before the end point. You will need to dodge the landmines placed there and carry the sac to the end point.

"Please note that the landmines are not the real ones and they won't fatally injure you even if you accidentally step on them. But you might be injured nonetheless because they will burst and the materials from it and around it might cut or scrape your skin.

"Once you successfully dodge the landmines, you will see the ending line. All you have to do is cross the line and we will stop your time the moment your hands or legs step out of that line.

"Have all of you understood the task?" Brigadier asks the participants.

"Yes, Sir," everyone replies.

"If you all have understood, we will be starting now," Brigadier tells them. "The first one to go will be Subedar Amrit Suri. The second one will be Subedar Lolita Sen. Thirdly, Captain Abhimanyu Rai Chauhan will perform the task. The fourth to go will be Dr. Shalini Singhal. And the final participant to perform the task will be Captain Rajveer Singh Shekhawat."

Nodding at Brigadier, Subedar Amrit Suri steps forward and takes his position.

"3...2....1....go." Brigadier blows on the whistle, indicating the start of task for Subedar Suri, and the Subedar starts running, crossing the start point.

Soon, he comes across the benches huddled together with wires and sinks on the ground to start sliding underneath them.

He starts off great, trying his best not to be gashed by the wires around, but lets out a hiss when he leans to his right at one point due to which the wire cuts him slightly on his upper arm.

Despite the pain, he pushes through, finally sliding out of the bench.

He again stands, now running to the plank, his energy still on high with the hoots of encouragement coming from his cadets and the fellow participants.

On the plank, he tries his best to balance himself, but soon, when the waterjet is pointed at him with the force of water on his face and body, he looses his balance, falling off the plank.

"Disqualified from the task," Brigadier says, blowing on the whistle, this time to indicate the end of the task for Subedar Suri.

Disappointed at himself for being unable to complete the task, Subedar Suri gets up from the ground and walks inside the academy to get changed into dry clothes.

With Subedar Suri out of running, it was Subedar Lolita's turn to have a go at the test.

She successfully crosses the first and second hurdle, quickly sliding underneath the wired benches without getting injured, and then balancing herself on the plank despite the force of water pointed at her.

Once she steps down the plank, she looks up while running to try and escape the net, but her foot gets caught on a stone on the ground due to which she falls with the net falling over her.

Subedar Lolita tries her best to get herself out of the net, but no matter what, she was unable to do so, finally getting tired and giving up.

The orderlies come there once she signals that she gives up and takes the net off her.

She also stomps off disappointedly from the ground, giving way to Dr. Shalini to start the task.

Shalini starts off great, successfully sliding underneath the benches without getting hurt, balancing herself perfectly on the plank, and escaping the net in the nick of time, rolling on the ground when she sees the net falling on her.

As she reaches the heap of sacs, she carries one of them over her shoulder and slowly gets to the minefield, taking care that the sac does not fall.

She takes one step ahead, heart thumping against her chest as she waits to see if any landmine will go off, and heaving a sigh of relief when it does not go off.

Encouraged by the cheers from the cadets and the other participants, she takes the next step, but as soon as she does so, the landmine goes off, and she falls to the ground, flinging the sac off her hand.

Although injured now, the metal piece scraping the skin over her forehead, she does not give up. Slowly walking to the place where the sac was lying, she carries it again over her shoulder and heads to the minefield, carefully taking each step until she crosses the end line amidst the loud cheers from everyone around her.

It was now Abhimanyu's turn to start the task.

He crosses the hurdles one by one slickly without taking much time. Getting to the minefield too, he expertly navigates them without getting any landmine blown and crosses the end line. But he frowns on not hearing as loud cheers as it was when Dr. Shalini had finished her task.

Nevertheless, feeling pleased with himself at successfully completing the task without getting injured, he walks to the side to see how Rajveer will perform the task.

Rajveer takes his position, looking sideways to gaze at Naina for a second before starting to run when Brigadier Chandok blows the whistle.

Reaching the wired bench, he quickly lies on the ground and slides underneath them with great speed while taking care to keep his body away from the pointed wires so as not to get injured.

Once out of there, he jumps on the plank, balancing his body and keep it steadily balanced all the while the force of water tried to disbalance him.

Stepping down from the plank, he quickly runs to the heap of sac and carries one of them over his shoulder while running to the minefield, stopping once he reaches there.

Gauging the minefield, he takes a step, letting out a breath when the landmine does not go off. He then takes a second step and although the ground beneath him does not burst, the area beside him gets burst, making him frown.

He waits for a second to see if anyone will tell him that he will need to restart because it obviously seems like a technical issue that the landmine went off without him stepping on it, but when no one stops him, he carries on, not wanting to waste his time.

He takes another step and it happens again. Although the land on which he stepped does not burst, the one in front of him bursts this time.

As he feels something pricking his left foot, shakes the foot to get it off and steadily limps toward the end line, not caring about gauging the minefield anymore because it kept bursting no matter where he stepped.

Closer to the endline, he limps faster, finally crossing the point.

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Since everyone was done performing the task, all the participants stand in a line to hear the results.

"Out of five participants, only three were able to complete the task. So, only three will be awarded the points for the exercise.

"The participant who came third in this task was Dr. Shalini Singhal, who took three minutes to complete. She will be awarded ten points for this task. With her perfect score of thirty from the first task and ten points added from this one, her total score is forty."

Everyone claps for Shalini and Brigadier also congratulates her when her score on the board changes to forty.

Then, silence falls over, everyone waiting for the winner of the task.

They had all witnessed both Abhimanyu and Rajveer perform the task and both had performed excellently. They all knew only a few seconds would determine who the winner was between them for this task.

"The participant who took least amount of time in completing this task is," Brigadier pauses, looking alternately between Abhimanyu and Rajveer before speaking again. "Captain Rajveer Singh Shekhawat. He took one minute and fifty-nine seconds to complete the task while Captain Abhimanyu Rai Chauhan took two minutes to complete it."

"Both got perfect scores in the first task. So, after this task, Captain Rajveer is leading with sixty points, and Captain Abhimanyu is at fifty points."

Everyone loudly cheers and hoots for Rajveer, but he, for a second, looks at Naina, feeling content when he sees a smile on her face.

"Although Subedar Suri and Subedar Sen were not able to complete this task, both of them had gotten perfect scores in their first task. So, both of them are currently at thirty points."

With that said, Brigadier dismisses everyone from the ground.

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Rajveer

"I had seen Major Nair grabbing that remote from the orderly during the task when you reached the minefield. I did not think much of it at that time, but now, I am sure he took that switch to burst those landmines to hurt you and stop you from completing the task," Naina says while cleaning the wound on my left foot that I had sustained while crossing the minefield.

Sitting on my bed in front of me, she continues cleaning the wound, all the while fretting about my injury and blaming Major Nair for it.

I sit quietly, observing her completely focused on my wound.

After cleaning, she slowly starts applying the antiseptic.

When she entered my quarter earlier with the first aid box in her hand, wanting to dress my wound, I refused her, telling her I can take care of myself.

But she kept insisting, citing she is my supporter, and it is her duty to take care of me and my injuries for the entirety of the appraisal.

Hearing her valid points, I had been unable to deny them, and had to reluctantly allow her to tend to my injury.

She is currently blowing on the wound, hissing time and again as if the wound on my leg was causing her pain too.

I inhale deeply, feeling a pinch in my heart when I gaze at the concern for me marring her face.

It was her presence in the ground during the task that had encouraged me to continue even after getting hurt.

I had briefly looked at her immediately after getting hurt, and seeing the worry intermingled with encouragement on her face, had made me want to complete the task.

"Are you listening to me?" She asks, her voice slightly louder, and she accidentally applies more pressure on the wound, making me hiss in pain.

"Oh, I am so sorry, Ra... I mean, Sir," she hesitantly says, now a bit subdued.

"What were you saying?" I ask, wanting to know what she was talking about while I was lost in my thoughts.

"I was saying that you need to be careful. After what happened today, I am worried Major Nair might also try to hurt you in other tasks of the appraisal," Naina replies, now starting to roll the gauze over the wound.

"Why does it matter to you, Naina?" I counter, and frown when she does not answer me. Instead, she continues to roll the gauze around my leg.

After finishing the dressing, she closes the first aid box and stands up from the bed, turning to go out of the room.

"You did not answer my question, Naina," I say, stopping her from walking out.

She turns to face me only after she reaches near the door, and I feel a sudden jolt passing through me when I look into her teary eyes.

"You told me that you need some time and space to decide the fate of our relationship, and I respect your decision. After what happened between us, especially after how I behaved, I can understand you hesitating to give us one more chance," she says, wiping the tears that escaped her eyes out despite her blinking rapidly to keep them at bay.

"But please do not disregard my feelings for you by asking that question," she continues. "I do not know if the things between us will ever be the way they used to be before. I do not know whether we have a future together or not.

"But I do know one thing. I love you, and no matter what, each pain you feel will affect me too. Always."

Saying that, she walks out of the room, softly closing the door behind her, leaving me to ponder on her words.