Nikhil left after lunch. On the same day, Sahasra got notified that she passed the AFCAT test and was invited for training at AFA (Air Force Academy) in Bangalore next month.

She shared this news with Maa and Dadi and they celebrated her achievement. Maa asked Sahasra to share this to Nikhil as well.

For some reason, she was feeling nervous but nevertheless she called him.

"Hello?" he said when he picked up the call.

"Sahasra here," she said.

"So...all good at home?"

"Yeah. I wanted to tell you that I got into AFA Bengaluru."

"I know," he said.

"How?" she asked.

"My batchmates and I have been asked to teach the newcomers there. So I'll be your coach there," Nikhil said. Sahasra could feel that Nikhil was smiling at the other end.

"Oh, okay," she said. Shit! He's going to coach me again. My luck is broken! She exclaimed in her mind.

"Good luck. See you next month," he said.

"Thanks."

"Bye," he said and hung up.

"Khadoos," she muttered and started jumping in excitement for her training. Yes, it was sad that Nikhil would coach her, but she would meet other girls as well who shared the same dreams as her.

The month went fast and the day finally came for her to leave. Sahasra's mother had come over the previous week, and all three ladies were crying their eyes out.

"I'm going for training, not to die. Stop crying!" she scolded them in a humourous way.

"Beta dhyaan rakhiyo," Dadi said.

"I will, I promise," Sahasra replied and touched the feet of all three ladies. "The cab has come. Bye!"

After calming them all down, she left. She reached in the evening. "That is the girl's hostel," the warden lady pointed towards a building. "Your number is 69."

Sahasra laughed, earning a frown from the warden lady. She thanked her and then entered the hostel. There were bunk beds all around, and she went around smiling searching for her bed number 69.

There were many other girls — unpacking their uniforms. There was supposed to be a welcoming party tonight, and all the newcomers were supposed to come in the uniform.

"Hi! I'm Ramya," the girl from bed no.68 waved at Sahasra.

"Nice name. I'm Sahasra!" She introduced herself.

"Wow! You got 69. Nice position," Ramya laughed.

"Woh toh hai," Sahasra felt a little embarrassed as she laughed with her new friend.

"I'm about to get ready, and you should get ready too. There is not much time left. And we can't be late to the party."

Sahasra agreed. She removed her uniform from the bag and stared at it with admiration. I've done the first step, she said to herself proudly.

Once she wore the uniform, tears fell down her cheeks. She cried, feeling proud to see the insignia of IAF (Indian Air Force).

The trainees' uniforms, like hers, had no ranks of course. The uniform consisted of a blue shirt, navy pants with black shoes and black socks. A miniature name tag was there as well. Hair was to be tied in a neat bun. There was a space on top of the name tag for proficiency badges that they would earn as they trained.

"Let's go," Ramya elbowed Sahasra. Two more girls joined them.

"I'm Katha, and this is Geet," the two girls introduced themselves. The four ladies then proceeded towards the hall for the welcome party.

At the party, Geet was the first one to speak.

"Forget the male trainees. Look at that actual Air Force pilots. Wheww hot!" Geet drooled.

"Shut up! If someone hears you, you'll get punished on the first day itself," Ramya scolded her. Sahasra and Katha giggled.

Sahasra turned to see the man Geet was talking about — it was Nikhil! And, she was mesmerized. Honestly, he does look 'hot' like Geet said, she thought but then scolded herself.

The ranks and medals on his uniform. The posture. The hawk-like eyes. Everything is so... mesmerizing, she scolded herself again for gawking at him.

Katha and Geet went to some senior female pilots. They were sweating on learning about the vigorous training and ground realities.

All the trainees were handed the first two weeks training schedule. It included:

Objectives:
Challenging the recruit both mentally and physically.
Morning 5 am to 6 am runs, breakfast and the classes.
Trainees will learn how to report and salute
Entry control procedures, fitness and nutrition, ID card Issue, drill, weapons, issue parts identification
Human relations and cultural sensitivity.

Training Officers:
Runs and Fitness Drills — Nikhil Reddy
Basic Skills — Raj Ejamuri
Human Relations and Cultural Skills — Shruti Pandey

Sahasra's eyes went wide — 'Runs and Fitness Drills' was headed by her husband! But her inner self was sure that he would be fair to her since he had apologized from his heart.

"Hey Sahasra, are you and Nikhil related?" Ramya asked, pointing towards the 'Reddy' surname.

"Not all Reddys are related," Sahasra rolled her eyes. She didn't want anyone to know she was married, yet.

"I was just kidding. And anyways even if you were related, who cares? We're in the academy." Ramya scoffed.

Shruti Pandey, the officer in-charge of Human Relations and Cultural Skills, came up to the girls and said, "Do whatever partying you want today. From tomorrow you won't get time to even think about fun."

The girls nodded their heads. Sahasra was tired from traveling and this party seemed kind of boring to her. She expected Nikhil to come and meet her, or at least say 'hi'. But he didn't.

On the other hand, Nikhil's eyes were on Raj. He was literally shooting eye-daggers at him. Nikhil loathed him, and he felt insecure since Raj would be teaching a course to his wife.

Nikhil frowned and mentally slapped himself for calling Sahasra 'his wife'. You both aren't that close, and this wasn't a love marriage you idiot, he internally scolded himself.

Raj avoided Nikhil. He knew the reason why Nikhil hated him, but he didn't even feel ashamed or guilty. He was a total ladies man. And the new trainee batch had some beautiful ladies.

He had already set his eyes on one girl in particular — Sahasra, and there was Geet Singh too. He cleared his throat and drank his wine thinking about his next moves while Nikhil just kept glaring at him.

――"💌"――

If you're proud of Sahasra's achievement of getting into the AFA (Air Force Academy), please vote and comment!