Ishq-e-Watan

Chapter 96- Of Peaceful Mornings and Blushing Dates

CHAPTER 96

OF PEACEFUL MORNINGS AND BLUSHING DATES

Faizi was having a great morning. The paperwork from the raid was all done, the drills went smoothly, and the classes were engaging. It was peaceful and he had even gotten the time to sneak in a breakfast with his girlfriend. Even now, post lunch, it was almost a team meeting. The cadets- their cadets- were sitting over to the other side of the mess and the three trainers had somehow also settled over the mess. He was pretty sure Karan and Sanju had only joined him because Monami and Siddharth were on the other side of the room and as vehemently as they liked to deny it, they just liked having them in their sights.

His peace, however, was broken by a loud screech. He sighed, looking over to the cadets. It was Chitra. She had even climbed over the bench, standing on it as if she already hadn't garnered enough attention. For a moment, he was concerned over how terrified she looked. "#Exams aa rahe hain", she screeched dramatically and his concern vanished. "#Date sheet out."

"What?" The rest screeched, diving for their own laptops. It was silent for a moment as they read through the email.

There was another screech, this time from Bala. "Strategy mein koi break nahi hai", he gasped in horror.

"I am going to f-fail", Monami gasped. Across Faizi, Karan rubbed his forehead, shaking his head. He just knew the other agent had spent hours counselling her that of all the things, she was not going to fail at least. The thought of Monami failing an exam was laughable. She studied too much for it.

"Tum pratham thi, Monami", Prem ji said. "Tum toh yeh sab kaho hi mat. Hume padha do."

She stared at him in disbelief. "M-Mera koi d-dost nahi hai ab", she declared dramatically. She got betrayed looks for that declaration.

"Dhokebaaz", Parikshit gritted out, although the fact that he seemed more or less serious made it even more hilarious. Monami kept a hand over her chest at the declaration- dramatically offended, but turned her head away even more dramatically. Faizi laughed.

"Kaa namoone hoge", Sanju muttered, laughing lightly under her breath as she watched them. "Pariksha se itna darr raho hain."

There was another choking sound. "Yahan likha hai hum sabke exams aur zyaada mushkil aayenge", Koel said, staring at the rest with big eyes.

"I was wondering woh uss point par kab pahunchenge", Karan said, amused.

There was another pause as they digested the information given. Monami's eyes suddenly lifted to the three trainers, who were laughing quietly at their panic, amused smiles on their faces. "Aap logon se b-badla liya j-jaayega", she threatened, but her gaze zoomed to Karan, who pursed his lips. He looked at Faizi, slight alarm in his eyes.

"I support you, Monami", Koel said, glaring at Faizi.

"Mahutarma..." He trailed off, unsure of what he could even say. What has he done? It wasn't like he was the one who invented the concept of examinations. He looked at Karan and Sanju, who both shrugged.

"Tum padha rahi ho mujhe", Siddharth declared to his own girlfriend, who quietly nodded. It was strange to see her quiet, but Faizi was sure there was some strange dynamics between them and while everyone thought it was Sanju that dominated their relationship, it was not entirely true. They had some weird power balance between them. She listened to him. It had done her good, made her just a little bit calmer.

The cadets dove into their books, scrambling for notebooks and pens as they started to tore in the tons of syllabus they were supposed to prepare. Faizi shook his head. It was a good morning, but perhaps, peaceful was a farfetched word for it.