Ishq-e-Watan

Chapter 97- Conflicted Nervousness

CHAPTER 97

CONFLICTED NERVOUSNESS

Sid was nervous. It wasn't like he never had girlfriends. Quite the opposite, actually. His way of coping with everything had long been humor, and admittedly, the toxicity of drinking and partying. Partying almost always meant girls and his charm and money had always drawn girls in and he had never really stayed single. If he wanted, he would have a girlfriend. He liked some of them- genuinely enjoyed being with them- but he never really even considered introducing them to his father. Partly because the older man wasn't interested and partly, because he didn't see a point to it.

So, despite the numerous girls in and out of his life, it was still his first time introducing a girl to his father. And if he was being honest, it terrified him. Despite the reassurance to Sanju, he really wasn't sure how he was going to react. And he really, really, really didn't want to fight him. Sanju was right. She wasn't the kind of girl his father probably expected him to be with, and he wanted Sid to be happy but he also had a side that was brutally practical and it never failed to show up when things really mattered.

"Sid!" The man took a deep breath, smiling and greeting his father back. "Kaisa hai? Yeh ek hi din mein do call kaise? Sab theek?"

He hadn't had the courage to ask in the morning, didn't want to break their peaceful, little routine. "Woh... mujhe kuchh puchhna tha."

"Puchh, na?"

He bit his lip. "I actually wanted you to meet a friend. And... I was just wondering ki aap kab free hoge so main aur woh aa jaayenge aapse milne yaa... maybe you can come down here."

There was a pause. Sid closed his eyes. He had figured it out. "A friend?" He repeated. Sid hummed. His father hummed. "A girlfriend." It wasn't a question but Sid confirmed it anyway. "Naam kya hai? Karti kya hai? Kitne mahine se date kar raha hai? Kahan mila? And suddenly, tujhe mujhse kyun milwaana hai? Aaj se pehle toh mention bhi nahi kara. God, Sid, I swear agar woh pregnant hui, main-"

"WHAT? NAHI! Nahi. Aisa... Aisa kuchh nahi hai. Humne... No. Just, no. She's..." He took a deep breath, shaking his head. "Uska naam Sanjana hai. She's my trainer. A paracommando and a captain. Sab usko Sanju bolte hain. And... it's been almost 3 months. And I just..." He exhaled. "Daddy ji, I really love her. Woh mujhe bahut achhi lagti hai. And I just... I want you to know about her."

He hummed again. "Uski family ko pata hai?"

"Haan."

"Monami ko pata hai?"

He rolled his eyes. "Obviously. Monu se kabhi kuchh chhupaata hoon main?"

His father didn't even react to that, just humming. "Tell me about her. How did you meet?"

And so, until Ustaad ji came around, asking for his phone, he talked to his father, answering every single detail he wanted about Sanju. By the end, he still couldn't determine what his thoughts were but his father agreed to come down to Deolali to meet them after his exams were done. Sid had agreed readily.

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"Okay, so exams ek hafte mein shuru hain, not considering the physical ones", Koel said, staring at the calculator. "Agle chaar din classes nahi hain, and do din physical exams hain and then, ek din chhuti hai. So, say, 5 and a half days of studying. That's 132 hours. Lights out from 10:30 to 4:30 so that's 6 ghante har roz, and that's 96 hours. Baaki, meals, breaks and stuff ke liye even if it's 16 hours, that's only 80 hours."

The cadets looked down at the syllabus they had written down that they needed to study before staring dumbfoundedly at Koel. "What?" Parikshit said. "80? Bas? And 80 ghante se toh bahut kam pad paayenge."