I was on my way to the mess but Aalekh caught me halfway and turned me around. "Infirmary me jana hai pehle," he announced.
"Nehi yaar. Wo Dr. Shalini bakwas sawal karna chalu karegi," I grumbled.
"Sawal se yaad aya... Bahar wo kya tha?" He asked in a low tone.
"Taklu ne jan puch kar Raina ka map uss orderly ko nehi diya jisne hum saab ko inform kiya," I told him in the same low tone
"Saala, haramkhor kahika! Hum kuch karenge nehi uska?" He asked angrily.
"Karenge... Par abhi nehi. Hume jo bhi karna hai bohot planning ke saath karna hoga," I assured him.
By then, we had reached the infirmary. With a reluctant sigh, I knocked on the door and entered. "Ma'am, hume thora sa dressing karwana tha," I announced as soon as I entered.
Shalini was with Ritu. 🙄 They seemed to be discussing... Rajveer. He was their only topic, after all. "Dressing, cadet?" Shalini asked, "oh yes! You had injured your back, right? Come and show me," she said.
I sat on the bed and pulled my uniform tops up to reveal my badly scratched up back.
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"Oh my God! Ye kaise huya?" Shalini asked.
"Ma'am, can you just clean these wounds so that we can just go?" I asked her tiredly.
"Yes, of course," Shalini started cleaning my wounds with antiseptic. She found small pieces of tree barks in my wounds as well. "What were you doing on that tree, other than sleeping?" She asked in wonder.
"Ma'am, kuch bate pati patni ki bich ki hoti hai. Bahar walo ko batana zaroori nehi hota," Aalekh told her sharply, "inn ghao me agar dhul mitti aur per ki pieces nehi hota to apun isko yaha nehi lata," he added.
Finally understanding that we didn't want to share, Shalini stopped asking questions about my wounds. Though she started new ones. "Cadet Rehnuma, kya apne Captain ki wife ko dekha hai?"
"Wo invisible thori thi ki main nehi dekhungi. Kya, ma'am, aap bhi kaise baat kar rahi hai?" I told her laughing.
"That's not what I meant," Shalini pouted.
"You know what Dr. Shalini is saying, cadet. Why are you being secretive like this?" Ritu asked.
" It's not that hard of a guess, ma'am. I simply don't want to tell ANYONE about Rajveer sir's wife," I answered bluntly, "No offense but I came to this academy to live MY best life, not feed everyone's curiosity. Are you done with my wounds, Shalini ma'am?"
"Yes, cadet," Shalini said. " Here, this antiseptic cream will help," she handed me a tube.
"We'll need another one," I told her.
Seeing that neither Aalekh or I were in mood to say much else to her, she handed me another tube. With a Thanks, we left.
When we were sufficiently far from the infirmary, Aalekh asked why I didn't tell anything to Shalini as I would usually blurt out everything personal about us.
