That night, Aditya could not sleep.
He was physically exhausted, but his thoughts were too loud for him to sleep peacefully.
When his attempts to sleep failed, he stepped out of his tent.
The wind was cold, as it always had been here during the night, despite the heat and humidity of the day.
It usually had a salty and greeny smell, which would remind him of his proximity to the sea at the moment.
But today, it smelled of ashes and dust, reminding him of the day's incident.
As he walked further, he found a rock that children over there had started using as a wicket while playing cricket. It was near the center of the camp.
He sat on it. He could see the entire camp from there.
Villagers' tents. Military tents. Volunteers' tents. Storage building. Medical camp.
His eyes stopped there.
He could see Jahnvi packing her bag, maybe ready to leave it.
'Was she working this late?'
Her clothes were spoiled with mud,sweat, and blood.
Her hair was wild. He could see her strength. Her determination.
He wondered about the relief that washed over his conscience when he got to know it was not her who complained.
Somehow the very thought of her doing so felt like a betrayal to him.
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Jahnvi came out of the medical camp and started walking towards her tent.
At this point she was numb with exhaustion.
But when she saw Aditya sitting in the center of the camp, she halted. She saw his shoulders drop, his posture not sstraight;she could see him tired. Not just pphysically, butemotionally as well.
She could see he was looking at her.
At that point she remembered what Rohit had asked her to do.
Why end things on a bitter note?
Without thinking twice, she quickened her pace and approached him.
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Aditya saw her coming, unsure of what it was now.
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When Jahnvi reached there, she stood a foot away from him.
They both stared at each other in silence.
And then Jahnvi broke it."Captain,. Th.. thank you."
"For?"
"For this morning, thanks for saving me."
"Always," Aditya smiled softly.
Jahnvi was flustered a bit but added,.
"And sorry."
"For?" Aditya narrowed his eyes.
"For arguing with you the other day without knowing your point and..." Jahnvi was not sure whether she should tell it or not.
"And..?"
She closed her eyes and said it anyway.
"And I know that you hate me by now, but I want you to know that... that I have... I have nothing against you now but respect for what you did today."
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Aditya stood up as she was ranting, "Nothing against you now? That means you had something against me earlier." Aditya said with a playfulness in his voice.
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Jahnvi averted her gaze. "I thought you were a hypocrite who embarrassed me twice. And the way you avoided me yesterday morning, I thought you hated me."
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Aditya hesitated a bit. He knew where she was coming from and nodded gently, "Nothing I ever said and nothing I ever did was out of hate for you, Doctor...."
The sincerity in his voice made her smile.
He continued, "I think I need to apologize too. Your sincerity and dedication... I... confused it with recklessness and..."
Jahnvi did not know about the letter issue. He decided not to tell her now.
"...and I think I should appreciate you... for your dedication."
This made her smile. Genuinely.
All she could say was thanks.
He noticed her work, her passion.
It made her day.
"I think you should leave now, doctor. You look tired."
Jahnvi nodded and started moving towards her tent with a smile.
-----
The next day the distance between officials had decreased. You could see them all working together to bring things back to normal.
They did mingle with each other a lot and with villagers too. That state of panic was terrifying for them as well. They had witnessed how much these people had worked for betterment, and respect for them increased.
---
After such a hectic day, Rawat thought watching a movie would be a great way to relax at night. As he was watching a downloaded movie on his phone, he noticed children gathered around him.
He, being the sweetheart he is, came up with a plan.
He asked an ASHA worker from a nearby village to give him a Bluetooth speaker.
Brought a white bedsheet from his camp.
Arranged everything and made a makeshift movie screen for the kids. All the kids from nearby came there with joy. Some elders too joined them; others were seeing this scene unfolding from their tents.
When Aarav saw it, he said
"You are impossible, but it actually works."
Rawat was joined by Aarav, Thapa, and Rhea.
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Policemen, NDRF workers, and a few other volunteers joined them too.
When Jahnvi saw Niharika, Rohit, Aarav, Thapa, and Rohit laughing together. She decided to join in too.
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They were all enjoying the good time with the kids and themselves.
After the movie was over, some were heading back, and some kids were playing there.
The group was relaxing there. Aditya joined them as silently as he could with tea that he had prepared for everyone.
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When Jahnvi took the first sip of her tea,
Rawat asked her excitedly, "How's it, Jahnvi? Our captain, he is the great tea master of our unit. No one makes it better than him."
Aditya was flustered. Tried to avert his gaze.
"It's actually good." Jahnvi replied, impressed by the tea.
"See, as I said. Do you want to know what else our captain does well?"
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"Here we go." Aarav said as quietly as he could.
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At this point the whole group was trying to hide the smile that had crept on their face.
They knew what Rawat was trying to do.
"What?" Jahnvi asked genuinely.
"Arey, madam. You saw how he saved you from that stone. That's not even a percent of our sir's combat skills."
Thapa stood up. As he was trying to hype his captain.
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At this point Aditya was visibly red from blushing.
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"Arey. It was straight out of a Bollywood movie." Rohit added.
Jahnvi widened her eyes; she could not believe he was boarding this train too.
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"I saw his head was bleeding. But he commanded like he was unbothered." Niharika added.
Nobody wanted to leave their chance of hyping them up.
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"We should write a Ballad about our sir."
Rawat was so excited that his hands were in the air as he said this sentence.
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Aditya was so flustered at this point that he decided to leave with an excuse.
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All started hooting at him as he left.
Thapa added, "He really is like this always. So humble."
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Rhea: "The way he handled the matter today saved all of us."
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Rawat, "He even saved Jahnvi from police—"
Done.
Damage done.
Aarav was staring at him. Infectious everyone was.
This quickened Jahnvi's ears. "What do you mean?"
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Rawat, trying the damage control, "Arey, nothing... nothing... I was making up things."
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But Jahnvi could sense something was off.
Aarav. That's all, guys; that's all for today.
Aarav, Thapa, Rhea, and Rawat started leaving, glaring at Rawat. His expression was that of a sheep in front of tigers.
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Before they could go further. Jahnvi stopped Aarav and pulled him aside from the group.
"Tell me the truth. Right now."
"It's nothing important, Jahnvi."
"NO. Tell me right now. How am I involved with the police? It's about me. It's my right to know it."
Aarav gave in and told her everything.
Her face turned blank.
She could not believe what a big problem she was going to be in. And he saved her without letting her know anything about it.
"He wanted to save everyone." Aarav added at the end.
Jahnvi was blank.
She could not believe it.
That fight. It was recorded.
His reputation was in question.
Her reputation was in question.
Yet she knew nothing. And he handled everything. Himself.
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She searched for him everywhere and found him near the end of camp.
All alone. Humming to himself.
A melody she could not identify but so beautiful.
She could not help it.
One tear dropped over her cheek.
Then another.
And then she was crying, standing there.
A small voice left her throat.
This made him stop humming, and he turned behind to see what it was.
He saw her there.
He saw her crying there.
It's her.
And she's crying.
He felt panic.
Did anything happen?
He rushed towards her.
Held her shoulders.
Before he could say anything.
Jahnvi hugged him.
He went still for a moment. She could sense him getting stiff in her arms.
And then he embraced her. He hugged her back.
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"I... I... I'm sorry... I didn't... didn't..."
Aditya patted her back, his head resting on her forehead.
"Don't speak. Not now. Just breathe."
And this made her cry even louder.
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It took her some time to regain her composure.
She finally dropped her hands and stared at him.
"You saved both of us from the police."
Ah. She got to know.
But this was not the time to interrogate.
"You've got to know," Aditya said with an exhale.
Jahnvi nodded.
"You did not inform me?"
"There was no need to. See, everything’s fine now. So no need to worry." Aditya tried to reassure her.
"I'm not worried. I'm sorry.... I'm sorry and thankful."
"I'm serious, Doc. If you repeat sorry and thank you one more time, I'll not talk to you."
Jahnvi let out a small laugh.
He could not help but smile.
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and then Add to home screen.