It was a brand new day and Shambhavi was a bit nervous but she was ready. She had faced so much in her life. She could face this too. So, with that thought, she went to her drills. A look around the field told her that Yash Vashisht was not going to be at that drill. She let out a breath of relief.
Halfway through the drill and she knew that he was indeed watching her but she would not let it deter her.
Yash was hidden but he knew that Shambhavi had sensed him watching. He hadn't meant to watch her. He was just on his own run when he saw the senior class was having their drills, so he stopped in his tracks and watched. Finally, he spotted her.
He watched his little girl go about the drill as if it was a piece of cake and he was in awe of her. A few tears leaked out of his eyes. He was proud, so proud, and he was sure that Sakshi would be proud of her as well.
He had to start that day's classes, so he left the drill.
Shambhavi knew the exact moment when Yash stopped watching her. She was surprised he did not come forward.
She focussed on her drill and afterwards, she was ready to face him, right?
The notice board had a clear notice that Aniket's classes would be taken over by Brigadier Yash Vashisht.
Brigadier! Shambhavi remembered him as Lieutenant Colonel. Wow! It had been so long.
She shook her head and waited for the time she would see him. She went on to eat her breakfast.
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The paper hit someone else and that started another argument, only this time there was less talking and more throwing balls of paper. Before anyone could have comprehended, the classroom was a battlefield with paper bombs flying left, right and center. Some comrades fell with a paper ball to their eyes, some to their heads, but others fought valiantly.
Shambhavi just sat back and watched on amused at the fight. Anisha was trying her best to stop Shreya and Anant who looked just about ready to kill each other. Things in the class seemed to get out of hand. That was when Yash entered and everybody shut up instantly.
"Don't stop on my account. It was quite an entertaining thing to watch. No other classes fought so well," Yash said, taking support against the front of the teacher's desk.
Everyone at least had the decency to go back to their seats and looked a bit ashamed. Yash looked around with a smile on his face and Shambhavi knew.
"So can someone tell me where the first paper ball came from?" Yash asked the class.
Everyone immediately blew up, throwing accusations on each other. Shambhavi was enjoying all of it and she knew this was a class. She also knew the answer to the question. So, she thought, why not?
"It came from the outside," she said in a low voice, hoping that Yash would not notice her voice amongst the others.
"What was that, Miss Vyas?" Yash asked Shambhavi to clarify what she had just said, showing a hand up in the air to the rest of the class.
All of them had their eyes on Shambhavi now. Some were curious, some were glaring at her, asking her to take their side in the ongoing argument.
Clearing her throat, Shambhavi said, "It was no one from the inside of the class, Sir. The first paper ball that hit Shreya was actually thrown from the outside. It hit the side of her head and not the back. So, it came in from the direction of the back door and no one in the class threw the first ball."
Shambhavi looked at Yash, trying to gauge his reaction to her answer. He did not give anything away and listened quietly to what Shambhavi had to say.
"That is correct, Miss Vyas. Now could you tell me why anyone would do that?" Yash asked, looking directly at her.
Shambhavi could detect a bit of pride in his eyes. "To get us to fight amongst ourselves. We won't guess that it was an outside job, and fight. Dividing us would make us weak and give the outsider a clear advantage." Shambhavi answered what she thought was right.
"You are partially right. While it was for those reasons, it can also be used for several other reasons." Yash went on to the blackboard to write down the term Psychological Warfare.
"Psychological warfare. It's an art you see, the art to fight a war without ever ever lifting a gun let alone any other artillery," Yash explained to the class.
Someone commented on this. "How can you fight a war without arms?" The person had commented in a taunting way.
"Well, young man, I don't know if you have ever been taught history but I believe a very important world event was known as the Cold War and it was known so for a reason. No country actually went to war, no lines were drawn and no armies were sent, no battle was visible it was a war nonetheless," Yash replied with a bit of sarcasm himself, leaving the poor bloke flustered as the class laughed at him.
Even Shambhavi was trying to hide a smile at the comment. She had forgotten just where she got her sass and sarcasm from.
"So, as I was ..." Yash continued with the class.
The lecture had turned out to be quite interesting and as much as Shambhavi wanted to not enjoy it, she did enjoy it. There was no misgiving that Brigadier Yash Vashisht was the best at his subject.
The rest of the day went by relatively nicely.
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Later that evening Yash and Shambhavi were at the library. They, of course, did not know that the other was there. Yash was planning out his classes while Shambhavi was doing some reading.
Shambhavi was getting up to leave when she heard someone sniff and clear the throat in the aisle ahead of her. She took a peek to see Yash sniffing again.
His sinus was probably acting up again. Of course, he was not going to do anything about it just like Nitya did nothing about her sinus either. Shambhavi shook her head and went out towards the kitchen.
Yas was busy sniffing and narrowing his gaze at the papers in front of him, trying to concentrate on what was written when a glass filled with warm water was set in front of him, startling him. He looked up to his side to see Shambhavi.
"It's warm water," she said and set down a thermos of what he assumed was more warm water. "This will last you through half the night, so you should close all this and go to bed before you strain yourself and get a headache and a cold which would raise your blood pressure," she continued.
She went on to close all the papers and kept them in her hand. Yash was about to protest about her taking away his work from him when she stopped him with a hand gesture.
"Nope, you will not get it back. Nitya always does this and then she gets a fever which does not go down for the next three days. So, no, you will not get this back. You will get up, take the warm water with you and keep on drinking it until you fall asleep. Also, take this," she said gesturing to a damp towel.
Yash looked at her a bit bewildered and then took the damp towel from her.
"You have to keep it on your face. It helps clear the congestion," she informed him.
He nodded and then they both stood there awkwardly for a minute or two. He cleared his throat and said, "I thought Nitya was a medical student."
"She is, which is why she thinks that she is immune to 'childish stuff like a measly sinus cold', her words," she said a bit exasperated.
Yash smiled with fondness at the thought of his youngest daughter. Shambhavi watched his smile.
"It was a good lesson," she said, making conversation.
He got up from his seat and gestured to her to walk with him. She complied and started walking.
"How did you know?" he asked and she smiled, thinking about whether to tell the truth or not.
"Well, as I said the paper hit Shreya on the side, at an angle from the door and also you came in the class with that smile on your face. It was the same smile that Adhya has when she does something she should not, especially if it agitates Mrityunjay or Nitya, so I knew that you had thrown the paper," Shambhavi said, laughing a little.
Yash was overjoyed to hear her laugh in his presence and smiled at her reply. She was not wrong. "Very observational," he complimented her. "Although, always remember it as a life lesson for the battlefield. It might look like someone on the inside started the war but it could very well be someone on the outside playing all the cards. Look at the situation from every angle and then calculate your move according to your opponent's strengths and weaknesses," he said with a somewhat serious and far away look. He soon regained himself.
"Mrityunjay is Adhya's husband, right?" he asked.
Shambhavi was a bit surprised to see him know that. Surely, Aarti would have told him. "Yes, Squadron Leader Mrityunjay Bajaj," she said as if to tell him that Adhya was in good hands.
Yash nodded feeling a certain kind of pride for his daughters and where they were today even without his support. Soon, they reached Yash's quarters.
Handing Yash his papers and files, Shambhavi said, "Don't forget to keep the warm towel on your face and keep drinking the water. You always forget."
He looked at her and smiled, "I won't forget, Jaana."
He turned around and went in before she could see his tears falling but she had already seen the tears in his eyes though, and as she went back to her room, she replayed the conversation about the lesson. Was there something in their story that she had been missing and if so, what was it? Who was the outsider with all the cards?
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