Vikram's assistant Peter looked at the message he had just received and interrupted David who was explaining about the expected customer reach of the project and said,

"Mr. Raymond, we can look at the numbers later but first I think you should go and meet my boss."

"As in right now?" asked Raymond.

"Yes, he has informed me that he wants to have some discussion with you," said Peter and closed his laptop.

"Ok then," said Raymond.

When both Raymond and David got up from their seat, Peter said,

"Mr. Vikram wants to meet with Mr.Raymond alone" and he shot a glance at David requesting him to stay back in the meeting room.

"Please follow me", said Peter and started walking towards Vikram's office.

Raymond looked back at David and eyed him to gather all documents and project work and then followed Peter to enter Vikram's room.

Vikram gave a cursory glance at Raymond and then looked at Peter and said,

"If I need any further services from you I will let you know but for now, we are done".

"Oh", Peter exclaimed and then he left the room. He was quite surprised because Vikram would never indulge in such private business conversations. Vikram then asked Raymond to sit and continued,

"There will be certain terms and conditions that my finance team would help to add into the business clause but I had a personal request which is on top of that. Is that ok with you?"

Raymond new that Vikram was a man of principles who never bent the rule book. So he obviously knew that this request must be either something special or something so weird that it might lead to No Deal.

"Well, it depends. What am I supposed to be ok with?", replied a surprised Raymond.

"I have a family friend of mine who wants to venture into the gaming domain. She is a graphic designer by profession and I want you to include her in your new project as an intern," said Vikram and looked at Raymond like he was trying to map his reaction.

Raymond knew that the request can't be that simple. He knew that there has to be something more. The look in Vikram's eye clearly told that his request was of paramount importance. So he asked after a brief pause,

"And?"

Vikram smiled and continued, "I want you to be her personal mentor so that she can learn the a to z of the graphic design process in your industry. She is a good girl and is a fast learner and I bet that you won't regret hiring her after her internship is done."

Raymond didn't mind the proposal because anyways he had to hire in more people in case his proposal was accepted. Initially, he was a bit hesitant to hire an intern but when Vikram himself was vouching for her credibility, he was assured.

"Sure! Won't be an issue. You can send me her resume and credentials. I will personally see what kind of activity she is best suited for," Raymond said.

"But the most important thing is," Vikram said and paused.

"She can't know I was behind this. No matter what happens, nobody in your company can know and you have to make sure of that. Whatever we discussed, stays between you and me."

"Ok," added Raymond.

He started wondering who was this person for whom Vikram was ready to bend his own principles.

"You don't have to worry about it. Please rest assured," he added.

"Oh, I am assured because if you don't guarantee this then we have NO DEAL.

I don't care what your numbers say, you will get this project. You have my word on that. But if you can't entertain my personal request or if at any point I feel you didn't keep your word, then the contract will be nullified. Is that clear to you Mr. Raymond?".

Raymond stood there speechless for a moment because within seconds this person had made the room ice cold with his terror. His words were sharp as steel and it stung Raymond's ego. But he calmly let it go, because the deal was everything for him and he was ready to go to any length for that.

"It's clear", Raymond said and left the room.

Raymond was stunned to hear such a request coming from him. This man had the capacity to give a job to anyone anywhere in the world and yet he was requesting him. Things were just not adding up.