There was so much comfort in that hug. Time had stood still for both of them.

Slowly Vikram loosened his grip around her and took a step back. He then looked into her eyes and took a few of the strands of hair falling on her face and tucked them behind her ear. She gave him a million dollar smile and said, "Fine fine I forgive you for not hugging me earlier." Vikram gave her an amused look. He looked very happy and relaxed now but deep down only he knew what turbulent oceans were hitting his shores. Akira was glad to see him bounce back to normal and gently ruffled his hair and said,

"You wanted to talk about something. What is it?".

Vikram went towards his study and Akira followed.

"So you are seriously not going to join your internship program at Singapore?"

"Nopes."

"Any plans of doing an internship here?", Vikram asked in a concerned tone.

"Well, I want to. I have applied to several places, but the hiring period is already frozen. So you can say I am running out of luck", she said in a low register.

But before Vikram could say a word, she quipped, "But don't worry. I am scouting for job opportunities every day via multiple job portals. If anything opens up, I am gonna jump right in."

Vikram fondly looked at her. She was making all attempts not to get him worried. He sighed and picked out a folder from his desk and gave it to Akira.

"Here is some detail about a new start-up company - Delphie. They want to put a strong foot into the gaming market and they recently got some Project deal finalized so I assume they will be switching into hiring mode. The payment won't be too high since its a startup but you will get to learn a lot", Vikram said and looked at Akira in anticipation.

Akira went through some of the pages in the file and then suddenly looked at him with a question mark on her face, "Did you get me backdoor entry?"

She badly wanted him to say no.

Akira was a girl who believed in blood and sweat. Throughout her life, she had been very good at her studies and managed her tuition fees using scholarship money, part-time work, tutoring others and partially with the money left by her parents. She never took any help from anyone and wanted to grow in her life with efforts of her own. She wanted Vikram to understand it and respect her choices, so the thought of Vikram getting her an internship using his contacts and power was hurting her. Because of all the people in the world she trusted him the most and expected him to understand her the most.

Vikram was shocked to see the reaction on her face. He knew that she wouldn't like it but he had no idea that it would tear her mood like this. So even though he didn't want to lie to her he said-

"Jeez, Akira. Why will I ask anyone to hire you? I have my reputation to maintain. I just got to know about the company and thus thought it might interest you. Whether you want to apply or not totally depends on you. God, this world doesn't appreciate good and noble people like me at all."

He shrugged his shoulder to show his disappointment to her and sat on the chair.

"Oh really !!!", Akira was super happy to hear it. Happy because Vikram understood her and he was just helping her with obtaining opportunities. She was glad, rather more than glad. She walked up to him and said - "I am sorry, I misunderstood you but now I know why I trust you blindly."

"Why?", Vikram asked.

"Because you know me better than I know myself. You are indeed my Guardian Angel", she said and smiled at him. Her one-sentence shook Vikram to his core, hitting each and every single nerve in his body. He could never understand what power she had over him. Her honest confessions left him bare.

Then she picked up the file about Delphie again and placed it inside her bag. When Vikram looked at her with curiosity she said - "I need to do some homework before applying right? So don't give me that judgemental look. Now pick up your car keys and drop me at home. Ok?" She asked.

Vikram got up absentmindedly and went to get his car keys. He picked up his phone as well and quickly sent a text. Then he picked up his jacket and kept on glancing at his phone screen. After a few seconds, his screen lighted up with the arrival of a message.

"It's assured." - RAYMOND

Vikram sighed with relief and headed towards Akira.