Vikram started sinking deep inside his thoughts. Even though there was nothing going on between Akira and Raymond, he didn't like the notion of him giving her a 'Good Job'. He didn't like her chirping about it. He did not like Raymond's sister inviting Akira to her daughter's birthday party. He was not liking the whole sequence of events which were happening.

Vikram had just needed one thing throughout his entire life and that was Akira. He never liked sharing her because he wanted to have all her attention to himself. But at the same time, he never burdened her with his opinions or wishes. His love was the pure kind, which never expected anything back in return.

When he got to know that she had fallen for some random college guy Anthony a year back, he wanted to vomit his guts out because of the pain. How much he wanted to hold her and tell her to leave that guy and come back to her, but he always refrained himself from doing so. That was perhaps because of the fact that he believed to let the loved ones free. He believed that 'If they also loved you back the same way that you do then no matter how far away they travel, they will always come back home'.

As he sat on his chair thinking about everything, he remembered that one incident, Akira's last birthday.

He had gone to Akira's place well before midnight to celebrate her birthday. At that time Anthony was already there in Singapore. She waited till 00.10 am expecting him to call her up. But he didn't. After waiting for another ten to fifteen minutes she said,

"Let's cut the cake. Probably the time difference messed him up, else he would have definitely called me sharp midnight."

He could feel the blossoms in her heart wither away. He could feel the petals turning to dust after falling down. Seeing her feeling so low, even though he didn't want to, he had immediately texted Anthony asking where he was and to which that moron had replied,

"I am busy in my team outing dude. Anything urgent?" - Anthony

"It's Akira's birthday. Can you call her up? She is waiting for you to call." - Vikram

"What? Today is her birthday? Thanks for the headsup man" - Anthony

And a few minutes later, he had called and Akira's face brightened up like summer. Probably that day he shouldn't have texted. Probably that day he should have tried to convince her to leave him. But somehow he didn't. All that he wanted was her happiness, and that was his topmost priority.

But he was not going to let it happen again.

He had already left Akira travel once down the lane and she came back all broken. So this time he didn't want to repeat the same mistake again. He didn't want her to be swayed away randomly by somebody else. This time he decided not to let her wander anymore. It was time that she came back home. It was time that he made her, his own. So with that resolve in his heart, he called her up.

"Hey, what happened?", asked Akira.

"Nothing I just forgot to tell you, that tomorrow I am going to your office. So I will drop by your place tomorrow morning and drive you to Delphie. Sounds good?", asked Vikram.

"Sounds amazing. Nothing is better than getting a personal chauffeur. How can I say no to the that?", Akira said and giggled.

"OK then. See you tomorrow. I gotta go. Bye", Vikram said and disconnected the call to make another one.

"Hello", said Vikram.

"Hello, Mr Vikram. What a pleasant surprise?", asked Raymond as he was surprised for real to see Vikram calling him at this time.

"Hey. It's nothing related to work. Actually just wanted to thank you for saving Akira's life. I am indeed indebted to you for that. God knows if something would have had happened, I don't know how I could have dealt with it", Vikram said.

"Don't worry about that. I am just happy that I could help her out at the right time", Raymond said.

"Hmm. How is your recovery?", asked Vikram.

"I am totally fine. Just waiting for the stitches to dissolve", replied Raymond.

"Glad to hear that. By the way, I sincerely hope that you are happy with the performance of my intern?", Vikram asked.

"Yes absolutely. Actually, I am indebted to you for recommending Akira for the internship position. To be very honest initially, I was doubtful as to what kind of performance she would give. But at her age, she is performing beyond my expectations. She indeed is a good asset for the team", Raymond replied quite enthusiastically. But somehow it didn't go well with Vikram.

"Actually it was a bit too much of me to ask you to personally mentor her earlier as you must be already loaded with work and along with your health issues I do not want you to suffer any further. So it's totally fine if you assign any team lead as Akira's mentor", Vikram said and started flipping a pencil anxiously, waiting for the response from Raymond.

"You don't have to worry about that. It will be taken care of. I have some bandwidth to take care of her. Plus I never let anything under my capacity to affect my productivity", Raymond said.

Snap !!!

The pencil was broken into two.

Vikram gulped all the bitterness inside and then said,

"That's great to know".

"Anyways, I have some work near your office, so will swing by for a quick visit tomorrow".

"Well, there is no need for that Mr. Vikram. My recovery is happening pretty fast, so there is no need to take all this trouble", replied Raymond.

"There is no trouble at all. Anyways I will be dropping Akira to office. So it won't be an additional detour for me. See you tomorrow", Vikram replied with a smug smile on his face and disconnected the call.

He needed to mark his territory and he did it well.