His words resonated in her head. She could feel that he meant well from the way he looked at her. She took the jacket from him and wore it without saying a word. He wanted to help her to wear it, but it looked like she wasn't interested. She was struggling to get the right words to speak. She continued looking down and said,

"I wasn't hiding. I was just ..."

And her words were interrupted with a knock on the door.

It was David again.

He came in and saw both Raymond and Akira together and he could sense that he had interrupted their conversation again like the day before. He could clearly feel that something was wrong as the whole aura of the room seemed tense. But he didn't have the courage to dissect and probe further. He looked at Akira and saw that she had her head hung low. So he decided to go ahead and speak his mind out.

"The delivery guy is here and he has got both the colors", David said.

"Ask him to get both of them to my office. I will choose and let him know", Raymond said.

"But there is a slight problem", David said.

"What?", asked Raymond.

David then looked at Akira and she immediately understood that she had overstayed her welcome in the room. So she looked at Raymond and said,

"I will send you the minutes of the meeting after lunch", and left the room.

There were so many things that she wanted to tell him. She wanted to explain to him why she always hid her pain. But first, she had to handle her own heart which was going haywire.

She rushed to the washroom immediately and splashed water all over her face to calm her nerves. But nothing was helping her out. She then drank ice cold water and took deep breaths. Then she went up to the terrace and sat there silently, feeling the wind on her face. Then she slowly said,

"How can I ever explain to you the things which are buried deep inside my heart. I learned not to show my pain since long. Don't break me, Raymond. Don't make me weak. My heart can't take it anymore".

Then she placed a hand on her chest to calm her heartbeats. It was hard for her to forget him. His closeness, his touch, his care, his gaze, his questions were like slow poison. It was spreading slowly but steadily consuming her more and more day after day.

She sat there silently for quite some time and then left for the cafeteria. She did not want her teammates to wait for her for too long. She was afraid that if she was too late then there would be questions again. And somehow she was fed up of being answerable to everyone.

---

"What is the problem?" Raymond asked David again after Akira had left the room.

The problem is, you have to leave the office by 5:00 p.m. so that you can attend your niece's birthday party. But 15 minutes back I got a call from the finance team of Abacus stating that they want to have a video conference meeting at 6:00 p.m. today", David said with a worried look on his face.

"But why all of a sudden they have decided to have the meeting so late", Raymond asked all worried.

He didn't want to be late for the birthday party because he knew that Katherine would be really pissed if that happened. But more than that he was worried that it would break his niece's heart.

"I have no idea. Just that they wanted a briefing on the fiscal report", David replied.

"I do not understand. Today morning only I have discussed it with Mr. Vikram. So what is the need for this meeting? Can you check with the finance team of Abacus?", Raymond asked.

"Well, I am not sure about it either. I have myself asked the same question to them. But they insisted to have the meeting today so I didn't resist much", David replied.

"Ok. I got it. We will handle one thing at a time. Let the delivery guy come first. I need to choose the teddy for Kate first. I will try to wrap up the meeting as quickly as possible. Be ready as you might need to cover for me if it gets too late. I can stay for one hour but not more than that," Raymond said and went back to his seat.

Something was not summing up appropriately. But Raymond was unable to map what.

---

Meanwhile at Abacus Inc.

"So is that clear to you?", asked Vikram to Mr. Whittaker who was his finance team leader.

"Yes, crystal. Do you need any other information?", asked Whittaker.

"No that would be all. But please make sure you go through all the points that I have discussed. I need to have the decision made today itself. So even if it gets late please bear to stretch for this one day. But make sure to finalize the budget plan by today," Vikram said.

"My team will be on it", said Whittaker.

Vikram paused for a while and then said with his expression turning all cold,

"I don't care whether it's 10 or 11 p.m. today, but I need the plan ready. I hope that is clear," Vikram said and relaxed back on his seat.

"Sure Mr. Vikram. The report will be on your desk by tomorrow morning. My team and I will make sure of that," Whittaker said and left Vikram's cabin.

Even though Akira had told him that the birthday party was only for the kids, Vikram didn't want to take his chances. So he didn't leave any stone unturned to make sure that Raymond stays late in office. He was the sort of guy who liked eliminating all the odds. He knew he had to do something to make sure things fell back into place. He couldn't just sit at his seat doing nothing, not after when he had seen the way Raymond looked at Akira.

He knew it was high time to take up the matter to his own hands and raise the stakes high.