"Thump Thump Thump"

Her tiny heart was racing as fast as it could. She clenched her fist and started taking deep breaths and went back to her house. Her entire body temperature was soaring. She immediately went to the bathroom to take a cold shower. But no matter what she did she couldn't slow down her beating heart. Nothing in the world gave her any respite.

"Aaahhhhh... what am I doing!!!", she screamed and slumped into her bed.

---

The next day in office was pretty hectic for Akira as Simon instructed her to finish on her design by the end of the day. She wanted to run around the office just to get a glimpse of Raymond but the poor girl was glued to her chair since morning because of the endless pile of work. She was checking her phone every now and then for any message, but there was none from him.

"Does he not want to talk with me? Is he so busy that he can't even send me one text", she thought and became all gloomy. She tried focussing on her work but her heart was chiming his name. She just wanted one look at his face, that's all and it seemed like God was gracious that day.

"How is the development going on guys?"

His voice echoed in the graphic wing and everyone turned in surprise. They were all shocked to see Raymond coming in so casually to ask about development status.

Simon stuttered initially, but then explained him all about the ongoing plan.

"So you think you can integrate it by Wednesday evening?", he asked.

"Yes, we think it's possible", Simon said confidently.

"Are you confident to meet the three-day deadline?", Raymond asked Simon but his eyes were locked on Akira.

She stared at him in surprise with her mouth wide open.

"How could he bring that up here? Akira you are so doomed!!!", she thought and wanted the earth to split into two at that instant and encompass her. This guy was just too much for her to handle.

"Fine then, if anyone has any questions or queries related to the deadline, then please come to my cubicle. I will be more than happy to give you any opportunity that will help you to complete your task in the stipulated time", he said and shot a smug look at Akira before retreating back to his office.

When he left she felt an odd tension building up in her heart. She didn't belong to the category of people who backed down. She stood there looking in the direction that he walked away for a while and then with a resolve she took her laptop and stormed towards his cabin.

Knock Knock

"Come in!!!", said Raymond and continued his discussion with David.

But the moment he saw her taking a step inside, his jaws dropped and he just couldn't process anything anymore which was being spoken by David.

She saw David and was a bit surprised because she was expecting him to be alone in the room. Now with the third party in the room, the dynamics had totally changed. She had to think fast, real fast.

"Hello, David!!! How is your health now?", she asked.

"My health? What happened to my health?" David asked all surprised.

"Didn't you get a seizure on Friday?", Akira asked.

"Oh, that!!! It's totally fine now", he replied and shrugged his shoulder.

"But do you know what triggered it? Or it just happened randomly?", Akira asked in all seriousness.

"Well I am not sure about that", David said trying to avoid her questions as he was a bit scared that she might be able to catch that he had faked it all.

"Actually today I read an interesting article on Times that some scientists have found that some people get seizures when they come in close contact or like kiss people of the opposite gender or even just touch them. Something related to pheromone instability", she said and looked at Raymond who was sitting in his seat and intently listening to what she had to say.

"What, really?" David asked all surprised.

"If you don't believe me then you can Google it", Akira said.

"So did you come in contact with any girl on that day in office?", she asked all curiously.

"What !!! No, anyways there are hardly any girls in our company. Plus I am married, so why would you even think something like that?", David asked in surprise. He was really caught in the ceasefire.

"I was just worried that being the only girl in the team, I should not cause any such problems to others. So wanted to test if everyone was safe in my presence. Since you are married I don't need to test on you.

"Test what?", David asked.

But before he could even complete his question, Akira had already taken two steps forward and was near Raymond's chair and touched his palm slightly with her fingers.

"Do you feel any discomfort?", she asked him quizzically.

"No", he replied looking into her eyes.

She then ran her fingers on him reaching till his arm.

"Now?", she asked.

"Still no", he replied without evening blinking once. He was shocked but amazed to see the young and naive intern turn into a sultry seductress.

Then she pulled Raymond's lapel and kissed his cheeks briefly for just a split of a second before detaching herself. She looked into his eyes and have a mischevious yet victorious smile.

"And now?", she asked.

"Ugh... Ahem. No", he said clearing his throat and adjusted his jacket.

Then she whispered into his ears - "Returned" and stood up. Her cool breath against his bare skin had him dazed.

While they were busy being enraptured by each other, David stood there all shocked like a mock spectator who had lost his voice.

He looked at her in surprise as she defied and defiled his boss bit by bit.

He was waiting for the heavens to break loose but instead, he saw his boss smile. His eyes were surprised at first but then beamed with happiness like he had found the golden treasure.

He somehow sensed that something was cooking in between these two for the way they behaved and looked at each other seemed all peaches and pears. He had interrupted their conversations many times earlier so this time he thought that best thing to do at that time was to scoot away.

Akira saw David leaving, and took her cue and picked up her laptop and wanted to run away as fast as possible from Raymond. She had finished the task but God only knows what was the toll that she had taken upon herself to do so. Even she didn't know what gave her the courage to do it and that too in front of David.

He sat there silently unable to believe that she was able to do something so cheeky in such a polished way.

"Gosh!!! I fell for a smart devil", he thought and sighed.

"I will get back to work now. Good to know that you are safe from my touch", she said and hurried towards the door.

"Not so fast Akira," echoed a voice and voila', her path was blocked.

She gulped her spit as she saw his towering figure in front of her. At home yesterday his demeanor was so pleasant and kind but in the office, she always found him all distant, camouflaged with a layer of sternness on top him. So she was scared thinking if she had crossed the line.

He held her chin delicately and looked into her eyes and asked,

"So this experiment of yours, am I the first one that you tried on?".

"Yes", she nodded.

"Good because I forbid you to experiment it on anyone else. Is that clear?", he said with a sense of command and authority in his voice like she was already his, to begin with.

She just smiled and opened the door to go back to her seat. But she turned before that and said,

"I will see, what can I do about that".

His lips curled into a smile.