"I m listening", she said and looked up at him.

He looked deep into her eyes and then turned her fully towards himself and asked,

"You need to tell me, why did you cry first?"

He then gently held her face in his palms and planted a soft kiss on her cheeks.

"I don't know", she said and drop of her tear landed on his palm. His body tensed when his hand came in contact with her moisture. He didn't know that someone could be this affected because of him. He sighed and took her near the sofa and made her sit. He was afraid that she might get exhausted because of all this turmoil which she was undergoing.

Her sobs had reduced by now but the intensity of the look in her eyes, trying to figure out the answers to all the unanswered questions, was still the same. She was looking at him the same way as she did, to begin with.

"Where do I start?", he said and sighed.

"Scarlett and I studied in the same college and we were introduced to each other through a common friend of mine. She was pretty I was naive and nerdy and there was instant chemistry in between us. I wouldn't lie to you Akira, I loved her with all my heart and I think a part of me still does", he said and paused for a while to read what was going on in her mind.

"We were destined to be together. My mum and my sister didn't like her much but still for my sake they all accepted her. Somehow the whole thing worked. She made me really happy and my happiness was all that my family wanted. So they all tried to be nice with her and so did she. She was a budding artist at that time but she slowly matured into a famous television star. I think you must be aware of that. She was doing all fine, we were doing all fine but slowly the stardom kind of started getting into her head."

"Things started getting a bit difficult between us after my mother passed away. I was an emotional wreck and it was difficult for her to handle me and a professional carrier simultaneously. Then I decided to start my own company so that I get distracted from everything. But a startup demands every single bit of your available time, and I just gave my all to build Delphi. So the amount of time which could give each other reduced but the misunderstandings and gap between us increased. So we decided to get engaged last year hoping that it would improve things between us, but that was just false hope because a couple of months ago..."

Raymond's voice then suddenly trailed off.

He had tapped into some unknown pages of his memories, which gave him nothing but pain in return.

She saw his body flinch and he had balled his fists out of anger. She took his hand onto hers and ran her fingers on top to soothe him and his aching heart.

He opened his eyes with his touch which had closed themselves because of the pain that the old memories brought in. Then he continued after taking a deep breath.

"Couple of months back she conceived my child. It was not planned. Somehow the protection didn't work. But I was all ready and enthusiastic to welcome my baby into this world where she was planning ways to get rid of it. She had a huge contract from "Fear Factor" and there was a no pregnancy clause in it. So a couple of days before the shooting was supposed to start, she just decided to let go of my child".

"She snatched away my bundle of happiness from me Akira"

" I had no idea that she was going to do such a thing and I was devastated beyond any repair. We had an argument and she just left me. She was supposed to shoot at an undisclosed location somewhere but as they do not allow any telephone, I couldn't contact her. To be honest a part of me didn't want to contact her. Our relationship was dead since long and my unborn child was like hope for me to revive it, but she killed that too"

Tears started swarming his eyes and his voice started to tremble a bit. Her heart was in trouble seeing him this way. She had forgotten her pain as that was nothing compared to what he was going through right now.

She immediately took the rug on the sofa and covered him up with it.

"I will get you some water", she said and got up.

He pulled her hand and stopped her

"Are you going to leave me like her?", he asked.

"Akira? answer me please", his voice was more demanding now.

"I am not going anywhere Raymond", she said and gave him a gentle smile. But only she knew how hard it was for her smile knowing that his heart longed for someone else but she decided to hide away all her feelings because she had understood that in his story she was just the third wheel.

But he wasn't satisfied. He could clearly see that something was going in the back of her head. With a slight jerk, he pulled her onto him and she was back in his embrace.

"Now you need to tell me why you were mad at me?", he asked and intensified his look on her face.

She didn't have the guts to speak a word and looked away from him.

With his palm, he turned her face towards him and locked his eyes onto hers and said,

"I am not going anywhere without taking answers".

She faked a laugh and said,

"It was nothing, I was just being hormonal I guess. Even I don't know why I was acting like that. That was totally out of my character right?", she said and tried to escape his question.

"I see", he said and loosened his grip around her and got up.

"If you don't have anything else to ask, then I am taking my leave. I guess I have explained myself. So my job is done here".

Seeing him on the verge of leaving brought an unknown sadness into her heart and broke the shackles of all the restraint that she had in her heart.

With a trembling throat, she asked the one question that was troubling her,

"Are you going to get back together, when she comes back?"

He paused after hearing her question and turned back. He walked towards her slowly and kneeled in front of her. With both his hands he held her face and brought it close to his own. His lips inches away from hers, his warm breath all over hers, tantalizing her intently. He then touched his nose sofly with hers and asked,

"Do you not want me to?"

"Just say it Akira!!!"