His longing eyes took a last look at her face before he opened the car door and went inside. He drove off all alone under the starry night but he could see through his mirror that she was still standing there, leaning on the door and blushing. A smile etched on his face and he sped through.

That night was restless and jittery not just for Akira and Raymond, someone else was also sleepless and restless in his house in Staten Island.

.

"Two times the price of the contract. That's the final deal. Not even a single penny more", Vikram said and kept the call.

He paced inside his house. He wanted the deal to happen today itself but was not sure if that could be worked upon. he was eagerly waiting for confirmation. Half an hour later he received a call from a Private Number.

"I will wire the money right now but make sure she signs out the contract first", Vikram said and disconnected the call.

A devilish smile spread on his face. He knew that he was inching closer towards his goal.

---

The next morning when Mike arrived back at home and saw his sister in an exclusively chirpy and happy mode he couldn't understand what had transformed her suddenly. She looked like she was happy from within. A genuine childish smile was floating non-stop on her face.

"What's cooking? I leave you alone for two days and looks like you have never been happier. Looks like I need to stay at Teddy's more often so that you could get you #me time. Huh.. ", he mocked and then placed his bag on the sofa.

"I have never been better Mike", Akira said and continued making breakfast for herself and Mike.

She had actually never been this happy since long. When she woke up that morning she had a big bright smile on her face. It had been long that she had woken up like this, all enthusiastic and anticipatory about the whole day in front of her. Yesterday still felt like a dream to her. She looked at the rug which was lying on her bed and smiled.

She wore an icy blue summer shirt and black low waist denim. Then she nicely tied her hair into a ponytail and put on a bit pink lip gloss. She was never much into dressing up, but somehow she always made a special attempt to look nice for him. She looked all summer ready and peachy.

After quickly gobbling up on the sandwich that she had made, she picked up her keys and started for office. Her head was filled with one thought - Raymond. her heart knew only one emotion - Raymond. Raymond was all that she could think of.

She parked her car in the basement and then looked at the spot where Raymond had saved her from the hands of Anthony. A smile spread on her face, it was all fate. That flight journey, her internship, Anthony, Her saving kate, everything was intricately connected with each other and all the lines connecting these fated incidents intersected at one point and that was Raymond.

With all these thoughts swarming inside her head she took the lift from the basement to the first floor. Seconds later the lift stopped at the ground floor. Few people came inside, but there was one person who caught her attention. It was him.

She glanced at him just once as he entered the lift and she blushed ten shades scarlet. He had openly declared is unconditional love for her a day before but it all seemed like a fairytale to her. It was too good for her to believe it. She couldn't hide her smile and dug her head low trying to avoid any unwanted suspicion.

Raymond entered the lift and stood next to her at the end. He was amused to see her blush that way. His heart was always pleased to see her reactions. He never needed to hear anything from her, as her eyes were the mirror in which her thoughts and the emotions in her heart were reflected.

The lift was supposed to arrive at first floor in hardly few seconds, so she knew that a conversation with him was impossible. She wanted to talk with him so bad but she decided to resort to silence and kept looking at her shoes.

But suddenly she felt his hand resting on her back and his fingers tracing random shapes. She shivered with his touch.

Astonished she quickly turned towards him silently asking him through her eyes,

"What are you doing?"

But he didn't turn to look at her. He kept his face straight but he smiled and by the time she could realize and understand what he wanted to convey they had already reached the first floor.

His hand returned back inside his side pocket.

She stood there all dazed and didn't even realize that she had to get down. He went out and realized that she wasn't behind so he immediately turned and held the lift and said,

"Miss Akira. Aren't you getting down?"

"Huh?", she replied.

"It's the first floor", he said trying hard to suppress his laugh.

"Yeah right!!! Thanks", she said and came out.

She was so miffed with herself for having such an awkward start of the day with him.

"Thanks for holding the lift", she said as they reached the bifurcation separating the way to his cabin and her cubicle.

"Can you come to my office. I need to evaluate the designs that you have prepared", Raymond said turning towards his cubicle.

"Oh ok ok. I will get the printouts and prepare a folder. Just give me 10-15 minutes", she said and was about to dash towards her cube.

"Ugghhh.... when will she understand my heart?", Raymond thought to himself getting all disappointed.

He came a bit close to her and said,

"I have exactly 7 minutes to be able to be with you before my meeting starts. That's what I meant when I asked you to come".

"So ... I don't need to get my designs", Akira asked with a smile on her face as she understood what he meant.

"No, only you are needed".