"What do you mean by she doesn't stay here anymore?", Akira asked in surprise.

"Well, her staying here was troublesome not only for me but for her as well. So I decided to send her to another place with better amenities and better service at her disposal", Raymond said and looked at Akira.

Somehow she didn't look convinced.

Her eyebrows were still raised upwards in a question mark.

"Trust me its a nice property, with a pool view too", Raymond said in all seriousness but Akira bust into laughter after hearing it.

"Gosh, you sound like a real estate agent", she said and smiled.

Raymond felt a bit relaxed after seeing her expressions smoothing out and smiled back at her.

"But still you could have waited for some more time. Why did you send her alone dead in the night? Couldn't this have been handled tomorrow? What was the urgency?", Akira said and pushed the wet hair falling on her face, backward.

"No", Raymond said solemnly.

"But why?", Akira asked impatiently this time.

"Because I can't let anything come in between us. I had enough of drama in the last couple of days and I am sick of explaining myself to you, for you to trust me and I know this was the right thing for me to do. It was the right thing for her as well. And the biggest reason of all - I cannot handle any more melodrama in my life right now", Raymond said and moved forward.

"Is the reason good enough for you?", Raymond asked.

"Uh..huh !!!", Akira said and nodded.

Deep down she was ecstatic. How could she explain to him how much his decision meant to her.

"I think you should also get changed. Else you will catch a cold", Akira said.

"Mmm... Raymond said and kept his coffee on the table and came forward to give her, her coffee mug.

"Here, drink it. You will feel better", he said holding out the cup in both his hands.

She extended her palms to hold the cup, but there wasn't a single space on the cup where his hand wasn't there. So she held the cup on top of his hands. Her hands were all cold and the coffee was hot. His hands were experiencing a chiaroscuro of varying temperatures.

He looked up and smiled at her as she held her head low. He removed one hand from the cup and then placed it over her tiny palm and then he did the same with his other hand. As her palms embraced the warm coffee mug she could feel its warmth pulsating on the skin of her palm. Her hands also became warm as he had embraced them with his own. It was such a simple yet so intimate thing to do. He was warming up her cold body in his own weird ways.

A few seconds later he loosened his grip on her hand and asked,

"Feeling better?"

All that she could do was to nod happily. She blushed madly and turned back immediately to take a sip of coffee.

"Hey what's that?", Raymond exclaimed, seeing her turning away.

"Go away!!! Don't look at me right now", Akira said in an almost muted tone.

Raymond laughed in his head because of her childish behavior and sat on the bed, gawking at her. He was happy with his choice of the shirt because it perfectly gave away the outline of her silhouette under the light. Her curves her edges stood there in front of him to be admired by his eyes. He could take her right there, right now. But he knew that the best thing for him was to wait. Wait till she was ready for him.

He sat there with his fingers touching his lips, imagining everything wild that was humanly possible.

She turned back and said,

"The coffee tastes nice. Thanks. Ermmm... Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Maybe because I was revising in my head how you taste like", Raymond said and smiled.

"You...", Akira muttered and stormed ahead and kept the cup on the table. Then she saw that his coffee was still lying on the table getting all cold.

"Hey!!! Your coffee has become a cold coffee. Why didn't you drink it?"

He folded his hands and looked in her direction. His eyes looked all seductive like possessed by the cupid. He didn't say a word and just looked at her.

She got irritated when she didn't get a response and picked up her phone to call Mike.

"Who are you calling so late?", Raymond asked.

"I am calling Mike. He will get me some clothes so that I can wear and go back home", Akira said and pressed the dial button.

Hearing her say that she was going to leave, something pierced his heart. He immediately launched himself in her direction and took the phone from her hand and disconnected the call.

She was startled with his actions and didn't know how to reciprocate.

"What has gotten into you? Give me my phone back", Akira retorted defensively.

"Can you.. Can you not go back home today?"

Akira couldn't believe what he said. Her eyes were opened wide in surprise and disbelief.

"Can you stay this one night with me?", Raymond said again but this time he was looking directly into her eyes.

Akira gulped her own spit, unable to think, unable to speak.

"Just stay. I am not going to touch you", he said and looked at her but then said again,

"Well scratch that, I might but I won't do anything to hurt you Akira. I am never going to break your trust Akira".

Then he came closer and lifted her chin up so that she could look into his eyes and said softly,

"Please stay".

Since Mike had missed Akira's call, he called back immediately. Akira saw the incoming call and took the phone from Raymond's hand and picked it up,

"Hey, Mike !!!"

"Nothing nothing, everything is ok. Actually, I am still at the office and we need to pull an allnighter for our deadlines. So I won't be coming back home tonight".

"Yes, I had my dinner. Good night Mike. Sleep well. Love Love", she said and disconnected the call.

Someone was pleased, extremely pleased.