Akira couldn't think of any way to pay such a huge amount in such a short span of time. She had a dearth of time, money and patience but the abundance of problems was increasing with every passing moment. She never wanted a fancy life, a fancy car or a rich boyfriend. All that she wanted was a peaceful life and family and someone to take care of her. And it looked like God was snatching away everything, making her feel like an orphan in every possible way.

"See where you have left me, Mom and Dad. This world hates me !!! This world just hates me !!!" Akira said to herself and gulped all the water in her bottle on her desk. She then took a long breath and printed the formality and No-Dues form which was sent by the HR.

The IT guy with whose help David had retrieved the contract documents printed by Akira a day before, had flagged her IP on his system. So when she gave another print request he got the notification and out of curiosity he also printed the documents that she did. He then went to David and handed him the printed documents.

"Hello, David. I thought you might need it as I saw some more printouts taken from the same IP user just a couple of minutes back".

"Oh that's really thoughtful of you", David said.

"So you had flagged her IP?", David asked while reading the first page.

"Yes, yesterday you had asked me to do so I thought..."

But before he could complete the sentence, he was interrupted by David.

"Hey, sorry I gotta go. Thanks for the documents. I need to give it someone urgently".

Saying this, David rushed towards Raymond's cabin.

"This can't be happening. Why is she resigning?", he thought and knocked on Raymond's door and before Raymond could even answer, he entered inside and placed the documents on his desk and said,

"Akira has resigned officially. Are you aware of it?"

Raymond just nodded.

"Is she doing this to get away from you?", David asked.

"I guess. Rather I hope so", Raymond said and sighed.

"Ok, then I guess I need not panic and look too deep into it", David said and took a breath of relief.

"But I guess I am making her hate me for real", Raymond said and looked outside the window into the distance.

"I don't understand Mr.Raymond", David asked.

"It's nothing David. Just ignore. Please help to clear out my schedule for today. I am not in a mood to handle any meetings", Raymonds said.

"Sure I will do that", he said and gathered back the printed papers which he had kept on Raymond's desk.

"By the way I hope that you are aware that she has to pay 2500 USD upfront as non-completion of tenure retrieval amount. Page 3 section 2", David said and looked at Raymond.

Raymond didn't say anything for a second. Then he pulled out his cheque book and wrote a cheque of 2500 USD and handed it to David and said,

"You know what needs to be done right?"

"I will take care of it", David said and left the room.

Raymond knew how righteous Akira was and he knew that she won't go to anyone for the money. She had taken the herculean task to save his child by herself and he knew that she could go to any lengths to do so. He knew how much money mattered to her and he just couldn't just see her struggle in anyway because of the policies of his company.

---

Akira took the print outs and then came back to her desk.

It was about time to tell her team-mates about it. She couldn't leave them without saying a proper goodbye. She went to Simon's desk and said,

"Hey Simon. I got some news for you all".

"Hey Akira. What news?", Simon asked.

"Well I got a job offer at another advertising agency, so I am quitting from here", Akira said.

"Wait what?" both Simon and Kirk spoke at the same time.

"You are leaving? When is your last day?", Simon asked.

"Yeah. Today will be my last day. I have already initiated the work flow. I just need to get the no-dues signatures", Akira said.

Somehow Simon felt a bit low to hear that she was leaving. He had a soft corner for her but he assumed that she was with Vikram, so he never made any pass on her.

"You can't leave just like that. We all will have lunch together ok? Give me 10 minutes, let me gather my forces", Simon said and started pinging the graphic group.

Akira took a deep breath and went back to her seat.

She took out the cheque book for the account in which she had the last savings of her parents, which she had been storing up for Mike's higher education.

"I am sorry Mike. But I am going to fill it up back, I promise !!!", she thought and then she cut a checque worth 2500 USD and sighed.

She was lost in her thoughts when Kirk called,

"Akira come, let's go to the cafeteria together. Our whole unit is going lunch together".

She got up from her desk and followed Kirk and other team members. They all had hundreds of questions for her and she was smiling and replying to each and every one of them patiently.

As they all reached the cafeteria, Akira saw that Simon was already there and he had reserved a large table for all of them to sit together. They were a team of 18 people.

Akira went up to Simon and said,

"Thank you so much for arranging all this for me. It really means a lot. Even though I was here for just a couple of weeks, it feels like I have been working here for years".

"Looks like you were given too much work by Simon", Kirk joked and everyone laughed hysterically.

Then Simon said,

"Well to be very honest I didn't do any of this. All of this was arranged by our boss. I just pinged to inform him that we were going to give you a lunch treat and I invited him in case he wanted to join. But since he had some meeting he said that he couldn't but he insisted that he will take care of the arrangements. Isn't that really sweet of him. Such a caring mentor he is".

Akira just nodded, that was all that she could do at that moment.

Her heart knew deep down that there was no meeting.

She stepped aside and pulled a chair to sit down, but she saw a familiar figure pulling out a chair next to her.

Everything about him was familiar, his smell, his stature and his presence.