"Wow, Mr. Raymond you could make it. I thought you had a meeting" Simon asked curiously.

"Well it was postponed for tomorrow", He replied with his as usual bluntness and then looked at Akira who was fiddling with her phone.

Then Kirk got up to take order for everybody.

"Since the star of today's lunch gathering is Akira, I am going to take her order first", he said and came close to her seat.

"What do you want to order? I guess you would like to have your usual mushroom risotto?",

Kirk asked.

"Why would you think that?", Akira asked all perplexed.

"Well, because I think you like it a lot as I see that you order it every alternate day isn't it?"

Kirk asked looking all surprised with her cross questions.

Akira liked to eat mushroom risotto because it was a synonym of Raymond for her. He was the one who had suggested her this dish on that fateful flight journey to New York and she had been in love with the dish ever since. But she was startled after hearing Kirk speak. She didn't know that people observed so much, so without wasting a single second she retorted back,

"I just eat it because it is convenient but I think it's time to move on to new flavors and new cuisines. I will try out something that you would suggest to me today. So surprise me Kirk !!!", Akira said and smiled at Kirk. But she didn't realize how much her statement hurt Raymond, who just sat quietly and heard her detaching herself from him in every possible way.

Kirk then moved to Raymond and asked him,

"What would you like to have Mr. Raymond?"

"Nothing, I don't have much appetite", Raymond said.

"So Akira what's the name of the advertising agency that you are going to join?", Brian asked.

"Well, it's a very small agency which has been bought by Abacus Inc. So basically I will be working there", Akira explained.

"Then why did you join here in the first place? You could always have worked with Mr. Vikram?", Simon asked.

Hearing him say that Akira looked at him with a question mark on her face.

"Oh C' mon, we all know that you are Vikram's girl. We have seen you going on so many dates with him. He personally comes and picks you up every single time. Doesn't he?", Simon asked and rendered Akira all perplexed.

She looked at Raymond and his eyes were murderously angry like he could kill someone with his bare hands.

Then he suddenly got up from his seat and said,

"Hey, guys I am sorry, I just remembered that I have to make some urgent calls, so I have to leave. Order anything and everything that you like for lunch. The bill will be taken care of".

Then he looked at Akira and said,

"All the best for your upcoming endeavors", and then he left just like that.

Akira kept looking in the direction in which he left, unable to decipher his state of mind.

"You should be glad that he at least sat here for 5-10 minutes. He doesn't even bother to attend any farewell parties", Kirk said trying to comfort her. But how could she tell him that she would have felt better if he wouldn't have attended even those 10 minutes in the first place?.

Even her appetite died.

---

After coming back to her desk, Akira took the no-dues forms and went to the IT department first and within 20 minutes all her dues were cleared up. The next department was the HR department but when she reached there to get her no dues, Chloe asked her to get no-dues from her mentor first.

Akira had thought that HR dept will help in getting no dues from her mentor Raymond but that was not the case. She had to herself go and meet him and get the papers signed and she was dreading it the most. But somehow she mustered up her courage and went to his cabin.

Raymond heard a soft knock on his door.

"Come in", Raymond said all coldly as his mood was not ok but then he saw Akira entering the room and his expressions softened.

"I have to take your signature on some no-dues forms as you are my mentor", Akira said.

"Hmm..", said Raymond and looked in her direction.

She came to his desk and placed the required documents on his table. He took a quick glance at them and placed his signatures.

Akira was relieved to see him completing the formalities without any question. She was happy that she could just leave the room quickly now.

"How was your lunch?", Raymond asked her interrupting her trail of thoughts.

"It was really nice. Thanks for lunch. The food was amazing", Akira said and tried to sound enthusiastic and all normal but she didn't know that Kirk had already informed Raymond that she didn't eat anything in the lunch. How could she, when Raymond had left without even eating a morsel of food?

"What did you eat?", Raymond asked.

"I .. I had a couple of things. Pizza and a chicken wrap", Akira said, trying to sound all convincing.

"Mmmm... I see", said Raymond and then got up from his seat. He then walked ahead and locked the door.

Akira looked at him with her eyes wide open, unable to comprehend what he was trying to do.

Then he walked back to his seat and took out a packet from underneath. There we two boxes of mushroom risotto and three small tetra pack of apple juice. He took one risotto box and two juice packs and placed it in front of her and then opened his box and said,

"I just wanted to have a meal with you. Eat how much soever you want. And if you are too full then just take a bite. I will eat the rest. Nothing will be wasted. I know you hate that", Raymond said and took a bite of risotto but Akira slumped in her seat the moment she heard him speak.

No matter how hard she tried to fight him back, he always did more to bring her close. She was so overwhelmed with his gesture, with his love, and with his care that she had no words to speak. Raymond could clearly understand the state of her mind.

He got up and came close to her.

Somehow yesterday it was so easy to touch her, to play with her. But today she had become this toy which he had to abandon. He sat down on his knees and with his hands he pulled her chair close. She was fiddling with her fingers placed on her lap. He took her hands and placed in his hands and warmed them up with his heat. Then he directly looked into her eyes and said,

"No matter where you want to go, what you want to do or who you want to be with. Just remember that I will always be there for you, waiting for you till you come back. Whatever it takes !!!"