Her heart was choked with an emotional turbulence so strong that it could probably move the mountains on its way. But she stayed strong without succumbing to them and said,

"Thanks!!! that means a lot, Mr. Raymond".

He couldn't believe his ears. Mr. Raymond? In one day he became so distant?

She addressed him the same way that she did when she had joined the company on Day1, bereft of any emotions or attachment.

His heart deep down knew that she was suffering and he wanted to instantly ease out her pain, but he couldn't. His hands were tied. He had to let the things happen in its own natural course to be able to catch the mastermind behind all this.

He got up and went back to his seat and said,

"Eat !!!"

She picked up the spoon and took a spoonful of risotto and filled her mouth. But her throat was choked to such an extent that she just couldn't swallow. The food stayed in her mouth and she tried hard to take deep breaths to calm herself. She was unable to suppress the pit in her stomach. She knew she had to get away, but she badly wanted to ask him, why he hid that information from her? Of all the people why he had to lie to her? She was feeling so small in front of him, that she just couldn't take it anymore.

He saw her trying to act straight but she was failing miserably. Her eyes were almost brimming with tears which she was trying hard to escape from. He could see her chin trembling and knew that she would break down in seconds. So he got up immediately and put a straw in his juice box and went to the other side of the table.

He stood there and gave her a look.

Then he leaned on the table slightly facing her front. He held her chin in one hand and then brought the straw close to her lips and said,

"Drink !!! Else you will choke on your food".

She looked up at him and saw nothing but care in his still eyes. She parted her lips a bit and then took the straw inside. With one hand he held the juice box and with the other, he pushed her stray hair falling on her face. His touch was gentle and the moment his hands touched her ears lobes, she stopped drinking the juice and looked up to him with contempt.

Her eyes were begging for mercy. They wanted him to stop.

He released his hand and then placed the juice back on the table. He stood there silently and watched her eat spoon after spoon.

"Won't you eat your portion?", Akira asked as she was getting uncomfortable in his close presence.

"I am", he said and his still eyes kept looking at her.

"Can you just stop gawking at me?", Akira said getting a bit annoyed.

"Yesterday I was allowed to and today I am not? What changed in a day Akira?", Raymond asked, even though he knew that he was not going to get an honest answer.

"Nothing has changed Raymond. I just want to be a bit serious in my life. An internship here is fine, but my new Internship place is better in terms of opportunities. I will be associated with Abacus and ..."

But before she could complete her sentence, she was interrupted with Raymond's impatient question.

"I meant what happened to us Akira?", Raymond asked.

Whatever words she had framed to speak out, stayed inside. Her lips moved but there was no sound. His crystal eyes were piercing through her like he could read her in and out. She bit her lips and then looked down all nervously searching for a convincing answer for Raymond.

A few seconds later she looked up and smiled at him and said,

"C' mon even you knew it was all just a fling right. You have a fiance for God's sake, what were you even thinking", Akira said and chuckled.

'I mean we had no future right? A couple of months later I would have gone back to my college and you would have even forgotten who I was. So I just thought it's better to finish it off now as I was joining a new company. I mean there is no point of wasting time and energy on something that yields nothing right?", she said and then looked at him, feeling satisfied that she could pull out a good enough reason in time.

"I see, so all this was just a fling for you?", Raymond asked. Even though he knew that she was telling all this just to make him hurt, he didn't want to accept it on face value.

"Of course !!! What else did you think? Oh wait, did you actually fall for me?", Akira asked sarcastically.

"Yes, probably I did", he said calmly looking into her eyes and unnerved her in an instant.

She gulped her own spit and looked at him nervously. The fort of lies inside which she was trying to hide, was torn down into shambles. His one single statement was enough to burn her pillars to ashes.

"When did I give him so much power over me?", she thought and sighed and tried to pull her fake happy face back on.

"Yeah right? And you expect me to believe that? I am a college going student but I am not so naive that I don't get it. You have a family that you are going to start and you are saying that you like me. Maybe you need to get your thoughts aligned. I am lucky that I didn't fall for a guy like you who has no spine", Akira said and got up from her seat, wanting to leave because she knew that any moment the facade of composure that she was trying to put on, could fall off her face.

She picked up the no-dues paper which he had already signed, from the desk and then went towards the door. As she was about to unlock the door she heard him asking,

"So you really never liked me the way I did?"

Her steps stopped and her body froze. How could she lie on his face that she didn't like him when every cell in her body wanted nothing but him?

She paused and then turned towards him and said,

"Of course not !!! Like I said earlier, it was just a fling for me" and turned back.

He saw her one hand clutching the papers and with the other hand, she gripped a pen tightly with her thumb pressing tightly on the nib. He could clearly see her struggle but he didn't want to make things difficult for her deliberately.

He cleared her throat and when she was about to turn the knob he said,

"Did anyone tell you this before that you are a terrible-terrible liar Akira?".