She blushed hard.

Unable to meet his eyes she looked down. That tiny heart of hers, couldn't help but curse his blunt and brazen words but a part of her liked it too. She liked his rawness, she liked the way he unnerved her and tapped the wild side of hers which she never knew that it existed within her in complete symbiosis.

She saw a dangerously smug smile spread on his face as he looked at her like she was his candy.

"Why would I want that?", she said and stomped on his feet and moved towards the exit door.

"Ouch!!!", he winced.

"Hey, hey !! Who said that you can go just like that after tormenting me", saying that he pulled her hand back and halted her march.

"When did I torment you?", she asked and fluttered her eyes deliberately.

He rested his elbow on the wall, just above her head and placed his hand on her belly and then slightly clenching his fist and tugging onto her clothes, he pushed her back onto the wall again and said with a husky voice,

"When can I see you again?"

She smiled seeing him eager and desperate for her because her inner goddess wanted him to want nothing but her.

"For seeing me again, you need to let me go in the first place", she said and lightly poked his nose with her finger and smiled lightly.

A beautiful dimple spread on her face and he sighed at the sight of it.

"God I wish all of this to be over soon", he said and unclenched his fist.

"Me too", she said and placed both her palms on his chest and pushed him away a bit and said,

"Now who is tormenting whom?", she said and adjusted her dress.

"I am going to go now for real. I am staying with him for dinner too", she said and looked into his eyes like she was asking for trouble.

He looked back into her eyes for a second and then kissed on her forehead and said,

"Go back now!!! "

She nodded obediently and went ahead to get the door. But before entering inside she turned back to have a glimpse of him, but he wasn't there like he had vanished into thin air. She shook her head again and took a deep breath before going back to the shoe store.

"What took you so long?", Vikram asked seeing her back in the store.

"Ahh nothing, one girl was sick inside and puking. So just helped her a bit", she said and sat next to him.

Raymond smiled when he heard her lame excuse and started walking towards his car in the basement.

"Oh, but you look all flushed", Vikram said and then placed the back of his palm on her cheeks and then on her forehead and then spoke with a worried expression,

"You feel hot".

"Did he just touch her !!!", Raymond's hand, which was about to open the car door, just stopped midway. His eyes turned dark and he was gripped with a sudden bout of anger like he was bitten by a rabid dog.

"Ah, nothing. The air conditioning was poor in the washroom. Maybe that's why", Akira said and focussed her attention back to her shoes.

"By the way, I saw a nice new Burmese restaurant on the other side. Can we eat there? I have always wanted to try Burmese cuisine", Akira said and tugged lightly onto his arm.

"Sure thing !!!", Vikram said and smiled but let's finalize your shoe first.

"Chop Chop!!!"

"Umm, can I have the black one in size 39 please and the maroon one too?".

"Do you have something in black with back support?"

---

Finally, the jaunt of shoe shopping was over.

She was unusually enthusiastic and was in a pretty good mood. Although Vikram was surprised to see her beaming so much, he was happy because he was having a good time with her. Seeing her happy made his heart happy.

"Gosh, so much for just a gala dinner night", Akira said as she collected the shoe box from the counter.

"It's going to be a special night for me", Vikram said and looked fondly at her.

"What's special for you? You must have attended tonnes of events like this. But it's going to be my first one"

"But it's my first one with you", Vikram interrupted.

"Hey hey hey, don't put on so much pressure on me. I am already dying just thinking about hundreds of ways in which I might embarrass you", Akira said and pouted.

"You can never embarrass me, not even if you try to", Vikram said and then interlaced his fingers with hers and walked forward.

As they walked toward's the restaurant, someone was impatiently calling on the phone.

"How much more time will you take to reach?", Raymond asked impatiently.

"Just 10 minutes more and I will be there", David said and disconnected the call.

Raymond paced in the basement impatiently.,

Those 10 minutes seemed like 10 hours to him.

As they were about to enter the restaurant, Vikram stopped and removed his fingers and freed her hand.

Akira stopped and turned back and asked,

"What happened?"

He then removed his jacket and then took the shoebox from her other hand and said,

"Wear it, I don't want anyone's eyes prying on you".

"Oh c' mon. You got to be kidding me", Akira said and chuckled.

"I am serious Akira, you are looking .... well you look nice today", Vikram replied, chewing away half of the words that he actually wanted to say.

His hands rested now rested on the bonnet of his car, all clenched. His eyes were bloodshot in rage. He saw David approaching near him in his car and stood upright. David came out of the car immediately and started explaining to him about the traffic, but he was not in a mood to listen to anything. He just growled,

"Ground floor, Burmese restaurant. Follow me"

David hurriedly followed behind him without uttering a new single word. He had derived already that his boss was pissed.