As she got inside she tried to scan the entire place for her eyes were in search of her special someone, but her frantic search yielded nothing but zilch.

Vikram looked at her and said,

"Shall we?"

She nodded and held his arm and walked inside, hand in hand with him. As she took her step inside the room, suddenly she had the attention of everyone. A sudden quiet spread in the entire Hall, for everyone, was busy admiring her beauty. She looked all angelic. The girls in the room became all envious of her for she grabbed the attention of their loved ones. The guys in the room envied Vikram for he had the company of this charming lady.

Casting aside all those envious looks, they climbed up the stairs towards the VIP area, near the balcony. As she climbed up the envious eyes of the people rose up along with her. She had somehow become the center of everyone's attention tonight but she didn't care, for her heart wanted the attention of a single man but unfortunately he was nowhere to be seen.

She took a deep breath out of disappointment and took a seat next to Vikram.

"Didn't I tell you, you look fabulous !!!", Vikram said looking at her.

"Oh please !!! Their whole attention was on the conglomerate-king Mr. Shah, the most desirable bachelor of Brooklyn or shall I say Staten Island or New York?", Akira said and chuckled.

Vikram looked at her curiously and after a few seconds of thinking he asked,

"So how desirable I am as per you?"

"Do you want to hear the truth or you want to hear what will make you happy?", Akira asked and smirked.

"Well, you sound unusually cheeky today. What's gotten into you?", Vikram asked all amused.

"Oh shut up !!!", Akira said narrowing her eyes.

"Fine! tell me the truth", Vikram asked and waited eagerly for her response.

"Well, I am giving this opinion as a girl, not as your friend. So on a scale of one to ten, I give you a nine", Akira said and smiled at him.

His heart beamed hearing her out. That was more than enough for him. He loved her unconditionally. His love was the patient and kind one. He didn't want her to fall head over heels over him, he just wanted to earn her trust and respect for he knew that love will kindle in her heart with time. And that was all that he wanted for himself.

---

Up top from the balcony, it was possible to have a complete hawk eye view of the entire arena. So she kept scanning the entire arena meticulously now as Vikram had excused himself to meet up with someone from work.

Finally unable to resist her anxiety, she called him up but he disconnected her call in the second ring itself. All disappointed and feeling neglected she got up from her seat to use the powder room but before she could even care to take a step ahead, she saw his man walking in through the main door, hand in hand with Scarlett.

She pursed her lips and sat down immediately as the seed of jealousy started spreading its roots inside her body. She clenched her fists out of anger but her eyes followed him as he walked inside. He looked nothing less than a Greek God in his dark Navy blue corduroy suit. His slightly unkempt hair made him look all the more attractive and she could clearly see the girls ogling at him unabashedly. Her insides turned to see Scarlett's hand all around his arm and she couldn't understand why suddenly she had become so jealous of her.

Even though she was burning in anger, she could sense that his eyes were constantly searching for something and she knew that it was her. For a moment she thought to get up so that he could see her in that amazing dress but in the next moment in a bout of anger and jealousy, she decided to make him wait. It was time to make him jealous but little did she know that he was doing all of it for her.

After wasting all his effort, when Raymond couldn't find her, he finally sent her a text, although he knew that it was risky for his plan as she would be with Vikram.

As soon as her phone buzzed, Akira took it to her side and opened it discreetly.

"Where are you?" - PRIVATE NUMBER

"Busy with people who actually care for me" - Akira

"Please Akira, stop teasing me. I know you are here. I just need a glimpse" - PRIVATE NUMBER

"Right right, just a glimpse at Akira and then non-stop staring at Scarlett. Your life is on a roll". - Akira

He smiled seeing her all jealous and then texted back

"Are you jealous?" - PRIVATE NUMBER

"Maybe !!! But wait till I make you cry for mercy" - Akira

She replied and then kept her phone inside as Vikram was back and he sat next to her and held her hand tenderly.

It was almost seven and it was the time for the Gala to start.

The organizers switched on the announcement system and the anchor walked to the center stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you all to the Annual Gaming Ball - 2019 hosted by SHAH Enterprises".

And everyone cheered with a huge round of applause.

"I will not waste your time with any useless jibber jabber. So let's open the stage with the First Dance by none other than the Conglomerate Giant and the heir of SHAH ENTERPRISES Mr. Vikram Shah and his date for tonight whom people are calling as "The Gorgeous Goddess" as Mr. Shah has refrained from adding her real name in the list."

The moment Raymond heard the announcement, his hand which was holding Scarlett automatically detached itself and he started walking ahead towards the center of the stage for he was dying since hours to just have a glimpse of her.

"Let the dance begin !!!!", the anchor said and left the center stage and a piece of soft romantic music started to play in.

And with that, the entire arena's lights were switched off and after a second the spotlight was focussed on the beautiful power couple standing up near the balcony.

Vikram offered his hand to Akira and smiled at her.

The crowd went ballistic and cheered for them endlessly but Raymond instantly felt like he had been stabbed with multiple knives.

"Oh my God !!! This is too much attention Vikram", Akira said all worried when she held his hand.

He grazed his thumb on her palm and said,

"You got this".

He gave her an assuring smile and then led her to climb down the stairs.

As she took her steps on the stair with the blinding spotlight on her, she couldn't see anyone in the front so she just focussed on the stairs and thus she tightly gripped on to Vikram's arm, afraid to trip and fall down.

The moment they reached the ground floor the lights were turned back on and the first person whom she saw standing in front of her was Raymond.

He stood there with his mouth open with a worried look on his face with his hand pinching the space between his eyebrows.

She saw the wild reaction on his face and was more than pleased.

She gave him a small wink and then bit her lips slightly for she wasn't done taking her revenge yet.