Her eyes gleamed and a faint smile simmered on her pale face when she saw Raymond next to her. She found nothing but a comforting face which looked like it had been deeply worried for the last couple of hours.

He slowly came closer and propped her head a bit up with a pillow and gave her water to drink. Within a minute her chapped lips came back to life.

She took a deep breath and then looked at Vikram on the other side and smiled at him.

He looked happy but defeated at the same time.

He thought that he knew her better, but the way Raymond got her water, made him rethink.

Underestimating and undermining his love for Akira was probably not a good idea.

"Are you still worried?", she looked at Vikram and asked.

"No. You should be the one who should worry. How can you cry so much to cause your BP to dip so low? Be a little more aware of your health and your body Akira", Vikram said, with his hand still caressing hers.

"I am happy that I fainted. Else God knows when you would have opened the door", Akira said and smiled a bit.

"Not a good joke", Vikram replied curtly for he was neither liking her jokes nor the way Raymond was looking at her.

"I am sorry Vikram", said Akira and with the same hand which Vikram was caressing, she tried to hold him and said,

"You know misunderstanding you was not completely my fault. You should agree that the things that you did behind our back weren't justified".

"Let's not talk about what happened. Let it be in the past. Now the most important thing is that our misunderstandings have been cleared. So let's have a fresh start in life", Raymond interrupted and said.

Akira smiled looking at Raymond, feeling all happy and proud that her man always knew how to speak the right thing at the right time.

Vikram didn't respond. He looked at her hand and then at the drip and said,

"Ahh... the drip is done. Let me call the doctor to open it".

"No need, I can do that", Raymond said and got up.

"No, you are not touching her. What if you pull it out incorrectly", Vikram said and started dialing his personal doctor's number.

"He is trained for all these things as he was a part of the Red Cross rehabilitation center Vikram. He has dressed my wounds a couple of times", she said and by the time Vikram could realize, he had already taken Akira's other hand in his own and tilted it up to that her blood didn't flow back into the tube.

"What wounds?", Vikram asked.

"Ahh no biggie, I had hurt myself once when I fell on the pavement", Akira said and smiled.

He asked for a first aid box and then went to clean his hands and within 30 seconds, he pulled the cannula out and placed a bandaid at the insertion point. He did it so swiftly with his adept hands that Akira didn't even wince or flinch.

"All done", Raymond said and placed the first aid box away.

"Now let her rest here. I will drop her at her place tomorrow", Vikram said and looked at Raymond. It was his way of asking him to leave.

"No Vikram, I want to go home. Please."

"Are you mad Akira? What will happen if your BP drops again?"

"Mike will take care of me and the first thing that I will do is to call you if I feel even a little bit of discomfort. I promise", Akira said.

"Fine then, I will drop you home", Raymond said and supported her back so that she could get down from the bed.

"Oh, c'mon Raymond. I can walk. Why you guys think of me like a 6-year-old kid who can't take care of herself", she said and put her feet down.

She turned and walked up to Vikram and gave him a hug and said,

"Nothing can separate us. Not even you. Remember that !!!", and then she walked away with Raymond who lightly supported her.

A feeling of utter despair spread on his face.

After reaching the main door, Raymond suddenly stopped her and slowly shifted his hand from her shoulder to her waist and with one swift move lifted her in his arms and started walking towards the gate.

"Hey hey. What are you doing?"

But he didn't listen and kept walking till he reached his car and then placed her on the bonnet. He gently held her waist and adjusted her position so that her legs didn't touch the ground.

"What are you doing?"

"Just wait here for a second," he said and went to the boot of his car.

He came back with a pair of sneakers in his hands.

"You carry shoes for me in your boot?", Akira smiled and teased him.

"No, I kept them because I knew you will forget to keep it, even if I tell you to", saying that he bent down on his knees in front of her.

He took her left foot first and with his palm, he wiped away all the dust from her foot and then took out his pocket square and wiped again, and then helped her wear the shoe. Then he cleaned her other foot and well and then tied up the laces.

He then lifted his gaze to look at her.

She was looking at him like she had found a treasure.

She bent down and turned her hair to one side and slightly tilted her head and kissed softly on his lips and said,

"You make me feel like Cinderella".

Raymond got up and held her face in his hands and said,

"But I am no Prince, I got no riches".

"Who needs riches, when I got you", she said and smiled.

He stood there and looked at them from the window of his room. He knew he had a tough competetion.