Pacing through the room, Raymond was getting all restless.

How bad he wanted to wake her up and tell her that he was alive, how bad he wanted to take her in his arms and kiss the life out of her. But no matter how much he paced, the time wasn't passing any quicker.

It had been only 10 minutes, but he felt like he had been waiting for 10 hours for her to wake up.

He had been waiting for a glimpse of her for all these days all patiently and now that she was here in front of him, so close to him, he couldn't bear to wait even for a minute.

So he went close to her and sat on the bed next to her and ran his fingers on her lips. He then leaned in close to her and whispered in her ears,

"Morning my love".

His voice echoed in her ears like a perennial constant, waking her up in a second.

All of a sudden she opened her eyes and saw his face right in front of her. But the next second she covered her eyes with her palm and then opened her eyes again. She wanted to believe that this time it was for real. She didn't want to be fooled again.

Yet the same face was there in front of her.

She slapped her face with both her hands together and tried to open and close her eyes again and again while he kept looking at her all amused.

But nothing that she did change the view in front of her. Her man was sitting there, in all flesh and blood giving his undivided attention as she made effort after effort to believe that he was there for real.

"Am I hallucinating again?", she mumbled, thinking that this was also a figment of her imagination.

"No".

She heard his voice loud and clear, blaring the symphony of blatant truth in front of her.

"Am I dead Raymond? Are we in heaven together?", she asked and she was in all smiles.

Raymond's eyebrows arched up as he heard her.

This girl never ceased to amaze him. She was happy to think that she was with him after her death. He had no words to explain how much he was touched.

"Just shut up", he said and moved closer to her face.

She furrowed her eyebrows and placed her palm on his chest trying to block him and asked,

"Who are you? Why are you messing with me?"

But ignoring her resistance he pushed himself even closer with just an inch of the gap in between their lips and said,

"Why don't you let your lips tell you who I am?"

Saying that he leaned in closer and locked her lips with his own, giving her a taste of his lips.

Her question filled eyes were relaxed in a second, for it was the same taste that aroused every inch of her soul, rendering her all helpless under his mercy. His left hand slowly moved underneath her back and his right palm reached under the nape of her neck, brushing the skin of her neck lightly.

He licked her lips with his tongue in gentle strokes and moved to kiss her neck.

"I missed you so much", he said and kissed her right ear lobe softly. He moved down to kiss her neck, but then she pushed him suddenly.

She was looking at him all fiercely.

"That man at the airport, ....."

Her tears were flooding her eyes, choking her throat. Her lips were quivering, and her entire core was shaking, but she wanted her answers.

She balled up her fists and asked,

"That man at the airport, that was you?"

He looked at her gently and said,

"Yes".

Fighting back her tears, she took a pause to register what she was hearing and then she asked again,

"Yesterday, in the meeting room... When the lights were ...."

"When the lights were off, yes that was me who held you in my arms and kissed you".

Unable to believe the miracle she sat upright on the bed.

Gallons and gallons of tears were rushing out through her eyes and looking into his eyes, she slowly extended her palms towards his face and asked,

"Can I?"

She wanted to touch his face and believe that this was all real. Even though he had kissed her, she still felt like she was in some sort of a dream. She wanted to touch him, feel him, make herself believe that this was permanent, he was permanent.

He leaned to his right and rested his cheeks on her palm.

The moment her palm felt the touch of his warm and rugged cheeks, she felt like her heart had started a new rhythm like it had started to learn how to beat again.