"Damn it, Raymond !!!"

"Would you please stop it. I can't take it anymore. Stop putting in these thoughts inside of my head. You know it well that I need you. Like I need you right now."

"I know you do, but not more than me."

Said Raymond and then taking a deep breath he whispered,

"I promise you a wonderful evening tomorrow. An evening that you will remember. But as in for now. Sleep tight. It's quite late."

"You promise?"

"I promise Akira."

Suddenly she felt like her soul had been soothed. She felt like that tiny little promise of his, covered her up like a warm blanket and made her feel all warm and fuzzy.

"Mmm...."

"Sleep now", said Raymond and he himself went under the duvet on his bed.

"Goodnight Raymond."

"Laters baby", he said and then gave out a tender smooch before disconnecting the call.

That night, probably for the first time, Akira could sleep on her bed without feeling all restless, without getting haunted with the memories of Raymond. The memories still flooded her head, but this time instead of giving pain, they made her feel loved all over again.

Feeling all fuzzy and warm with those memories, she caved into sleep.

---

"Holy Cow !!!"

Said Dr. Nelson as he woke up the next morning from his hangover.

His head was spinning like he was sitting inside of a coffee spinner.

He immediately went to the washroom and splashed cold water on his face to sober himself up.

Opening up the medicine kit next to the sink, he popped two Advils and gulped a glass of water. After freshening up, he came back to his bedroom and ordered for a cup of espresso which arrived in immediately in 2-3 minutes.

After having the coffee and Advil, he felt a bit better. Then he opened his phone to check the time and then checked his flight schedule again to see if there was any delay.

He had almost two hours left with him before he had to start for the airport.

But all that drinking had taken so much toll on him, that he just wanted to stay there back for one more day. For a moment he felt like calling up the airlines to push his ticket for tomorrow, but after seeing the messages from his secretary and his operation date and time schedule, he just couldn't.

Who told the life of a neurosurgeon can be simple?

Even though he wanted to take a break he couldn't. He was bounded by his hospital but more than that he was bounded by his patients.

So, taking a deep breath, he started packing his bags.

Then suddenly his doorbell rang.

"Who would come to meet me at this ungodly hour", he mumbled as the sound of the bell was causing his headache to become even worse.

Outside he found a bell boy holding his wallet on a tray.

"Sir sorry to disturb you but you had left your wallet at the bar counter yesterday. We tried to give it back to you yesterday itself but I guess you were fast asleep so we couldn't."

"Oh thank you so so much", saying that Dr. Nelson took the wallet and gave a 50USD tip to the bellboy before returning to the room.

"I should stop this drinking habit of mine", he mumbled and took a strong mental note of it so that he could impose the restriction on himself and to avoid it happening again the next time.

After packing his bags, he quickly took a shower and then ordered the breakfast to his room. He was in no mood to go downstairs to eat. As a doctor, he knew how to take proper care of hangover. Having a heavy breakfast was a must, along with proper hydration.

After getting ready, he left his room a bit earlier than the time at which he had to start for the airport as he wanted to visit the bartender guy to personally thank him for sending the wallet back to him.

Luckily as he entered the bar, he was on service duty.

"My man !!!"

"Hello Sir, Hope you are feeling well now."

"Well not exactly, to be honest", Dr. Nelson said and chuckled and the bartender could easily guess the reason. He knew that he would definitely suffer from a bad hangover, given the amount of alcohol he had consumed yesterday evening.

"I am leaving now. I just dropped by to say thanks. I would have gone nuts if the wallet would have gone missing. It was gifted to me by someone special."

"No issues at all sir."

"No, but seriously thanks for your efforts."

"It's nothing, sir. I just picked it and gave it to your wife. I didn't have to do anything sir."

"My wife???"