"I am totally fine. Another doctor friend of mine had helped to put the ice pack on my ankle. So it is not hurting me at all."

Akira ranted in one single breath as she was getting immensely irritated in the presence of Vikram and his family doctor, Dr. Neil.

"Don't listen to her Dr. Neil. Just check if everything is ok. We can leave now if an x-ray is required. Plus that person who put ice pack is just an acquaintance. God knows if he is even a doctor. Might be some quack, who knows?"

Vikram muttered and his tone clearly reflected his anger towards Dr. Nelson, but the disrespect that he showed was a bit too much for Akira to bear. So she retorted,

"To me, he seemed like a proper and well-learned doctor with a fair degree of knowledge of what he was doing. Dr. Nelson cannot be a quack."

Vikram was shocked to see the way Akira was getting all protective about him, but more than him, Dr. Neil was surprised.

"Dr. Nelson? You mean Dr. Jaby Nelson?"

"Ermm... that I don't know."

"Well if that's Dr. Jaby Nelson then he is one of the finest neurosurgeons of New York."

Dr. Neil babbled as he tried to put mild pressure at multiple points of her ankle.

Afraid of getting caught in her own ocean of lies, Akira said,

"Well, I don't know. We didn't socialize much."

"No worries Mr. Vikram, madam is all-right here. The immediate ice-pack application has helped to reduce the swelling a lot. It's a minor sprain. She will live."

Saying that he softly patted on his shoulders and left.

"See I told you, it was nothing serious."

Akira said and smiled at Vikram.

"Well good for that guy, else would not have spared ...."

And suddenly their conversation was interrupted by a call from Peter.

Akira knew that Peter was never a good omen. So she immediately improvised.

"So you are going to do all the office work here. I thought we could spend some time here. It feels so long that we connected with each other and had a normal conversation. How's uncle?"

"Well... he is doing a bit better now. Just fingers crossed."

Vikram said and dodged the call from Peter. Then he put his phone on silent mode and placed it back in his pocket. Then he sat close to Akira and asked,

"So what do you want to talk about? Tell me? Even I have so many things buried deep inside of my heart that I just want to let out in front of you."

"Well, first of all, how did your conversation with all the big-shots go?"

"Eh... nothing serious about all those things. And plus you only told me just now - no talking about work. Now, what is this, my love?"

And before Akira could even reply, she got a text notification on her phone.

"You need to go to pee in exactly 10 minutes."

And her face suddenly brightened up like it was illuminated by a thousand stars.

"Anything good?"

"What?"

Akira asked absentmindedly.

"Who was that text from?"

"Ughh... Something related to work. So let's ignore it."

But deep down somehow Vikram wasn't convinced with her answer.

"Didn't look like an office work-text to me. Your face instantly beamed after seeing the text. What are you trying to hide from me Akira?"

"Hiding? Good God !!! It was a work-related joke. There is this new joiner who didn't know that I was the owner of the company and tried to hit on me. I think his peers informed him about it. He had sent an apology text."

"Really?"

"Yeah see..."

Saying that Akira flashed her phone screen in front of Vikram.

There was a text message from an unsaved number.

"I am sincerely sorry ma'am. I had no idea about your name. I will work twice as hard and prove that I am a good hire. Please do not fire me for this mistake. At least give me a chance to prove myself." ----- Rupert.

"Now you believe me?"

"Well I always believe you Akira, but you could have simply said so in the first place."

"So that you would have threatened to break his head."

Saying that Akira giggled and continued.

"So all happy with the party tonight?"

"Oh yeah, totally. You know you are always lucky for me. If everything goes well, then I might get a spot as one of the trustee board members of one of the companies that I always dreamt of."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I told them about my vision and they really like it. All that now I have to do is to provide the required funding."

"What funding?"

Akira asked acting up all innocent.

"Well getting into this board is like getting into an elite club. Your membership isn't free. To enjoy the perks and power you need to pay the membership fee. The same is the concept here. To be a board member, you need to place a substantial amount as input to the company funding. And as the company grows, you grow and you enjoy the power."

"I see. But didn't you park most of your fundings into my new project? From where will you get the funds for this membership?"

"Oh, come' on Akira. You and I, both know how profitable this collaboration will be. Plus your project isn't starting for a year. So I guess we can figure something out. Just pull out that money and give it back to me. And in a few months, I will be able to invest twice the amount that I have invested now. So it's a win-win for both our companies and our future."

"Pull the money out?"

"It's not a fork in spaghetti that I will pull out. As I said, the contract is binding Vikram. The money can't be pulled for a year."

"It's your company Akira. You can do anything with the contract. It can be considered void with just a signature of yours. Can't you do this much for me?"

Vikram asked.

"I believe that as the CEO of the company, I should think about the well being of the company and it's people."

"But I am..."

"I know you are my FRIEND. But I will never betray my principles for anyone. Let alone you."

Saying that Akira got up. It was her time to go to PEE.