Walking out of his office, Dr. Nelson took a deep breath. His back was still hurting, but he didn't care. He had taken an early discharge from the hospital and had come to meet Raymond so that he could give him the prescription of memory suppressants.

He felt bad to lie to him, for he was a good man, but the thought that he was doing it for the sake of Akira pushed him and gave him the courage to do it. It was against his medical oath.

'I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.'

He remembered those lines as he went down the stairs and tried suppressing his guilt.

As he went outside the Walker Enterprises, his cab was still running the meter.

"Next where to sir?" asked the cab driver.

"JFK airport."

But before he could open the door and get inside, he heard the voice of Raymond. 

He had come running from his office.

"What happened? Why are you here?" asked Dr. Nelson with a surprised expression on his face.

Holding his breath for a second, Raymond said,

"You are a good man, so I don't want to hide anything from you. I am going to propose Akira this Saturday and the week after I plan to get married to her. It's all a surprise. I mean, of course, David is my best man without a doubt but I would really like it if you could grace us."

The was a brief moment of silence that lingered for a while and then, Dr. Nelson cracked a joke,

"Not as the second-best man I suppose?" 

A smile spread on Raymond's lips and shaking his head, he asked,

"No, I would like you to be my ring bearer if that's ok with you."

With a smile on his face, Dr. Nelson let out a deep gasp of air and then tapped on Raymond's shoulder slightly and said,

"You will make a really good husband and I wish you guys all the luck in the world. But I am really sorry, I have to say no to that. I have some really important prior commitments that I can't shrug off. I hope you would understand me and I hope you can tell the same to Akira. Maybe a bit later. She will understand too."

And then looking into Raymond's eyes, he said,

"I really mean it when I say that I wish you guys all the happiness."

And before waiting for him to reply he went and sat inside the cab. His little speech had rendered Raymond speechless. so he knocked on the window shield and asked,

"I don't understand you. What work do you have? Conference? Seminar or any surgery? You haven't even recovered well. Why are you taking up work?"

Dr. Nelson looked at Raymond, but this time his face carried no expression and he said,

"It's something really personal, Raymond. You and I aren't that close for me to tell you about it. Good Luck."

And the next thing that he did was to ask his driver to start the car.

Standing alone in the street, Raymond couldn't understand his words, nor his intent. But somehow something was deeply unsettling him. So he picked up his phone and called up David.

"Hello, Raymond !"

"Hello, David !"

"I just saw your pictures posted on various social media sites. Looks like your first day at Walker Enterprises was ..."

"David, David listen. Did Dr. Nelson tell you anything about any seminar or something?" asked a restless Raymond cutting David's words short.

"Seminar? I don't think so. He is yet to be discharged in the first place," replied David.

"He is already out of the hospital. He came to visit me to tell me about the new cure."

"Oh! Man... Did he get so excited to tell you about it that he got himself discharged just for this? He had already informed to get the medicines for you. Why did he have to get himself discharged?" queried David.

"Even I don't know. The way that he talked... There was something weird," said Raymond and started walking back towards the office.

"I will call him and check upon him. Give me some time," said David and disconnected the call.

As the cab caught up speed, Dr. Nelson took a deep breath and took out his mobile phone. He opened his gallery and looked at the picture of Akira that he had taken and suddenly it started buzzing. It was a call from David and he realized instantly that Raymond might have called him.

He picked up the phone and said,

"Hello, David!"

"Hello, Dr. Nelson. How are you? I heard that you took an early discharge. Why?" David asked.

"Ahh... So Raymond asked you to check up on me. Am I right?"

"Please do not escape my question, Dr. Nelson. If anything is bothering you then let me know. I don't understand where do you have to go this urgently?" asked David.

"Erm... There is this symposium that I need to attend to and there are a couple of operations that are pending at other hospitals. These patients have been waiting for more than three to four months. If I delay it then they will be again on the waiting charts David. Hope you understand that," said Dr. Nelson, trying to persuade David.

"I see... But you are injured. How will you be able to perform surgery?" asked David again.

"Well I have some time to heal during this three-day long symposium and two of the surgeries will be done by a robotic arm. I just need to guide it well. So don't worry about that David."

"Hm... well if you say so. Just take care of your health and stay in touch," David said.

"Thanks, David. Take good care of yourself man," said Dr. Nelson and disconnected the call and switched his phone to flight mode. He didn't want any further distractions that could bind him back to New York.

He then switched back to the gallery and deleted the picture of Akira after looking at it for a while.

'You will always have a special place in my heart Akira!'

Dr. Nelson said to himself and placed the mobile phone back in his pocket and let a puff of air out of his lips, trying to force his eyes not to well up like his heart was.

[The rise of the saviour - My new book. Please give this book some love with your reviews and comments. I sincerely hope you will love this new book as well.]