As she was packing her bags after a five days trip in Venice, Raymond could notice that she seemed a bit edgy.

"Someone seems a bit off!" he commented, while browsing through his DSLR, admiring the pictures they had taken.

​​

"Can't believe that 5 days ended so soon. And now we have to back to our busy schedules. Can I just quit?"

She asked with her doe eyes looking at Raymond.

"Well quit anytime you want, but I know after three days you would crib again about getting bored."

"You!" sneered Akira and threw a cushion towards him.

"What?" he asked catching the cushion with an evil smile on his face.

"You know that's the truth!" he said and threw the cushion back at her, but instead of catching it, she moved a step to the side and the cushion landed on the floor.

It was then that Raymond realized that she was actually pretty bummed about it. So he fondly looked at her and called her,

"Come here!"

"What?" Akira asked irritated.

"Just come here for a second!" and saying that he tapped on the bed and Akira dragged her feet unwillingly and came to his side.

"What now?" she asked. Her tone laced with a mild hint of irritation.

"Help me choose a nice wallpaper for my laptop and phone!" he said and swiped a couple of pictures.

Uninterested in the charade, Akira said, "this one! This one is good."

"Seriously! The picture of an empty boat in the canal?"

"Looks nice to me!"

"Dummy I want a picture of either you or a picture of us. Get it?" and he lightly flicked her forehead.

Hearing his words, she tilted her head and started looking at the images as Raymond kept swiping.

"Erm... I wanted to ask about something else too!"

"Go on!"

She ran her finger through his hair and asked,

"Erm... That day at the breakfast house. You said you were serious about having a..."

"What about this one?" and Raymond cut in abruptly through her words.

It was a picture of both of them having coffee cream all over their lips, looking like a moustache. "I like this one. What do you think?"

"Looks stunning. Excellent choice." and saying that she got up from the bed.

"Where are you going?" he asked as he felt abandoned as she retracted her fingers which were ruffling his hair before.

"I think you too need to get dressed. Our flight leaves in 4 hours."

"Right, right!" said Raymond and rushed to the bathroom.

"Dimwit!" muttered Akira under her breath and threw her cushion at the bathroom door after Raymond entered inside.

Soon after Raymond got ready, they took their taxi and went to the airport. All of their luggage had already been taken before in another car.

Upon reaching the airport, Akira started walking towards Air France counter but Raymond pulled her by holding her wrist.

"Where are you going?"

"To do the check-in!"

"Are you angry with me or something?" Raymond asked.

"Seriously? What gave you the hint!" Akira asked sarcastically.

Raymond shrugged his shoulders and said, "follow me."

"Why? I am perfectly capable of doing a check-in on my own!"

"Just come Akira!" he said and this time he pulled her towards himself.

"Not the time to pull stunts here!" she muttered under her breath.

"Well what to do when you are hell-bent onboarding the wrong flight?"

"What wrong flight?" asked Akira and looked at the boarding passes in the hands of Raymond.

"What is this then?" she asked, showing the boarding pass in her hand.

"That has been cancelled!" he replied with a light smirk on his face.

"But why? Are we changing airlines?"

"No.. We are changing destination!"

"Raymond! What's going on?" She sounded exasperated, so he wrapped his other arm holding the boarding passes around her and said,

"Well do you think we can call this a honeymoon?"

"What do you mean?" asked Akira. Her eyes, wide open in surprise.

"How can you call it a honeymoon unless you call my name, begging for mercy?" There was smug smile on his face and coming close to her ears he said,

"How about begging for some mercy under the northern lights!"

Biting the corner of her lips, Akira asked, "Where are we going?"

"Norway!" and he handed her the boarding passes.

"You! So all that drama this morning? You had already planned all this right?"

Raymond smiled and interlocked his hands with her and said, "What is life without a bit of drama my love!"

Akira closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. All this time he exactly knew what she wanted. All this time, he had planned to make everything just the way she wanted.

"How on earth do you do it Raymond?" she asked as they started walking towards their check-in counter.

"Do what?"

"Know what I want?"

"It's all in your eyes. I can read how bad you want me!" he said and softly ran his finger on the tip of her nose.

"You do?" she asked battling her eyelids.

Raymond laughed at her silliness and then walked ahead and his gaze got stuck on a Starbucks shop to their left. And he turned to look towards Akira and saw her looking at the same shop.

"There is something about Starbucks. Isn't it?"

Akira laughed and said, "Yes there is!"

Soon they boarded the flight to Norway.

As Akira sat next to him after settling her purse, Raymond tilted his head slightly towards her side and asked,

"How is the situation down there? Under control?"

Akira's eyes popped open in disbelief, and she asked," were you keeping a count of the days?"

"Days! I have been keeping count of hours my dear! And let me tell you, it has been a painful and torturous wait."

She leaned in close to him and whispered into his ears before the flight took off.

"I will make your wait worth your every second."