Anthony had got up somehow and he charged towards Raymond with the knife in his hand. But as Akira luckily saw him getting up she shouted and Raymond just turned in the nick of time. But before he could perceive what was happening around, the steel seared through his arm.

The color red spread everywhere. Akira felt like her insides were pulled out. She screamed again.

Before Raymond could register any pain he just saw Anthony with a knife in his hand. So this time instead of simply pushing him, he kicked him hard. He snatched the knife out of his hand and threw it far away.

Then Raymond dragged Anthony and took him near the basement storeroom and locked him inside. Then he called the security of the building immediately and ask them to take care of him.

Raymond then rushed back to Akira to check if she was ok. But Akira’s face was filled with horror. Even though the person who was injured right now was Raymond, but it looked like she had taken the hit. Akira immediately took out a scarf from her bag and tied it around Raymond’s injured arm to stop the bleeding. He was bleeding profusely and was losing a lot of blood. She could clearly see that he was in severe pain but instead of worrying about himself he was still concerned about her. For a moment she couldn’t think of anything else so she immediately took his other hand and pulled him inside her car and drove like a maniac towards the nearest hospital.

When they were about to reach the hospital, Raymond has already lost a lot of blood and he had started to feel a bit dizzy. Seeing Raymond in such a condition, Akira was heartbroken and started blaming herself for everything. By the time they reached the hospital, Raymond was unconscious in the car so Akira rushed him directly towards the emergency section and called for help.

Raymond was immediately taken inside the hospitals emergency OT as his wound needed an immediate dressing before he bled to death. Since the gash was deep, he got around thirteen stitches and was kept under observation. He was still unconscious due to the anesthesia which had been given to him.

While he was in OT, Akira was pacing around like she had lost the grip of the world. She called up her brother Mike and told him that she would be late and then she sent a mail to Chloe and told her everything about today’s incident. She requested her to contact someone from Raymond’s family. Only after he was shifted to a normal room, she felt a bit better.

After the doctor and nurses left, Akira went close to him and sat beside him. Seeing him in such a condition was breaking her heart. The guilt was making her restless. Had he not moved, Anthony would probably have slit his throat. She just thought about what could have had happened and a chill went down her spine. She thanked her stars and then took out a small ‘Ganesha idol’ from her bag and placed it on the side table next to Raymond. She prayed to him with all her devotion as she firmly believed that he would protect him.

She kept caressing Raymond’s arm and didn’t even realize when she had slept off.

—

When Katherine got to know from Chloe that Raymond was injured, she immediately left for the hospital. She inquired about Raymond’s room from the hospital reception and ran fast as she could to locate the room. The moment she entered the room, she froze for a second.

Some girl was sleeping on a chair holding her brother’s arm. She went close and noticed that his arm and the sheet was all wet from her tears. The brother that she knew was quite allergic to girls so she was literally shocked to find a girl next to him and the way she had cried it seemed like she was really close to him.

She inspected Raymond’s wound, talked to an attending nurse outside the room and was assured after knowing that he would recover in 1-2 days. She returned back to the room and took a seat opposite to hers and didn’t say a word. She didn’t want to wake up the girl.

But Katherine couldn’t contain her curiosity so texted Chloe and asked her about the girl. When she got to know that Raymond was her mentor and she was just an intern who had joined that very day, she was surprised. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This girl was something.

Approximately 1 hour later Akira got up because of the buzzing sound of her phone. But before she could pick up the phone she saw that she was not alone in the room. There was a lady in front of her sitting with an air of majesty around her.

“Hi, I am Katherine. I am Raymond’s sister”, she introduced herself seeing the surprised look on Akira’s face.

“Oh hi. I am Akira. I am an intern at Raymond’s office”, she said.

“I see. so what happened today exactly and how did he end up like this? And why do you have a cut around your neck as well? Did someone attack you both?”, Katherine threw streams of questions to Akira.

Akira initially got scared thinking that she might be accused for this condition of Raymond. But then she mustered up her courage and said,

“It happened all because of me. A lunatic ex-boyfriend of mine was trying to threaten me and tried hurting me too. But your brother came in and saved me, but I was unable to save him back. I am really sorry that it happened. If there was any way in which I can go back in time and prevent it I would”.

“Hey don’t worry and don’t blame yourself. He is totally fine. I checked with the doctor’s and he will be fine in 1-2 days”, Katherine said and tried to soothe the girl’s heart.

Katherine noticed that she was very sincere with her words and looked genuinely worried for her brother. Akira saw that Raymond’s sister was scanning her and she felt a bit awkward. So she said,

“I am going to check with the doctor. The effect of anesthesia should have been over by now. Will be back in a few minutes”.

Before getting up she saw that her tears had almost made a big wet patch on Raymond’s sheets. So she immediately pulled the sheet inside so that neither Raymond nor her sister could to see it. But little did she know that Katherine was already aware of it.

Akira left to find the doctor. but just a few seconds later Raymond slowly started getting is consciousness back. His head was aching and he was feeling all groggy. Katherine immediately rushed next to him and said,

“Hey hey lay down. Everything is fine. You are at the hospital and recovering from anesthesia. Take rest as your body needs it in plenty. I am here. everything is fine.”

Raymond didn’t reply a word and Katherine could see that his eyes were searching for something or someone. specifically.