As they reached the hotel, Raymond heavily tipped the cabbie and coordinated with the concierge for transferring all their luggage to their honeymoon suite. 

It was a deluxe presidential suite with an enviable view of the beach and an “en-suite” bathroom with a double capacity jacuzzi. That room echoed for love, demanded intimacy and was a blatant display of a congregation of luxury and elegance.

The jacuzzi had been pre-filled with hot water and aromatic oil and bath salts. So the moment Akira entered the bathroom and saw the preparation, her elated mood dampened a bit and that didn’t go unnoticed by Raymond. Her slouched shoulders and her head tilted on the bathroom door, easily gave away the state of her mind.

So after closing the door and the blinds, Raymond came close to Akira and hugged her from behind and asked,

“What are you thinking?”

“Erm… nothing.”

Hiding her disappointment away, she turned towards Raymond and took his hand in hers and walked towards the large balcony which had the sea view.

Inhaling the saltiness in the air with a deep breath, she turned towards Raymond and said,

“This place is amazing!”

Raymond hugged her tight and said, “Uh…Huh.”

Looking at him with her doe shaped eyes, she asked,

“Don’t you wish right now to have a bath in that jacuzzi with me? Don’t you wish right now that I wasn’t down at this point of time. Tell me honestly.”

Raymond stayed silent for a moment and then said,

“Well I am not going to lie, I do.”

Akira lowered her eyes the moment she heard him say those words, but then he lifted her chin up and said,

“But how many times should I tell you that the most important thing for me is to be with you, like this. To hold your arms and to hear every single breath of yours. It calms me down. The only thing that I have ever dreamt about is to have you as a part of my entire life and not just my bed. And to be honest it hurts a bit when you ask me such questions.

“Do I look so shallow to you? DO I look like I am only interested…”

But before he could speak any further, her tender lips were on his. 

All that he could do was to close his eyes and kiss her back. 

She lifted her hands and wrapped them around his neck and his right arm slowly moved up from her slender waist to the back of her neck. He kissed her gingerly at first but soon it started to take a toll on him. She could feel him, feel his manhood and thus she quickly detached and said,

“I am going to have a bath, all alone, all by myself.”

She ran towards the bathroom and all that Raymond could do was to lean on the balcony railing and admire her from behind. Life was back being blissful again. He didn’t want to think about work, but he was no ordinary man. Given that the pay cheques of many depended on him, he called up David just to check upon how things were at Delphie.

“Hello David!”

“Hello Raymond! What a surprise!”

“Surprise? Why?”

“Well I never expected that you would get time to even call me.”

Raymond stayed silent for a moment hearing his words and pinched the space between his eyebrows and said,

“Well… I got some time now. So how is the progress on the deal?”

“It’s going good Raymond. By the way another company from Spain is interested in our tech, and they want to invest in it, given that they get 7% of the royalty later on. If you have time, I will send their proposal document.”

“Sure thing David. Do send.”

“Anything else Raymond?”

“Ermm… actually a couple of things. I am unable to reach my uncle. He was supposed to even come to the wedding, but he didn’t. Can you please check on him. Not sure if he is doing all right.”

“Oh, I see…” replied David, but deep down Raymond’s request worried him. Even though Dr. Nelson had already prescribed the required medicines, he was still scared to let Raymond meet anyone or anything that could remind him of the past.

“Ermm… anything else?” David asked again.

“Well yeah, one more thing. Do check upon Dr. Nelson. He left the wedding abruptly.”

As if a bone got stuck in David’s throat, he coughed and then containing his demeanour he asked,

“Raymond, as a friend I would like to suggest you to focus on where you are right now. Live at the moment. Why do you want to untangle the past and pull the nails out of the coffin?”

“Well it’s just that, it was a bit unsettling. He looked me in the eye and had told me that he had no feelings for Akira, but then why he left?” asked Raymond. His tone now sounded a bit torrid.

“But how does his feelings matter Raymond? You like Akira and Akira likes you and you guys are married now. So how does a third person liking Akira affect you?” asked David, his tone a bit stern and laced with his irritation.

His words made absolute sense, so Raymond just listened to him and then said,

“Well I have a third request for you?”

“It better be something that am good at Raymond!” cautioned David.

Raymond chuckled this time and said,

“Actually I think there is a termite network running in Walker enterprises. I need you trace it down,” requested Raymond even though his fingers were busy on the keypad.

“But that’s your dad’s company, and I am not even an employee there. I can try but it would so much difficult to get inside information from there.”

“Who told you are not an employee in Walker enterprises?” questioned Raymond.

David stood all confused and couldn’t even ask him anything further.

Raymond sensed his surprise with his silence and then said,

“Check your email. As of now you are the Chief financial executive of Walker enterprises. Everything starting from a paper clip purchase to an acquisition. Everything would be run by you.”

David hurriedly opened his inbox and saw the appointment letter. 

‘This man indeed had his own way or working.’