Akira immediately placed the idol back into her bag. A brief touch of Raymond had made her turn into scarlet red. She hung her head low and took a few steps back. Then she again looked inside her bag with a worried expression.

“Oh no”, gasped Akira.

“What happened?”, both Raymond and Mike asked at the same time.

“Looks like I misplaced my diary somewhere”, Akira said and pinched her brows out of disappointment.

Katherine threw a look at Raymond as if she was accusing him of keeping the diary away from the girl for so long. She said,

“Don’t worry. I guess when you fell down yesterday, by mistake your diary stayed in this room under this morons bed.”

“Oh”, said Akira. She looked even more worried now. Worried because she was scared if Raymond found out that she had a soft corner for him. Scared to expose her vulnerable side to him. So she asked,

“Sorry for asking, but did you read it?”

“Honestly I would have loved to read it. but it is impossible to do so when you have a living example of moral police sitting in the room”, Katherine said and looked at her brother.

“Here, take it.”, Raymond said and picked up the diary which was still present under his pillow and handed it to Akira. He didn’t say anything because neither he could lie nor tell the truth. He didn’t want to break her heart and he had hardly read a few pages.

“Thank you again for…” and Akira’s voice just trailed off.

Katherine couldn’t miss the way they were looking at each other. Even though her brother vehemently denied, she knew that his heart was speaking something and his mind was speaking something else. So to give them some space and time she said,

“Hey, Mike. Will you accompany me for a cup of coffee? I am dying out of hunger here but looks like nobody cares for me”, she said candidly and got down from the bed.

Mike followed Katherine towards the cafeteria without a clue of what was cooking inside that lady’s head. Only Raymond knew what was the intention of his sister behind all this. He laughed inside his head because of her childish activities.

Akira stood there silently, fiddling with the notebook which she had just received from Raymond. Suddenly there was an awkward silence engulfing the entire room because both of them were at loss of words. A few moments later Raymond tried to sit upright on the bed but struggled a bit because of an injured arm and multiple drip connections on the other.

Seeing him struggle like this Akira came to him immediately and tried helping him out. She supported his back with one hand, and covered her other hand around his waist and tried to prop him up on the bed.

Locks of hair were all over Raymond generating a mesmerizing lavender note. Her face was inches away from his. She was embracing him with all her attention, scared to touch or disturb any needlepoint. Then she straightened the pillow behind his back and slowly let him rest. Her hand was still placed at the nape of his neck. She looked at him and asked,

“Better?”

She was still leaning close and for moment Raymond thought that the loudness his heartbeat would give him away. Her breath on his bare skin gave him goosebumps, tingling each of his nerves. His head wasn’t thinking straight after seeing her so close. She always smelled the same. A faint smell that caused his heart to race and blocked his mind.

He wanted to take the locks of her hair and push them softly behind her ears. He wanted to graze his fingers against her soft cheeks, but all he could do was to say,

“Uh huh. Thanks”.

Akira gently smiled and removed her hand supporting his neck. Then she stood back and looked at her watch wondering what was taking Mike and Katherine so long. Before another phase of awkward silence could start between them, she said,

“I will complete the activities that you had assigned yesterday. Is there anything else that needs to be done in the office today? I mean if you want to pass on any information to anybody I can do that.”

Raymond smiled and said,

“Thanks but just focus on your work. If anything is needed I will directly contact the concerned people. You just rest and focus on your work. If possible go home early. Don’t stay up too late.”

Akira smiled and was about to say something but she was interrupted by a phone call.

“Hi Vikram!!!”, said Akira and moved a bit away from Raymond’s side.

“You have to go to the police station to give your statement about the incident that happened yesterday”, Vikram said.

“Police station? But I haven’t lodged a formal complaint yet”, she asked in a surprised tone.

“You haven’t, but I have. Will come and pick you up in say 40 minutes?”, said Vikram calmly.

“Umm, no need to pick me up. I am already outside. Mike and I came to the hospital to meet Raymond. I will start from here directly. Just send me the address in WhatsApp”. Akira said.

“How is your boss doing?”, asked Vikram with a hint of curiosity in his tone.

“He is ok. The recovery is good. He will be discharged today.” Akira said and cast a glance back at Raymond.

“And what about you?”, asked Vikram.

“I am totally fine. Actually, more than fine knowing that he is behind bars right now. No way I can forget the things he did to me”, Akira said with a huge resolve reflecting in her tone.

“Akira… ” Vikram said and paused.

“What?”, asked Akira all worried.

“It’s nothing. Will meet you at the police station in 30-40 mins. Inform Raymond beforehand that they might come to collect his statement as well.” Vikram said and disconnected the call.

After finishing the call Akira walked towards Raymond and said,

“My friend has reported this incident at the police station so I have to go and give my statement. I don’t know how long the formalities will take there so I might be late at the office.”

Raymond just nodded

Akira then continued, “They might come to collect your statement as well. Not sure when though. Will that be ok for you? I am really sorry for all this trouble”.

“It’s fine. Part of the protocol. There is no need to be sorry about it”, Raymond said and started looking towards the door.

Katherine and Mike just entered the room with coffee cups in their hands. There was one for Akira too. Akira thanked Katherine for the coffee and collected her stuff to leave.

Just when she was about to leave Katherine interrupted her and said,

“Stay strong Akira. Even though that guy was your ex, he isn’t worth even 1% of your attention. Whatever happened was for your own good. Take it that way”.

“Thanks, Katherine”, Akira said and left the room with Mike. She understood that Mike probably had told her everything about Anthony.

There were many things left unsaid in the heart of Raymond. But most importantly he just wanted to tell her sorry for misunderstanding her as a gold digger. He didn’t care what relation she had with Vikram because in his heart he just respected her for who she was.

P.S. Someone very dear to me had told me once – “First you should respect a person. Love follows automatically”.