136 The series of what and why
"How can you be so careless? You didn't even have your phone on you."
"Where did you go all of a sudden? Why did you break the glass? Tell me does it hurt?"
She kept asking endless questions looking into his eyes and tears were running down her cheeks breaking all the barriers.
He looked into her eyes and didn't say a word. She was crying but her tears were quenching the pain in his heart.
She shook her head unable to believe that he had no answer for him. Her mad self took a step forward and started hitting him on his chest.
"Why would you do this?"
"Why would you.."
Her question was silenced when he pulled her close and started wiping away her tears from her face fondly with his handkerchief and she kept looking at him into his eyes.
There was just silence in between them.
She was agitated but he was calm, like an ocean of tranquility and slowly and steadily he was immersing her within him.
After wiping away her tears, he gently dabbed the handkerchief on her forehead to wipe away all the sweat that she had from all that running and climbing.
He then gently lifted her chin up and asked,
"You were worried for me?"
She removed his hand from her chin immediately and spewed angrily,
"Oh so get that now? Do you know how many meeting rooms are there in your company? Twenty-seven. And how many board rooms? Eight. I looked for you everywhere. How could you just leave without telling anyone?"
"My kit didn't have tincture", he said calmly.
"What?", asked Akira unable to correlate with his answer.
"My first aid kit didn't have tincture. So I had gone to the reception to get it", Raymond said and looked at her, deep into her eyes.
"Then I came back to my room but on the way, I met David and he told that you were looking for me and you might have come to the terrace. So I came here looking for you", Raymond said and with his injured left hand tried to tug the stray hair falling on her face.
She was more than relieved to see him ok.
She was relieved to see his injured hand all addressed properly.
But then suddenly reality hit her. The reality that it was wrong for her to be with him. The reality that didn't allow her to love him back. The reality which she had to follow to keep him happy.
She took a couple of steps back from him and then lifted her head up and said,
"Well, it's late. I better get going", she said took a final look at the fine man in front of her.
But before she could even take a step forward, she heard him say,
"Can you just stay here with me for like 5 minutes?".
She looked at him and shook her head, probably trying to tell him how tied up she was with constraints.
But then he said softly,
"Akira, please !!!"
No matter how much courage she tried to summon, she just couldn't say NO to him, she just couldn't take a step forward.
He held her hand softly and brought her towards the edge of the terrace. She held the railing and looked into the distance, oblivious to the traffic, the noise and the lights around.
He leaned on to the railing and turned to look at her face.
She looked so pretty. With all the lights falling on her face and the wind playing with her hair, she looked so kissable.
He sighed and then said,
"I didn't take you in my company because someone asked me to do so. Well technically speaking I actually did because the interview was scheduled for that reason. But I selected you purely based on your merits and your answers. Vikram had told me a couple of weeks back that I could ask any one of my leads to be your mentor. But still, I decided to mentor you because I knew you had potential.
You might think it was all for the deal, and honestly, it was. I will not lie on your face. I had the responsibility of so many people who were banking on me Akira and I just couldn't say NO".
She looked into his eyes and she knew that he was saying the truth.
"I can shut off the deal with Vikram's company to show you how much you mean to me. But I will be jeopardizing the life of so many people, so I can't do that. I have no way to prove to you how much you mean to me Akira. All I have is my words and it's up to you to trust me", he said and tried to gauge her reaction.
"Was it... Was it because of all this that you said things about my parents that day? In that interview?", she asked with hesitation.
He sighed hearing her question, but then spoke,
"The thing is I hate people who don't get job-based on merit. I wanted to hate you but you performed exceptionally well so I was kind of a bit frustrated" and saying that he avoided looking into her eyes.
She gently smiled at his answer.
"So you were angry with me because I was smart?", Akira asked.
"Well you are twisting the words", he said and gently smiled.
"Your thinking process is twisted", she said and smiled and then looked away from him.
He kept looking at her bright face for quite some time and then said,
"Tell me this isn't real. You and I here, this isn't real".
Akira looked at him unable to understand.
"Why are you giving me these moments and then you are pushing me away like I am a nobody for you? Am I that forgettable? Do my promises mean nothing to you?", he asked and looked at her.
She tried to steal away her eyes as she could give no answer to his questions.
He took a deep breath and then extended his hands and pulled her close to him. She struggled to escape. But the more she struggled, the tighter he made his grip.
The distance between them had been diminished. There was nothing but closeness in between. With his right hand, he had held both her hand behind her and with his injured left hand, he caressed her cheek and ran his finger on her smooth skin.
She shivered and stopped struggling from his embrace.
He came even closer and placed his forehead on hers and closed his eyes. His nose slightly touching hers. He had completely disarmed her.
He released her hands but she didn't run away. He knew that she won't.
He took both his hands and then gently cupped her face. His nose still touching hers, he asked,
"Am I so easy to forget?"
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