"Ok fine. Don't relax. Work as much as possible and become all panda eyed. I really don't care. Whatever it is, just tell me at what time you are reaching New York tomorrow?"

She thought for a while and then said,

"I have a flight tomorrow morning and I will reach there in the evening. Landing there at 6:30 pm sharp".

"Your carrier?"

"British Airways".

"Great, I will be there to pick you up tomorrow evening. Then you can tell me all about your trip and then maybe we can have a small shindig to celebrate your victory run".

Akira knew it well that it was a matter of only a couple of hours that the news of Raymond being alive would spread to every nook and corner.

She knew that Mr. Takai or his fellow men would have ranted about it in front of someone or the other in the business community, and in the age of mobile phones, it was a matter of a few seconds that the news would have spread from one to the other and would reach Vikram in no time.

But still, she wasn't scared because, in her head, she had hatched the perfect plan to make him taste his own bitter medicine. She wanted to make him suffer in the same way that he had made Raymond suffer. She still had sufficient proof with her regarding his misdeeds of the past.

But this time she wanted to go an extra mile to make sure that she was one step ahead of him.

So curving her lips in a smile she said,

"I will be waiting then".

"And Vikram..."

"Yeah".

"I think I have a surprise for you".

"You are getting me a souvenir?"

"Something even bigger and better"

Saying that she disconnected the call

---

Sitting in his office, in the morning hours, his lips etched a smile on his face as he ended the call with her.

It had been a long year. A year of absolute pain which had slowly turned into a somewhat bearable stage. It was a year of pain not only for her but for him as well because seeing her in pain, always made his heart sear in pain.

He knew how she felt like she had a limb amputated from her body. He knew that somehow he was the reason behind it.

The thought of bringing a single tear into her eyes was unacceptable for him once upon a time.

But today he was the reason why she had forgotten to smile from her heart. He was the reason why she preferred to stare blank at her walls and ceilings all day long, rather than going out.

And he knew it well that he was the reason why the once bubbly and full of life girl, had turned into a mummified body, living and breathing under the sun, but devoid of any emotions.

But today as he heard her speaking a bit informally, his heart, felt 100 times lighter, like someone had lifted away all the burden of guilt that he had been carrying on himself all this time. Like there was a ray of hope, a possibility that she could break out from her shell and feel alive again so that he could feel alive again along with her.

All this time he had been waiting for her to come back to normal so that he could try to approach her again.

He knew that this time he would be able to attain her because not only the competition was eliminated in the first place, but also becasue there were people in his support who once stood against him.

Katherine, Shawn and even Mike, now wanted Akira to be back to normal.

They all wanted Akira to be together with him because, at the end of the day, they wanted her to be happy. And apart from Raymond, there was only one person they knew who was capable of doing it.

And they all knew that it was Vikram.

They knew that in the past his ways were weird, but they knew that it was all because he was deeply and madly in love with her. Throughout all the insanity that was happening around her, he was the one who kept her sane for all these days.

He had hidden his secrets well and he had wiped out any source that could reveal the last deed of his. He had silenced the people for good who could potentially reveal about his murderous attempt.

So he had everything sorted for himself and things were falling back into place like they should have.

He knew that it was just a matter of time, that she would be able to open her heart for him.

But little did he know that the gates had been shut close for him.

Like forever.