She had no idea how she endured the flight journey. Her welled up red rimmed eyes were a testimony of the pain that she was going through. Had it been anyone else in the entire world, then she wouldn't have been torn this way.

But of all the people why it had to be him!

​​

Why after showing her a dream, a silver lining, God had to snatch it away from her?

She had no clue how she boarded the flight. She had no clue who sat next to her. Even when the flight landed, she was in so much distraught that she realized about it only when the passenger next to her requested her to alight.

Feeling all lost, she kept on walking till she cleared the immigration and reached towards the exit. But before she could walk out, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

Dazed she turned back and saw a familiar face.

"Jaby!"

Her dried lips barely uttered his name.

"Come here!" and without waiting for her to move, he wrapped her in his arms, for he knew that she needed comforting.

She stood still, for a couple of seconds, her hands still near her thighs, but the moment he gently stroked her back and said, "It's OK! I am here. Everything will be OK!", she lost it all. Her composure, her restraint, her everything!

Wrapping her arms around him, she started to bawl.

Everyone around them started staring in their direction, but he didn't care, and she had no touch with the world.

"Why Jaby?"

"Why him?"

"It's OK! Don't think about anything it's OK," he said and ran his hand softly over her head, brushing his fingers through her hair.

She kept on sobbing in his arms for quite some time, wetting his chest with her teardrops. It was only when his phone buzzed, that she detached herself a bit.

"Erm… Sorry!"

He ignored the call and said, "It's nothing urgent. Come let me take you home."

"I have no home Jaby!" she said and looked at him.

"I am taking you to some place special. Let's go away from here. You need your family with you more than ever right now."

And suddenly her face turned all white.

"What will happen to Mike if he gets to know? How will he feel that his brother-in-law was the one who killed his parents?"

But without replying to her questions, he held her hand and took her passport before walking towards the check-in gate.

"Where are we going?"

"New York!" he said, pulling her close.

"I don't want to go there Jaby. I don't. Please take me somewhere else in the world. Please!"

"OK! I will. But first I need to show you something important."

"What Jaby? Tell me now. I cannot take any more surprises."

Taking a deep breath, he looked at her and then said, "Please Akira!Just trust me this once."

She wanted to ask him back, but she had no energy left. She was completely drained. She had no will to see another sunrise without Raymond, but the irony was, she just couldn't bear the thought of being next to the man whose hands were stained with the blood of her parents.

As soon as they boarded the flight, he gave her a bottle of juice to drink, and she started feeling all dizzy.

"Did you spike it Jaby?" she asked, her eyes half opening.

But he preferred to stay silent and just pulled her close to his chest, letting her rest.

Meanwhile, he texted David - "She is safe with me. But do not try to reach us for a day. I just need one day with her."

Switching off his phone, he adjusted her head over his shoulder so that she didn't get a sore neck later on. He then pulled a blanket and covered her before the lights in the flight were switched off.

And in that darkness, his lips softly touched her forehead, and he whispered.

"Don't worry Akira! I promise I will keep you happy."

But little did he know that fate had other plans.

As Raymond had missed his flight to New Work earlier and took a later flight, his arrival time exactly coincided with that of Akira.

He arrived at gate 37B and they did at 41.

Her head was still heavy, so she rushed towards the bathroom after getting down from the flight and as fate had planned, Raymond too went to the men's room opposite to hers.

A couple of minutes later, Akira came out after washing her face and walked towards Dr. Nelson who was standing near the main entrance, holding her purse.

So when Raymond got out from the washroom, he saw her walking towards someone who was holding her purse. He was so much in shock that he didn't dare to call her name out. Instead, he quickly opened his Google Drive and searched for the face of that man.

"Dr. Nelson!"

And he could feel his heart and his throat choke.

He knew that he was a nice man, but deep down he wasn't comfortable of her being with him when she was this vulnerable.

"What if…"

And like a mad person he ran towards the main entrance in search of her. But they were nowhere to be found. That two minutes delay, costed him heavy.

He called up David immediately and asked, "David can you please track Akira's phone for me. Where is she right now?"

But David silent for a moment and said,

"Raymond if you trust me, then please just leave her alone for one day! A few hours back you yourself told that she needs time. Then why are you rushing after her now? You will make things worse Raymond."

"I don't care David. I don't like to see her with Dr. Nelson."

"What?"

"I saw them arrive at the airport in front of me. He was holding her purse. That should have been me. If there is anyone who has the right to hold her purse and wait for her, then that's me. Not him, not anyone else."

"Raymond calm down. Just calm down. I had sent Dr. Nelson to take care of her. He is a noble man Raymond. Please trust him this once."

"Trust! Huh… I don't even know what that means David. My life has been a lie. Every relationship that I had been in was a lie, except for her. I cannot lose her David. I can't let her go for something that was…"

"That was not your fault… Raymond, do you hear me. That was not your fault. Snap out of it. Come outside the airport. We will talk. Give her time Raymond, she will forgive you…"

But Raymond didn't reply anything for quite some time.

"Raymond! Raymond are you there?"

"I think before her, someone else needs to forgive me…" and he disconnected the call.

.

.

.

"What happened Akira? Are you sick?" Asked Dr. Nelson and placed the back of his palm on her forehead.

"No I just vomited. I don't have a fever Jaby," she said and pulled his hand down.

"Just let me check your pulse once," he said and grabbed her wrist in between his thumb and index finger, while he walked her towards the airport taxi lane.

"Where are you taking me Jaby. If it's to Raymond, then I don't want to see his face."

"I am not taking you to him. I promise," he said and hailed a taxi.

The whole time that were in that taxi, Akira kept looking outside the window and didn't even utter a word. She didn't feel like talking or meeting anyone. She wanted to run to her brother, but didn't want to upset him either. She felt as if she had been stranded all alone in the world with no one to run to.

This whole revelation had taken a toll on her. She was nauseated and her head was feeling heavy. She wanted to yell at Jaby for sedating her earlier, but somehow that had helped her not to remember about anything.

Towards the outskirts of the city, when they crossed a 7-Eleven, Dr. Nelson stopped the cab and went to purchase a few things to eat for her, but she had no appetite. So he forced her to eat just a bagel which she couldn't even finish.

A few moments later, they halted near a small school and Dr. Nelson gave 100 dollars to the cabbie to keep the meter running.

"Where is this place?"

"Just come," Dr. Nelson said and opened her side of the door. Holding her hand, he walked her towards the back side of the school where a small graveyard was located.

"Why are we here?" Akira asked looking at Jaby, as she could feel his grip on her hand loosening up, and he started walking ahead on his own silently.

Perplexed she stood there for a second and then followed him.

He stood near a small tombstone, his shoulders slouched and Akira had a bad feeling about it. Was it Alita's grave?

And as she inched closer, she found it was indeed her tombstone.

She didn't understand why he got her there? She didn't know what he wanted to say.

"Do you want some alone time here? I can go and stay inside the cab," she asked as she could see his eyes welling up.

"No stay!"

He said and then taking a deep breath, he took out his phone for a second and then looked at her with a smile on his face.

"When I saw you the first time, I was intrigued. Not because you were you, but because you looked like her. We became friends but I always wanted more. I cannot lie standing next to her."

"Why are you saying all this Jaby? Why of all day today? Why now? Don't you know what I am going…"

"No Akira! You have to listen to me today," he spoke, his voice a bit stern this time, and she had no option but to stay.

"Had you been with any other man, then I swear to heavens you would have been mine right now, but you were Raymond's. A man who came back from life for you. A man who was ready to leave you for your sake."

"Jaby please!"

"You will listen Akira," he spoke without even bothering about her tears.

"The more I saw you together, the more I envied you guys because I didn't have what you guys have - Time. I didn't have time Akira. I had no time with her.

"I had spun dreams with her, thought about a lifetime with her, but we couldn't have any of that because we didn't have TIME. And you have no idea what I could give to spend a moment with her. When she left, I was dead. I don't have the power to bring her back. I have no power to say the things that I wanted to say, because she left me in such a rush that …

And his throat choked and just couldn't utter anything further.

He looked to his side, letting the tears trickle down before he looked at her.

"So it really hurts me to see you running away from that one man who wants to give you all of his time. It hurts me to see that a thing of the past has become so important that you are ready to ruin your present and future because of that."

She stood there like a statue, unable to even blink her eyes.

"Do you remember how you had cried when you thought he died?"

"Are you OK to go through that again? Are you OK to cut him off?"

"You were ready to do everything possible to bring his memories back. What happened to that Akira?"

She looked at Alita's name on the tombstone and the reality came crashing in. She shook her head with tears in her eyes.

"I … I can't live without him Jaby but I just...!"

He took a deep breath and came close to her, wiping her tears with his hands. Her brows were twitched and her lips were quivering.

"What do I do Jaby? It just hurts. What do I do?"

He softly kissed on top of her head and whispered, "Why don't you let him ease your pain?"

"What?"

"If it hurts because of him then why don't you let him heal you?"

"Why do you mean Jaby?" She asked all puzzled.

"Turn back!" he said, taking a step away from her.

"Why?"

"Just turn back Akira!"

And she turned only to find Raymond standing a couple of feet away from her. Her lips parted when that man kneeled down on the ground.

She turned back towards Dr. Nelson, her eyes asking him what to do.

"Go Akira! Go get your time."

And she ran towards the man whom she hated and loved equally. Hugging him tight, she cried and whispered into his ears,

"I hate you. I hate you the most in this whole world but I guess I love you more than that."

"I know!" He whispered.

That was all that Raymond wanted to hear. That was all that was enough for him for now.

Seeing the lovebirds together, a strange solace ushered in the heart of Dr. Nelson. Now there was no force in the world that could tear them apart. Not even his own restless heart.

Taking a deep breath he walked towards them.

"I am sorry Dr. Nelson. I am sorry that…"

"Let it go Raymond. It's in a human's nature to judge and distrust people."

Raymond shrugged his shoulder lightly not knowing what to say to the man who had literally saved his marriage.

"I don't know how to thank you Jaby… I don't know …"

"If you really want to thank me, then call me with a good news."

"What?" Akira asked, unable to understand what he meant by that.

He smiled and put a small paper bag from 7-eleven in her palm, before walking towards his cab.

"What is it?" asked Raymond and opened the bag only to find a pregnancy kit inside.

"Are you?" his eyes beamed, and he hugged her tight. In that one moment, they forgot everything. Every pain, every question, every accusation.

"I don't know! I was just nauseated."

"We have a lifetime to figure that out!" He said and kissed her forehead.

"I love you Akira!"

"I love you too, Raymond."

And holding her hand he walked towards his car and even though they walked silently, that silence itself was a promise of a new beginning.

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.

.

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[THE END]

[Becasue of breaking the non-disclosure agreement, Vikram was ruined as all his assets were seized and unable to take that setback, he lost his mental imbalance. He was sent to an asylum for further treatment. Meanwhile, the sharp mind of David got busy collecting enough evidence against Sebastian and Conrad, and within hours he filed a public petition anonymously to reopen the murder case of Peter. They both were taken into custody and a non-bailable warrant was registered for them.]

[But what happened to Raymond and Akira next? Did they have a daughter? Did she also look like her mother and Alita. READ - HEAVEN CAN WAIT to find out]