The celebratory dinner

"Where are you now and what's wrong?" asked Vikram who was in a tensed mode.

"Nothing happened Vikram. I am ok. I was just missing mom and dad a lot somehow," replied Akira.

"Are you sure because Mike told me otherwise", Vikram said and looked at Mike who was along with him in the car. Deep down he wasn't convinced with her answer. He knew that something had bothered her to the core of her heart which had made her cry like this.

"Yeah, I m totally fine. I am with Mom and Dad now at the cemetery. Just wanted to spend some time with them. Makes me feel like they are around and we are connected somehow," sighed Akira.

"Anyways I will be returning back now. Thanks for calling tough", Akira added.

"Stay there. We are on our way to pick you up," Vikram said and disconnected the call. He looked at Mike who was sitting next to him and said - "Something is wrong. She isn't telling me anything. But if you find out then let me know."

Mike nodded.

After Akira was done with the call she turned back, but Raymond was nowhere to be seen. She ran a bit forward towards the entrance but couldn't find him. "Why did he leave? He didn't say a word again before leaving. Why does he behave like that around me? One moment he is there and the next he is not", all these questions were irritating her.

A few minutes back she thought of him as her mortal enemy and now this very moment she was missing his company. She was weirded out with her own behavior. She stood there looking at the direction of the entrance, hoping against hope that he would probably come back. The whole internship thing was out of her mind. Right now her heart wanted only one answer, wanted to ask only one question, wanted to reprimand only one person - 'Raymond'.

---

After paying their respect to Akira's parents all the three of them Mike, Vikram and Akira came out of the cemetery and got inside Vikram's car. Akira was feeling very embarrassed as, because of her Vikram had to come all the way from his office in Staten Island to Brooklyn and God only knows how many important meetings he missed. Akira was worried for him because she didn't want to be a liability. Vikram was family to her but she didn't want him to go through all this because of her.

After a few minutes of silence in the car, Vikram decided to break the ice.

"How was your interview?", he asked Akira.

"It was ok", she replied.

"Ok as in like my level ok or your level ok?", asked Mike in a mocking tone.

"What do you mean by that?" questioned Akira.

"Well see my level ok is like how average people say it went ok. Which means I will just pass. But when people like you say ok it means - Dude I am topping the charts", teased Mike.

"You !!!", sneered Akira and started boxing Mike's ears.

"Ouch... oww oww oww, you are nothing but a devil", hissed Mike.

Finally, the atmosphere inside the car became light. They all had a hearty laugh.

They all reached Akira's house in no time as it was nearby. Vikram dropped both of them and rushed to meet a client. He wanted to stay with her and talk with her, but he had already delayed his work schedule too much. As Mike was there with Akira, he was assured and left. But before leaving he promised to come for having dinner together.

"Make sure you cook my chicken the way I like", said Vikram with a smug smile on his face and sped through. Akira cursed both of them and entered her house. They teased her, made her lose her nerves but she loved them both more than anything else in the world. A brief smile was traced on her lips and she went inside the house.

Akira entered her room and dived on to her bed. She was very tired because of all the episodes which had unfolded themselves. She wanted to sleep and get away from the myriad range of thoughts which were running a marathon inside her head, but unfortunately, sleep was miles and miles away from her. Her heart was restless and all that she could think of was 'Raymond' and no matter how hard she was trying she was unable to wipe him away from her thoughts. This guy had become one more reason why she wanted the internship badly now.

Just when she was speculating what to do and how to silence her heart, her phone buzzed and she saw the notification. She had received an email from Chloe. without even thinking for another movement she just opened the email. The next instant she was running all around the house like a neurotic maniac.

"I got in. I got in." Akira started ranting and it didn't stop till Mike literally kicked her for being such a snob.

"I told you what 'it was ok' meant for people like you", Mike teased Akira and then hugged her tight. He was happy for her, not because of how it would help her career, but because this would distract her from everything bad which had recently happened to her. He wanted her to forget all the pain that Anthony had caused to her tiny heart. He wanted her to as occupied as possible and this internship was going to pave the way for it.

Tears of happiness warmed both their eyes.

A few moments later Akira wiped her eyes and went back to her room where she had the pictures of her mom and dad. She felt like they had blessed her today and made her day right. She sat there silently and was lost in happy childhood memories.

"Hey, shouldn't you call Vikram and tell him the good news?", asked Mike and interrupted her. He didn't want her to remember the bitter memories of the accident that their parents had undergone again.

Akira thought for a moment and said, "Let's surprise him when he comes for dinner. Shall we act? What say?".

"Onboard", said Mike and gave a devilish laugh. The brother-sister duo grinned and went to the nearest local mart to get kitchen supplies for the dinner. She had to make Vikram's favorite chicken and her signature 'Fried Rice'.

It was a celebratory dinner after all.