Up in the air - 2

But before her thoughts could race further and make her question herself, she saw him tilting towards her side and working on her display unit.

"What are you doing?"

"Making you comfortable!" he said with a smile on his face as Notebook started playing on her screen. He then gently brushed the back of his hand on her face and said,

"Don't think about anything else. Just live your life. Our time has begun."

And handing over the headphones to her he said,

"Would you like to drink something?"

"No", and she pressed the pause button on the screen and turned towards him.

"Would you like to watch it with me?"

Raymond mentally calculated - 2 hours of rom-com torture or 2 days of nagging.

'2 hours of rom-com it is'

"I would love to!" he said and placed the earphones in.

.

.

Forty minutes into that movie and Akira turned and saw Raymond's eyes tearing up a bit. She paused the screen again and turned towards him.

"Hey! It's just a movie!"

"I know! I know! Just that her parents are way too much," mumbled Raymond and quickly cleared his throat. Akira suppressed her laugh and hugged him tight before pressing the service button.

"Yes ma'am! How may I help you?" asked the stewardess.

"Two cups of Hot chocolate and .... " gazing through the menu she said, "And two Crème Br?lée for now. Thank you."

"Sure ma'am!"

And then she returned back to the warmth of his chest and interlocked her fingers in his.

"Can you believe it's actually happening! Because honestly, I don't! I really don't"

"It's happening and it's happening right now Akira." and he looked at their interlocked fingers, which looked perfect in symphony with each other.

"So where all are we going?"

"Well, the first stop is Venice, as you are already aware!"

"Yeah, my dream destination!" blurted Akira.

Raymond smiled looking at her childish enthusiasm and then said, "And then we are going to watch the northern light!"

"Aurora! For real!"

"Yeah! Just you and me, under the dark blanket of the sky. And then..."

"There is more?" Akira interrupted.

Raymond paused awkwardly looking at her and then asked,

"Why? You don't want to go anywhere anymore?"

"I want to Mr. Raymond. But are you forgetting that you are not just the owner of our company, but the owner of Walker Enterprises as well? Do you know the lives of how many people you control?"

"Well I like to control just one person's life and that's you," saying that Raymond gave out a cursory glance around before softly biting her lower ear lobe.

But then he hit a pause.

"Oh Boy! If only you knew what plans I had in my head."

With her eyes still closed she could sense the proximity of his lips. She lifted her chin up, inching closer towards his lips, and mumbled,

"Do tell!"

"Mrs. Akira, I would have made your lips swear my name, I would have made your toes curl in pleasure, I would have soaked you in the wetness of pleasure, I would have..."

"Stop!" she said and opened her eyes.

"What happened?"

"I feel like crying now. I want all of it right now! I want all of you right now. Damn it!"

And it was then that Raymond realized that he had let out too much information. He cupped her face tight and said,

"This is not just the plan for the honeymoon. It's the plan for every single night that we have my wifey."

"Every night!" muttered Akira as she gasped.

"Every single one. The moment you wore this ring, all your nights and days have become mine. All of them Akira!"

A beaming smile etched on her face and she couldn't thank her stars enough for that fateful encounter three years back.

"Uh.. excuse me, ma'am," The stewardess announced her arrival and then served what Akira had ordered.

"Thank you so much!" said Akira and then picked up a hot cup of chocolate and offered it to Raymond.

"How I hold it? My hands aren't free. They are too busy holding my wife."

"Ufff! Will help you have it then." And she took the cup close to his lips, but he shook his head.

"What now?"

"I don't want to drink from the cup."

"Then how do you want to drink it?"

"I have my way!" said Raymond and smiled.

"Aiyaaa! Then let me have it. I am craving for something sweet." She said and then took a sip of the hot chocolate. But before she could swallow it, his lips were sealed on hers, trying to pry them open. And as if like a passcode had been punched, her lips parted open in response.

He picked the cup from her had and placed it in the holder.

He exactly knew how he wanted to drink!

.

.

[Mid air in another flight]

He flipped through a couple of pages of the magazine, but nothing was interesting anymore. His mind was clouded by the beautiful image of Akira, in her ethereal wedding dress. What was eating him more was the grief. His state of mind had become weird.

In a moment he missed Akira and in the next, he was remembering Alita. He could remember her body in pain, her agony, her words on her death bed. And that made him feel even more guilty as to how could he even think about any woman other than her, no matter how she looked.

He pinched the space between his brows and rested his head on the front seat. But out of despair, he didn't realize that he had pressed his head too hard.

"Excuse me!" muttered a voice.

"I am sorry. I am really sorry," saying that Dr. Nelson leaned back.