To see him looking at her like that, her muscles tensed and she pulled her hand away from his . He immediately retracted his hand and clenched his fist and shoved his hand inside the pocket of his pant, but he couldn't replace her warmth, her pulse, her delicateness . His heart longed for it .

Her eyes were still hovering on his face .

He cleared up his throat and asked,

"Where are you going?" .

"I was planning to go back home . Now that you are here, Kate won't be left alone . Tell Katherine that I really enjoyed this party a lot", Akira said and turned back after throwing a quick glance at him .

"But didn't you just say that she will be back in a few minutes? Tell her yourself that you are thankful . She would feel better . Plus I am not a pigeon to transfer your messages", Raymond said .

Hearing him she turned back again .

Seeing that he had her attention back, he said,

"And please don't leave else she will think that probably I scared you away" .

Then he gave out a sly smile .

Akira scratched her head a bit thinking about what to do and what not to . Finally, she decided to stay for a bit and said,

"Well, I guess it won't hurt me to stay a few minutes more . Plus I can help to clean the mess down" .

Saying this she started climbing down the stairs .

"Umm wait!!! I will come and help you as well . It doesn't look good for our guest who has come to our place for the first time to do the ch.o.r.es", Raymond said and followed her down .

Akira went to the kitchen and started tidying up the pantry slab . Raymond stood outside the kitchen for a while watching her cleaning up the mess swiftly .

They never had a normal conversation outside the office . This was the first time they were meeting each other out of the bounds of work, so it was a bit awkward for both of them . They both busied themselves in cleaning up the kitchen stealing, occasional glances at each other .

Apart from occasional crumpling noise of the chips packets strewn here and there that Akira was gathering, a deafening stark silence engulfed the s.p.a.ce between them . They both wanted to breach it but were unsure as to how?

"Do you dance?", asked Raymond, trying to break the shackles of the hounding silence .

Akira looked up at him, started with his sudden question . She pushed her locks behind her ears and said,

"Yeah, I do" .

"Hm . . it shows", Raymond shrugged his shoulders and said .

"What do you mean? " asked Akira curiously . She left the packet down that she had picked and turned towards Raymond with her full attention .

"I mean it's evident that you like dancing", Raymond said and looked at her . Her eyes were still filled with a look full of a question mark . It didn't look like she was satisfied with his answer .

Raymond sighed and said,

"Your moves are pretty graceful . It's a delight to watch you dance . So it's evident that you like dancing and probably practice too . "

Her expressions relaxed after hearing him say that .

Her eyes were now fixated upon the wall . It looked like she was struggling with something . She wanted to tell something but was hesitant . But after a while she said,

"My mom was a trained cla.s.sical dancer . She taught me how to dance since I was a kid . I really miss that time . It was like our special "us" time, you know . Only me, my mom and all that music . We used to dance for hours together and sometimes dad used to get irritated because we will skip lunch and then binge on something later . I wish I had a quarter of her grace and skill . "

Her voice started trailing . She was lost in the old but beautiful memories . She sighed and looked at him and then realized that she had been carried away because of her emotions .

"I am sorry, I just got a bit carried away . I don't know why I am sharing all this with you", she said and turned back to pick up the wrapper back .

The stone cold heart of Raymond which was devoid of any emotions melted like wax after hearing what she said . He wanted to go close to her, embrace her in his arms and comfort her . He remembered the way she had cried at her parent's grave on the day of the interview . He knew that she was over attached with her parents and the void of their loss was still like a gaping wound in her heart . He took a few steps ahead and stretched his left arm, wanting to just tap on her shoulder to tell her that it was ok, but then refrained himself from doing so .

"What are you two doing?", Katherine said as she walked inside holding her keys . She was surprised to see them together and that too doing household ch.o.r.es together . They looked like a perfect couple sorting out household stuff .

They both looked towards her .

Akira smiled at her and said,

"I thought of leaving after meeting you, so while I was waiting I thought to clean the mess up so that you can sleep a bit early . Today has been taxing for you . "

"Did you hear that? This is called as 'real' concern", Katherine said, mocking at Raymond .

"Hey, that's rude . I have been helping too . Can't you see?", Raymond said and waved the cleaning cloth at her, which he was holding .

"Stop your drama, Raymond . You don't even pick up your plate after finis.h.i.+ng eating . Just holding a cloth doesn't make any difference", Katherine said with a definite and deliberate poking voice .

"Hey, can you tell her how helpful I was?", Raymond said looking at Akira .

Akira giggled hearing the friendly banter and said,

"Ya Katherine, he did help" .

"Oh, you just shut up and stop pleasing your boss . You think b.u.t.tering him up will get you a raise or what?", Katherine laughingly said and mocked Akira too .

"And you Mr, don't think you can escape from me . Is this the time to come to someone's birthday party?", Katherine hissed and then placed her keys in the key bowl and came forward to hug her brother .

Akira took all the wrappers that she had collected and threw them in the dustbin . Then she cleaned her hands and said,

"Thanks for the amazing party Katherine . I had real fun after so many days . I really had a good time" .

"I am glad that you came, dear . What would have I done without you?", Katherine said with grat.i.tude filled in her voice .

"Ok then, now that you are back, I will go home now . It's quite late", Akira said and opened Uber app on her phone to book a cab .

The moment Raymond heard that she was about to leave, a sudden pang of desperation hit him . He didn't want her to leave, but this time he had no solid reason to make her stop . His face was clothed with despair . But it didn't go unnoticed by her sister .

Before Akira could finish her booking, Katherine said,

"C'mon Akira, Its Friday night . All the kids had fun but what about me?"

To see him looking at her like that, her muscles tensed and she pulled her hand away from his . He immediately retracted his hand and clenched his fist and shoved his hand inside the pocket of his pant, but he couldn't replace her warmth, her pulse, her delicateness . His heart longed for it

.

Her eyes were still hovering on his face

.

He cleared up his throat and asked, .

.

"Where are you going?"

.

.

"I was planning to go back home . Now that you are here, Kate won't be left alone . Tell Katherine that I really enjoyed this party a lot", Akira said and turned back after throwing a quick glance at him

.

.

"But didn't you just say that she will be back in a few minutes? Tell her yourself that you are thankful . She would feel better . Plus I am not a pigeon to transfer your messages", Raymond said

.

.

Hearing him she turned back again

.

Seeing that he had her attention back, he said, .

.

"And please don't leave else she will think that probably I scared you away"

Then he gave out a sly smile

.

Akira scratched her head a bit thinking about what to do and what not to . Finally, she decided to stay for a bit and said, .

.

"Well, I guess it won't hurt me to stay a few minutes more . Plus I can help to clean the mess down"

Saying this she started climbing down the stairs

.

"Umm wait!!! I will come and help you as well . It doesn't look good for our guest who has come to our place for the first time to do the ch.o.r.es", Raymond said and followed her down

.

.

Akira went to the kitchen and started tidying up the pantry slab . Raymond stood outside the kitchen for a while watching her cleaning up the mess swiftly

.

They never had a normal conversation outside the office . This was the first time they were meeting each other out of the bounds of work, so it was a bit awkward for both of them . They both busied themselves in cleaning up the kitchen stealing, occasional glances at each other

.

.

Apart from occasional crumpling noise of the chips packets strewn here and there that Akira was gathering, a deafening stark silence engulfed the s.p.a.ce between them . They both wanted to breach it but were unsure as to how? .

.

"Do you dance?", asked Raymond, trying to break the shackles of the hounding silence

.

Akira looked up at him, started with his sudden question . She pushed her locks behind her ears and said, .

.

"Yeah, I do"

.

"Hm it shows", Raymond shrugged his shoulders and said

.

.

"What do you mean? " asked Akira curiously . She left the packet down that she had picked and turned towards Raymond with her full attention

.

"I mean it's evident that you like dancing", Raymond said and looked at her . Her eyes were still filled with a look full of a question mark . It didn't look like she was satisfied with his answer

.

Raymond sighed and said, .

"Your moves are pretty graceful . It's a delight to watch you dance . So it's evident that you like dancing and probably practice too . " .

.

Her expressions relaxed after hearing him say that

.

Her eyes were now fixated upon the wall . It looked like she was struggling with something . She wanted to tell something but was hesitant . But after a while she said, .

.

"My mom was a trained cla.s.sical dancer . She taught me how to dance since I was a kid . I really miss that time . It was like our special "us" time, you know . Only me, my mom and all that music . We used to dance for hours together and sometimes dad used to get irritated because we will skip lunch and then binge on something later . I wish I had a quarter of her grace and skill . " .

.

Her voice started trailing . She was lost in the old but beautiful memories . She sighed and looked at him and then realized that she had been carried away because of her emotions

.

.

"I am sorry, I just got a bit carried away . I don't know why I am sharing all this with you", she said and turned back to pick up the wrapper back

.

.

The stone cold heart of Raymond which was devoid of any emotions melted like wax after hearing what she said . He wanted to go close to her, embrace her in his arms and comfort her . He remembered the way she had cried at her parent's grave on the day of the interview . He knew that she was over attached with her parents and the void of their loss was still like a gaping wound in her heart . He took a few steps ahead and stretched his left arm, wanting to just tap on her shoulder to tell her that it was ok, but then refrained himself from doing so

.

"What are you two doing?", Katherine said as she walked inside holding her keys . She was surprised to see them together and that too doing household ch.o.r.es together . They looked like a perfect couple sorting out household stuff

.

They both looked towards her

.

Akira smiled at her and said, .

.

"I thought of leaving after meeting you, so while I was waiting I thought to clean the mess up so that you can sleep a bit early . Today has been taxing for you . " .

.

"Did you hear that? This is called as 'real' concern", Katherine said, mocking at Raymond

.

"Hey, that's rude . I have been helping too . Can't you see?", Raymond said and waved the cleaning cloth at her, which he was holding

.

"Stop your drama, Raymond . You don't even pick up your plate after finis.h.i.+ng eating . Just holding a cloth doesn't make any difference", Katherine said with a definite and deliberate poking voice

.

"Hey, can you tell her how helpful I was?", Raymond said looking at Akira

.

Akira giggled hearing the friendly banter and said, .

.

"Ya Katherine, he did help"

.

"Oh, you just shut up and stop pleasing your boss . You think b.u.t.tering him up will get you a raise or what?", Katherine laughingly said and mocked Akira too

.

"And you Mr, don't think you can escape from me . Is this the time to come to someone's birthday party?", Katherine hissed and then placed her keys in the key bowl and came forward to hug her brother

.

Akira took all the wrappers that she had collected and threw them in the dustbin . Then she cleaned her hands and said, .

.

"Thanks for the amazing party Katherine . I had real fun after so many days . I really had a good time"

.

"I am glad that you came, dear . What would have I done without you?", Katherine said with grat.i.tude filled in her voice

.

"Ok then, now that you are back, I will go home now . It's quite late", Akira said and opened Uber app on her phone to book a cab

.

The moment Raymond heard that she was about to leave, a sudden pang of desperation hit him . He didn't want her to leave, but this time he had no solid reason to make her stop . His face was clothed with despair . But it didn't go unnoticed by her sister

.

Before Akira could finish her booking, Katherine said, .

.

"C'mon Akira, Its Friday night . All the kids had fun but what about me?".