Begging for a kiss - 4

Taking a deep breath, Raymond dragged a chair close to him and sat on it.

Then looking at her he said,

"There was a sniper who was hired to kill me that day. So the Spock tried to make me fall so that I could dodge the bullet. But he didn't know that I would slip and take a fall, so when I did, he jumped along with me into the waters to save me".

"A sniper !!!"

"Yes".

"But why would anyone try to kill you? Why would anyone go to such an....."

And saying that she paused.

She looked up at Raymond thinking about one person who could do so and looking at her, he clearly understood who she meant by that look.

"I don't know Akira why he attempted to do so. I was angry, really angry with him because he is the reason because of which I am in this condition today, we are in this condition today."

Akira didn't say a word and looked down at the floor, unable to believe that her friend could stoop so low. All these days she thought that he had become a changed man, but she was wrong, completely wrong.

"I wanted to punish him after I found out, but when I saw the way he had taken care of you, Mike and even my sister, I didn't feel like laying a finger on him".

"You don't have to lay a finger on him. I will take care of him now", said Akira and then held his palm and asked.

"Did it hurt? Were you hurt?"

"Well, to be honest, I remember nothing about the fall. I just know it from what David had told me."

"Wait !!! David knew?"

"He knew the whole time?"

"I mean he knew you were alive and I didn't?"

Slowly the anger was starting to build up inside of her.

"Let me explain", said Raymond and tried to hold her hand which left the premises of his hands as she came to know about the truth.

"No, you answer me first. People rushed downstream immediately, but they couldn't find you or that Spock guy. Where did you go?"

"He carried me immediately away in a steamer which was stationed downstream. I have no clue of who did what, but I had suffered major blows on my head during the fall. So basically I was unconscious the whole time. So I think before any search party could reach downstream, I had already been taken to the main city hospital."

"I was given some basic care there and then I was chartered back to New York"

"Chartered back? By who?"

Raymond looked at her and said,

"By Sebastian Walker, also known as my father".

"He helped you out? For real? Aren't you mistaken?"

"No, David never lies to me. I trust his words with my eyes closed."

"And I thought he was loyal to me !!!", Akira exclaimed.

Raymond chuckled and said,

"Well, he was told to not to tell you about all this."

"Then what happened? Why did you stay in hiding?"

"I wasn't hiding for all these days. I was in an induced coma in a nursing home in Brooklyn."

"But why. Why would they put you in an induced coma?"

"Due to the fall, I had some internal injuries, so it was important to keep in an induced coma until my body could recover from the damages".

"Oh, so this file is all about that right? Thanks to God. I was so scared to see these huge stacks of papers."

Then again hugging him tight she said,

"I knew you would never distance yourself from me knowingly"

"I knew that there has to be a solid reason behind it".

"Whatever has happened has happened, we will have a fresh beginning now. You are all healed and that's all that matters to me now".

Raymond heard her and stayed silent for a while, contemplating whether, to tell the truth, or not. But then he decided to bare it all.

"I woke up more than 2 months ago".

Unable to believe his words she stared at him with a blank angry face.

"I am not completely healed Akira."

"It still hurts? Where does it hurt?", she asked getting all concerned. The anger in her just vanished after hearing him say those words.

"It doesn't hurt, I mean physically it doesn't".

Then taking a deep breath he said,

"I have a neurological disorder - acquired prosopagnosia in medical terms, which means I can't remember the faces of people as I have suffered several neurological damages during the fall."

"What do you mean by you can't remember anyone's face? You remember me right?", she asked. Her voice was getting all frail as the nervousness in her was increasing with every passing minute.

"Yes I remember you Akira, I remember everything about you, your touch, your smell, your voice but not your face".

"Then how did you know I was Akira?"

Hearing that Raymond moved his wrist ahead.

He was wearing a watch and the dial had her face on it.