Page 1 of A Lab Rat's Guide to Fated Love
Prologue
Twenty-five years ago, March 1993:
Shoja, Himachal Pradesh
Acrisp morning sun met the shallowribbon of a gently flowing stream before scattering into thousands of tiny diamonds across the surface. Nearby, a woman with bushy waves of salt and pepper hair stood watching her five-year-old granddaughter plucking fistfuls of rocks from the bank only to toss them afar with all her might. She giggled as each pebble hit the stream with a splash.
“Nori,” Grandma called. “Come, it’s time to go back home.”
“Wait, Gramma. We can’t go,” Nori chirped. “You haven’t told a story yet!” She scooped another pebble and tossed it into the water.
Splash. Giggles.
Grandma knew Nori wouldn’t budge without getting a story out of her first. This was one stubborn child. Just like her mother, whose relentless obsession with her work had her dragging the husband around the world, leaving their only daughter in Grandma’s care. But Nori didn’t seem to mind as long as she got her fill of these late afternoon walks with a new story each day; and at times, the same one retold over and over.
“Okay, come here. Which story would you like today?”
“Pengun!” Nori squealed. “The one about Pengun!”
“Ah… Penguins again? Aren’t you bored already?”
“No! Pengun!” Skipping to her side, Nori plopped down and sat caressing something in her hands.
“What do you have there?” Grandma asked, taking a seat next to her. She hoped it wasn’t another baby rodent like last week.
Nori opened her fist to show a shiny white pebble sitting in the middle of her palm. Her mouth curved into a grin. “Tell me about Pengun!”
“Once upon a time,” Grandma began with a relieved sigh. “A Penguin fell in love.” She chuckled, watching Nori bounce her feet in excitement. The girl knew the story by heart, and yet…
“Do Pengun live on beaches, Gramma?”
“Some do. On beaches that are very cold.”
“And have a lot of pretty pebbles!” Nori giggled, her large brown eyes widening in anticipation.
“Yes. The prettiest.” Grandma laughed. “Our Penguin set out to find the perfect little pebble. The shiniest, smoothest, prettiest of them all for his beloved’s pebble-nest.”
“Yes!”
“He searched till he found the one that was the shiniest, smoothest, prettiest of them all. And with it, he confessed his love to her.”
“And she loves him, too? What if she says no?”
Grandma squinted at the uncharacteristic worry scribbled all over Nori’s face.
“Well, then our Penguin would have to respect her decision, wouldn’t he?” She affectionately touched her finger to the tip of Nori’s nose. The girl nodded, her face a little too somber for a five-year-old, making Grandma chuckle again.
“That makes sense,” Nori spoke after a few seconds of silent contemplation.
“But in this story, she tells our Penguin she loves him, too. She accepts the pebble and puts it in her pebble-nest.”
Nori’s face broke into another toothy grin. “And they lived together…”
“… happily ever after,” Grandma finished. “Let’s go home now?”
Still beaming, Nori sprung to her feet with the pebble sandwiched between her palms. But the very next moment, her smile morphed into a scowl, and she stood staring down her dress from side to side.
“What is it, kitten?”
