Page 51 of A Lab Rat's Guide to Fated Love
Nori shook her head. “Dr. Vir Varma, this—” She stepped around him and pressed her card-key to the door, “—is where you’lllive. And you don’t want to fight me on this. Ask Mr. Raccoon.”
Vir rolled his eyes, watching her snicker at her own remark as she stepped inside ahead of him.
Nori
Nori threw her sneakers off atthe foyer before padding barefoot into the studio. It appeared to be nearly the same size as her cottage back in Shoja, with a single bedroom, a somewhat lavish bath, a study, and an open kitchen with a cozy island that doubled as the dining area.
The best part was the breezy, double-height living space. It overlooked a small garden with a view of the West Coast up ahead, and a low, black wrought iron gate that opened onto the property’s private beach.
“Feels like we’re on vacation,” she observed, plopping herself onto the plush beige couch in the middle of the living room. She closed her eyes with a satisfied hum.
“We could pretend we are.”
Opening her eyes, she grinned at Vir and his single raised brow. Her grin faltered as she caught herself enjoying the idea of being on vacation with him a little too much. She was there for work.Noton vacation.
But he seemed so… happy.
“We could,” she replied, if only for his answering grin to turn the contents of her ribcage into warm slop once more.
Vir
After a period of inconclusive backand forth, where neither of them agreed to take the bed while the other slept on the couch, they finally settled on sharing. It was big enough, even with a partition of fluffy pillows in the middle.
While Vir called house-keeping for an extra set of blankets, he felt through the air, searching for any signs indicating Nori’s dislike for the new sleeping arrangement. He didn’t find any.
The pufferfish inside his chest swelled happily as he lay beside her to sleep. But that was because the pufferfish wasn’t aware of the horror that was to come in a few hours’ time.
Early the next morning, as Vir stood lathering Nori’s pine scented shampoo into his hair, the bathroom door swung open. It had to be the dumbest bathroom door in the history of bathroom doors, because it came withnolocking mechanism whatsoever. No bolt. No latch.Nothing.
And thanks to their brilliant design, Vir now stood buck naked inside his shower cubicle, watching Nori sleepily hobble into the adjacent toilet cubicle. Averting his gaze, he quietly waited for her to finish and leave. Then exactly five seconds after she’d left, Nori burst in again, no longer oblivious to her audience of a petrified Vir.
“There’s no lock on the—uh, do you mind? Ack!” He fumbled, awkwardly covering himself with one hand while trying to wipe the dripping shampoo suds from his eyes.
“Fuck—yes, fuck! I’m so sorry!” Nori scurried out again, all the while alternating between more swearing and yelling, “SORRY!”
It took them hours before they could make eye-contact again without both their faces going instantly beet red. And only after they’d hung up a makeshift cardboard sign outside the bathroom withOCCUPIEDscribbled on one side andVACANTon the other.
Over the next few weeks, Virfell into the ease of his old routine again. Only here the late afternoon walks with Nori meant leisurely strolls along the beach instead of going up and down winding hill roads.
Walking beside her now, his gaze dipped to their feet as they moved together in sync over the slippery, damp sand.
Their arms swung side by side, close enough to touch, but not quite. His fingers itched to reach out and maybe, if she let him, weave through hers. To feel her small hand fit perfectly in his. Like it had the day they’d left Shoja.
Then a dumb voice somewhere at the back of his head reminded him that he and Nori were friends. And friends could hold hands.
“Nori,” he started, before quickly shoving his hand into his jeans pocket. He’d promised he wasn’t going to bother her with his feelings. Or even bring up the topic again.
“Hmm?” Nori mused, her eyes set on the dipping sun in the distance.
What could he say to her, anyway? Ask her to fall for a dying man? To humor him, like him back just for a few months, weeks maybe? And then what?
He swallowed the sudden lump in his throat.
“Is everything okay?” Nori stopped to look at him.
Vir nodded, not trusting his voice.
But if he wasn’t gone in a few months… what then? What if he was still here after everything, but she wasn’t? Because she was going to leave, eventually. However the experiment ended, and it was going to end at some point, she was going to leave.
