Page 12 of A Lab Rat's Guide to Fated Love
“I understand,” Nori said. “But I wouldn’t mind if Mr. Varma needs more time to think things through before he decides. So he’s sure.” She turned to look at him.
He met her gaze. “I’m sure.”
Three
The Scent of Sabotage
November 2018:
National University of Science, New Delhi
Nori
Nori left the conference room withVir right as the sun began to set outside.
“There’s a café two blocks away from here,” Vir said, pausing a few feet into the corridor. “We can sit there to discuss and get some dinner, too, if that’s okay with you.”
“Works for me,” she said, pulling the strap of her bag over her shoulder.
As they wove through the corridors, a scattering of solar-powered streetlights flickered on in time with the dimming sun, illuminating the perfectly manicured campus lawns outside with a warm, tangerine glow.
The café was located right beside the psychology department’s library. Unlike the other cafeteria she had been frequenting for her meals all week, this didn’t have loud groups of college kids hollering about. She made a mental note to revisit the place later, provided the food was good.
Vir excused himself while she settled at a table by the window, feeling the crisp aroma of freshly roasted coffee beans sink its wisps into her lungs. She loved the fragrance, but wasn’t much of a coffee drinker. The caffeine somehow made her too relaxed instead of waking her up. But after listening to Amit and Hina’s incessant yapping for the past hour, she could do with a cup. Or a bucket.
She glanced up from her laptop in time to watch Vir saunter towards her, with two mugs balanced on top of a brown plastic tray. He seemed to be roughly a foot taller than her, with a plain face—clean shaven today—with bruise-like shadows kissing his gaunt features. As he reached the table and took a seat opposite hers, nothing really stood out or was memorable at first. But despite how pale and exhausted he looked, there was something about him that made her stare grow curious.
Was it his eyes? So dark, they appeared almost black. There were no such things as black eyes in human genetics. His could be a deep brown, dark enough to look black unless you noticed the lighter tint in them up-close. And she wanted to look up-close. For science.
Vir’s hand dipped into his pocket and came out with a pair of round gold-rimmed glasses. As soon as he put them on and faced her again, the intense gaze from earlier was back.
She cleared her throat. “Mr. Varma, you… stare a lot. It reminds me of my cat. He stares at me like that when he wants something.” Mostly when he wanted to sit on her lap, but she wasn’t going to say that.
“Sorry.” Vir blinked and quickly looked away.
Nori shrugged, finding it strange that she didn’t mind.
“Call me Vir, please,” he said, before adding, “What are you thinking?” with his head tilted to the side. Like a curious cat.
She bit back a laugh.
Vir
Nori talked him through the procedure,trying not to use the more technical vocabulary he’d seen earlier inthe documentation. It was most of what he’d already read, but she kept trying to dumb things down for him. At times, she’d pause to squint at the screen, her mouth pressed into a thin line.
“Please interrupt me if something isn’t clear,” she said after a while. “I can explain again. As many times as you need me to.”
“Okay.”
“Okay…” She bit her lip. “Should I start from the beginning?”
“No, please continue,” he said. “I already went through the paperwork earlier. It was mostly easy to understand, except for a few things that you’ve just explained. So…” he trailed off at another purse of her lips while the rest of her features remained almost comically blank. He tried getting a read of her emotions, but all he got this time were random spurts of irritation piercing through a blanket of amusement.
Was he making her uncomfortable? Maybe it was his staring. He peeled his eyes away again.
“Tanya mentioned you were a PhD scholar here.” Nori leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms against her chest.
“Parapsychology,” he answered before she could ask. “But I was a third-year medical resident before that.”
