Page 119 of A Lab Rat's Guide to Fated Love
“I didn’t want you to leave,” he added in almost a whisper. “Not again.”
It had worked, then. Her farce. He’d actually believed all the lies she’d fed him. “I never hated you,” she said in a small voice. It was her turn to avoid his gaze when it lifted to meet hers. “I lied.”
“Why?”
“So you’d let me go.”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
“No. I don’t.”
She didn’t reply.
“Nori, why did you—”
“I could see what it was doing to you!” she blurted out. “Watching me fall apart over and over; feeling every venomous sting I felt as if it was yours. How could I keep doing that to you? How could I keep watching my mere proximity destroy you? I had to leave. You know it better than I do.” Her voice cracked.
Vir switched the stove off with a sigh before he quietly made his way around the island to stand in front of her.
“I’m sorry,” Nori whispered, staring at their toes facing each other. “I hate the way I did it. But if we were to go back in time, I’d do it again. I refuse to put you through that hell.”
“Nori—”
“Listen to me.” She looked up, biting her lip to keep the moisture pooled in her eyes from spilling. “I still stand by my decision to leave. It was the right thing to do back then. But I could’ve handled things better. I shouldn’t have lied. For that, I’m sorry.”
Vir glanced away from her, his brow creased. His jaw clenched and unclenched as he kept staring off to the side.
She’d never seen him this angry before. He seemedlivid. She swallowed the lump in her throat, desperate to reach out to him. To make him look at her again. Say something. Anything. But she found herself welded to the spot, waiting, just waiting, while the air between them crackled.
“That is for me to decide,” he enunciated each word carefully as his gaze returned to her. “You didn’t want me to go throughyourhell with you, so your solution was to put me through a different—worse—hell?”
“I’m sorry. I should’ve found a better way to—”
“No. And stop apologizing.” His voice had dropped so low it was barely audible.
They glared at each other through the still crackling gap between them. It sweltered, invisible flames licking her skin, making it nearly impossible for her to keep her own body from flinging itself at him. To burrow into his chest and call it home.
Vir let out a deep exhale, and she had to immediately lock her arms behind her back.
“So?” he asked. He didn’t look angry anymore. Just… sad. Sad enough for his pained gaze to cleave right through her heart.
“So what?”
“You remember everything now… Are you going to leave again?”
She bit her lip. Then shook her head. “No,” she whispered. “I… It’s taken some work, but I’m a lot better now. And I—I want to be with you.” She glared down at her feet. “If you’ll have me back.”
“IfI’ll have you back?” Vir barked out a hollow, humorless laugh. “Nori…” he growled her name, cupping her face between his palms, forcing her to look at him. His eyes, rounded, kitten-like, the way she remembered and adored, were glistening with unshed tears as they bore into hers. “What are you going to do if things ever got bad again?”
She clamped her mouth shut, her chin quivering dangerously. She couldn’t give him the answer he wanted. “I’m fine now,” she replied instead. “It won’t get that bad again.”
“And if it ever did…” he spoke through clenched teeth. “Are you willing to stick with me and let me take care of you? Let me walk with you through hell if need be?”
“Vir, I—”
“It goes both ways, Nori,” he interrupted her. “If the hell is not yours, but all mine, and I need you more than you need me… would it be okay if I cling on to you, too? Selfishly, shamelessly, pathetically…”
