Page 15 of A Lab Rat's Guide to Fated Love
“What now—you’re not going to sneak him away to Canada, are you?”
“Good idea.” Nori said, already flitting around the office to gather her things. “But I have a better location in mind. Are you going to help?” She paused to stare at him.
“Of course. Do you have to ask? Tell me what you need.”
“A set of men’s clothes for Vir. Something loose and comfortable.” She zipped her backpack shut. “I saw a bag in his ward earlier. Take that with you and wait for us in the parking lot. I’ll sneak him out as soon as he wakes up from the anesthesia.”
Vir
Someone pried one of his eyesopen, and a bright beam of light stabbed right into it. “Vir…”
“Argh…” He jerked his head to the side.
“Wake up.” The same someone patted his cheek.
The bright light was gone when he squinted through his heavy lids.
“Go away,” he breathed into the small hand.
“You can sleep in the car. We have to go. Now,” Nori whispered urgently.
“Noree?” He forced his eyes open. He wasn’t in his apartment. It was… the hospital room he’d spent the previous night in. “Wahh…ter.” His parched tongue grated over his teeth, the inside of his mouth tasting like moldy mashed cardboard—a feeling both familiar and heavily despised.
Nori’s face hovered above his, the face he was used to seeing in his dreams. But the expression was all wrong. Worry lined her features, and she kept glancing away from him. He didn’t like that.
Look at me.
She helped him sit upright and thrust a water bottle in his hand before pressing his fingers closed around it. “Small sips, okay?”
He drank slowly, not wanting to puke it back out, while Nori walked away, only to reappear with an unmarked brown paper bag a moment later.She shook out the contents on his bed—a plain white t-shirt, a pair of boxers, and black baggy pants.
“Do you need help to change?”
Despite the residual disorientation from the anesthesia, the tips of his ears grew hot. “Nope, I’ll do it.”
Nori padded away from him to keep a watch at the door while he slipped into his new clothes.
“Okay. What now?” he asked, exhausted but awake.
“Now, we get the hell out of here.”
“Wha—?”
Ignoring his startled expression, she pulled him towards the only window in the room. It slid open to reveal a small green courtyard outside, connecting the hospital wing to the research center, faculty building, and service areas on three sides. She poked her head outside, glancing around carefully before ducking back in.
“Are we filming a spy movie or something?”
“You climb out first. Be careful.” Nori ignored the question, nudging him forward. She hopped out after him before immediately reaching for his hand.
As her fingers closed around his, a surprising trickle of warmth seeped through his chest, sending a blanket of calm over him. Calm that was in stark contrast to her insides—a raging, anxious ball of knots that he itched to reach and unfurl somehow. Only he didn’t know how.
She seemed oblivious to the exchange as she pulled him across the courtyard and through a narrow service corridor into the laundry room that led to the rear exit of the building. She let go of his hand, signaling for him to wait before cracking the door open a few inches to peek outside.
Vir rubbed his hands against the raised bumps on his arms. The air was getting colder. He found the dryer in one corner and pulled out a baggy looking sweatshirt from the pile inside. Nori motioned for him to hurry, and he grabbed another one before heading out after her.
As they neared the parking lot outside, Fehim and Ryan waved towards them from inside a black SUV.
“Hurry,” Nori mumbled under her breath. “But don’t run and don’t make eye-contact with anyone.”
