Page 36 of A Lab Rat's Guide to Fated Love
Was he mad? No, not mad. He looked livid.
Vir’s hands flung out—she flinched—and the trajectory of their motion continued in an arc upwards to his face.
Not hers.
His palms dug into his eyes, and he let out a tired sigh. A long second passed where Nori wished he hadn’t noticed. But of course, he had. She could almost watch the gears in his head turn as his brow quivered, while his hands slowly lowered back to his sides.
“Nori,” he spoke. And for the first time ever, his voice was so cold and devoid of emotion, it almost made her bawl. “Who hurt you?”
Nine
Roadblocks and Redundancy
December 2018:
Shoja, Himachal Pradesh
Vir
Vir’s heart hammered in his chest,the gaps between its beats getting narrower and the thumps louder with each passing second, while his brain replayed the same scene repeatedly: Nori flinching.
Flinching as if she’d expected him to—
“Who hurt you?” he asked again, so low, he could barely hear himself against the echoes of the singular emotion he’d just sensed from her, sharp and clear and red—fear.
Nori winced, but instead of answering, she turned on her heels and marched away.
“Nori?” He followed her into the bedroom.
“It was a long time ago,” she replied with her back to himwhile rummaging in the closet.
“Who—”
“Can you please let it go? I’d rather not talk about it.”
Vir stood glued to the spot, unable to move his limbs as if his body were encased in concrete. Rage, like he’d never experienced before, boiled through him, ready to erupt at any moment. He’d never thought himself capable of murder, but he wasn’t so sure anymore.
“Stop that. Go change, please.” Nori frowned as she handed him a change of clothes.
“Stop what?” He didn’t budge. He didn’t know how.
“Stop glaring at me like that. You look like you’re going to burst a vein or something. Hurry and change. You mustn’t catch a cold.”
She grabbed his hand to lead him to the bathroom door. And right as her fingers wrapped around his, the contact sent a blanket of calm washing over him. Like someone had poured a bucket of icy water over sputtering, bubbling lava.
Too stunned to respond, Vir stepped inside and watched her slide the door shut after him.
A while later, he was still standing at the same spot, staring blankly at the door, when Nori knocked on it from the outside. “You can come out, Vir. I’ve already changed.”
Change… right…he snapped into action and hastily dried himself off with a towel, before slipping into the clothes she’d handed to him. Now that his insides were no longer boiling, he could feel a slight chill under his ribs. Chest chills always heralded the beginning of a bad congestion. One hereallydidn’t want to deal with right now.
He layered up with another fleece hoodie from the closet and grabbed a blanket on his way out to the kitchen, where Nori was boiling water for tea. She had a chunky yellow sweater on, a few sizes too big. Likely her grandfather’s. He could tell she was still cold from the way she kept rubbing her arms.
“Go sit on the couch. I just put your blanket there.” He swiped the jar of tea leaves from her hand.
“The chai—”
“I’ll do it.”
