Page 78 of A Lab Rat's Guide to Fated Love
Vir looked at it and her fingers uncurled to reveal the smooth, white pebble she’d picked up for him.
“Are—are you—?” Vir stuttered. “Are you professing your love to me right now?”
She gave him a stiff nod, still not looking directly at him.
“But… didn’t you pick it up near that stream the day we left Shoja?”
“I did.”
“That was months ago.”
“And?”
There was a long pause where Nori wondered if Vir’s brain had malfunctioned and maybe she did need to throw the rock at him to turn it off and on again. Becausewhywasn’t he answering her?
A smile tinted his words when he finally said, “Dr. Nori Arya, you want me to be your penguin?”
“Do you want this or not?” She scowled.
Vir swiped the pebble as she started lowering her arm. He pulled her to him again.
Nori buried her boiling face in his chest and mumbled into the soft fabric of his t-shirt, “You promised you won’t laugh.”
“I’m not laughing. I’m… happy.”
“You didn’t answer,” she whispered, shifting away. She glared down at her hands in her lap as they nervously grasped her pajamas.
Before she could lift her gaze, Vir leaned in and kissed her. Her lips parted at the contact, and she kissed him back, tasting and drinking him in till she was lightheaded and dizzy.
“Yes,” Vir rasped against her mouth. “Yes.” He smothered every inch of her face with more kisses at each additional, “Yes. Yes. Yes…”
Twenty
The Lovers & Wheel
of Fortune Reversed
April 2019:
Auroville, Tamil Nadu
Nori
Early the next morning, Nori followedthe aroma of freshly baked goods downstairs to find Adi piping chocolate and vanilla buttercream on a couple of dozen cupcakes.
“You made these?” She watched in awe as he pulled another tray out of the oven before placing it on the counter behind him to cool.
“Yeah. Though baking isn’t really my forte,” he said, returning to the frosting zone, his brow furrowed in concentration. “But I wanted to surprise Anita.”
“Is she upstairs?”
“Nope, yoga class.”
“Did someone order fresh strawberries?” Vir trotted into the kitchen witha straw basket dangling from his arm.
“What took you so long?” Adi motioned for him to hurry. “She’d be back any minute now.”
Vir winked at Nori before walking up to his brother. “Your frosting skills suck, man. That one looks like fresh diarr—”
