Page 98 of A Lab Rat's Guide to Fated Love
Still… she couldn’t have beenthatmean to him… Not enough to make a grown man cry… years later. Just from a single look.
Oh, wow. Please don’t cry. Please don’t cry.
The moisture in the professor’s eyes brimmed and spilled over. And a split second later, he turned on his heels and stormed out, leaving Nori alone in the empty lecture hall with her hand still awkwardly outstretched in front of her.
Vir
Vir stood alone in the men’sroom, staring at his reflection in the horizontal strip of mirror, while he forced himself to draw deep, calming breaths through his nose.
Two breaths in. One breath out. Two breaths in…
He’d spent a good part of the past twenty minutes trying to keep himself from choking on his own tears. It was as if four years’ worth of pent-up waterworks were fighting to be let out all at once. At least no one had walked in to watch him be a blubbering mess in broad daylight yet.
Composed and cleaned up, Vir finally stepped out of the bathroom, then immediately regretted doing so. Professor Khurana was passing through the corridor right at that moment—likely headed towards the staff room nearby. And accompanying the pot-bellied old man was Nori.
“There you are! I thought you’d gone home already,” the dean exclaimed as he reached Vir. “This is Dr. Nori Arya. And Nori, this is Dr. Vir Varma. But I’m sure you two don’t need an introduction. Vir told me earlier he was your first successful human subject.”
Nori’s eyes widened into a pair of large chocolate circles. “That’s where I know you from!” She beamed, extending a hand towards him. “No wonder you looked familiar.”
Vir stared at it, unmoving, while he focused on breathing through his nose again.
“Nori is here as a guest-lecturer for the semester,” Prof. Khurana explained. “Her classes are set to begin on Monday, so I asked her to look around the campus today.”
Nori glanced from her hand hovering mid-air to Vir’s face and back, before she slowly lowered it to her side, her friendly smile faltering and transforming into the subtlest of scowls.
Vir’s lips quivered when he sensed a familiar spike of irritation from her. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Biting the inside of his cheek, he settled for neither.
“You look tired,” Prof. Khurana observed. “Are you unwell, Vir? I thought I’d ask you to show Nori around, help her settle in, since you already know her. But if you’re not feeling—”
“Yes.”
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, I’d be happy to show her around.” Vir offered the man a smile, hoping it didn’t look as deranged as he felt it did. He had no idea if he was even holding his facial expressions right, with the two extremes of absolute elation and unfiltered grief warring inside him for the driver’s seat—after years of feeling utterlynothing.
He turned to Nori and added, “My classes are done for the day. I was just headed to the library.”
“Great. I’ll leave you two to it, then.” Prof. Khurana walked away.
Nori frowned at Vir, her emotions a curious jumble of annoyance and amusement.
“I’ve already seen the library.” She shrugged after a moment. “How about the cafeteria? Do they have good chai here?”
“The best,” he said. “This way.”
Vir took her to his favorite café, out of the three that the campus had. In addition to having a limited but the best selection of refreshments, its location near the campus gate also made it convenient for him to grab a quick coffee before heading home every evening.
He asked Nori to take a seat while he walked away to get their beverages. When he returned, she was scrolling through pictures of Goober on her phone.
“How is he?” Vir asked, placing her tea on the table before taking his seat across from her.
“He’s good. It’s only been a couple of days, and I already miss him so much,” Nori answered, before looking up at him in surprise. “You know my cat, too?”
Vir nodded without offering an explanation.
“Did I show you pictures when I worked with you earlier?” Nori guessed.
He nodded again.
