Page 23 of A Lab Rat’s Guide to Fated Love

Twelve

The Beat-Up Lab Rat’s Agility

Nori

N ori tried hard not to gag as she watched the bloodstained fabric tumble around inside the washing machine while recalling Vir’s poor, bashed nose from a moment ago. She was supposed to be making him better , not bludgeoning him to death.

A muffled buzzing drew her attention towards the couch. It was nearly three in the morning. There couldn’t possibly be a good reason for anyone to call her at this hour.

She located her phone tucked under a cushion to find Fehim’s name flashing on the screen.

“Hey!” she answered. “Is everything okay?”

“You need to get out of there,” Fehim said, his tone urgent. “They’ll be at your place by noon, lat est. Hurry.”

“Who? What’s going on?”

“People from the research center,” he replied.

“Amit and Hina’s cronies, really. I don’t know what changed, suddenly.

But they made an appeal to the HOD and called for an urgent late-night meeting to complain about you mishandling the experiment.

I just found out from a senior. They claim to have intel that Vir is in bad shape, the experiment has already failed, and you’ve been hiding him so you could keep the grant money. ”

Nori swore loudly.

She hadn’t even touched the grant money since leaving the research center. Not that she could, even if she wanted to, without Tanya co-signing on every little expense.

Before she could respond, an alarmed Vir burst through the bedroom door. He stood there, scanning the surroundings for threat, only visibly relaxing once he noticed the phone in her hand.

“It’s Fehim,” she explained, before switching to speaker mode.

She directed her next words towards Fehim.

“That’s ridiculous. Do they seriously think these allegations would work?

Once they’re here, they’ll clearly see Vir doing well.

Besides, I can share all the data with Tanya without them having to send people over. What are they even thinking?”

“Tanya doesn’t believe them,” Fehim said.

“At least she doesn’t want to. But she has to take action in response to a complaint of this nature even if to formally dismiss it.

Some people suggested requesting a status report first, but Amit said they can’t tell if any data you send over is real or made up just from a report.

They can only know for sure by meeting Vir in person.

“In that case, of course, the complaint would be dropped, but they’d take him back to eliminate any scope for future allegations.

And you know the risk if that happens. You have to get out of there for now.

It doesn’t matter where you go, just don’t tell anyone where you are, till you’re ready to come back with results. ”

“Well, fuck.” Both Nori and Vir exhaled in unison.

B efore Nori began sprinting from room to room, to grab essentials and throw them in their backpacks, she handed Vir a paracetamol and a glass of water, with orders to stop trying to help her pack, sit his dizzy ass down, and find the earliest available flight out of there.

She didn’t care where they were going as long as it was somewhere far—and safe—where none of those scheming quacks or their underlings could reach them.

While Vir’s stats looked okay on the algorithm, and he didn’t seem concussed otherwise, he kept swaying on his feet every time he attempted to move faster than a sloth.

She didn’t want to have to piggyback him out of the house all the way to Chandigarh airport, but that was exactly what she was going to do if she had to.

She hadn’t brought him this far just to give up now.

“There’s a five am bus we can catch to the airport,” Vir announced minutes later, peeking from behind the laptop screen. “The depot is fifteen minutes from here, on foot. I have both bus and flight tickets on my phone.”

“I’m all done, too.” Nori took the laptop and slid it into one of the bags. “Are you sure you can walk that much?”

“Yeah, I’m good now. I guess the pain was making me nauseous.” He grabbed their jackets and a pair of ripe bananas off the dining table on his way to the front door.

“Can you do me a favor?” Nori took her jacket from him.

“Anything.”

“Complain a little, will you?”

It was still dark outside when they shuffled their way through the driveway.

After locking the property gates from the outside, Nori turned to face Vir to find a dusting of white, flaky stuff on his shoulders.

Her hand reflexively flew out to brush it off, while she made a mental note to switch shampoos.

Hers was clearly giving him horrible dandruff. Why hadn’t she noticed bef—

“Oh.” Her hand paused, hovering mid-air while more of the white stuff came sprinkling down. The fresh flakes melted as soon as they landed on her skin.

Not dandruff.

After all that waiting, Shoja’s first snowfall had finally begun, right when she had to leave. Angry tears blurred her vision as she let her hand drop back to her side.

“What’s wrong?” Vir’s concerned expression came into view.

“Nothing.” She started to walk off, blinking rapidly against the dumb moisture. “Let’s go. ”

She’d only taken a few steps when she felt Vir tugging at the bags that hung awkwardly from her shoulders. She ducked and swiftly pushed both her arms through the straps of one bag, wearing it on her back, before proceeding to do the same with the other to wear it on her front.

“Nah uh.” She smirked at her victory. Too soon, because right before she could properly put it on, Vir swiped the second bag from her. “Hey!”

She’d underestimated the beat-up lab rat’s agility.

“Don’t fight me or I’ll take the other one, too.” Vir’s answering smirk had her glowering at him. Half a second later, his features softened. “I’m much better now. I’ll tell you if something feels off, promise.”

“Fine.” She let out a huff. “Just tell me right away if you’re dizzy. And don’t fall. Here, take my hand.”

As Vir’s cool fingers curled around her palm, she briefly considered rescinding her offer. It wasn’t like she wanted to hold his hand. Of course, not. But there was the possibility of him falling flat on his face, if she didn’t. And she didn’t want him to fall flat on his face. Absolutely not.

But the way her small hand fit perfectly into his—her mind conjured an image of two puzzle pieces clicking into place—

No . No puzzle pieces. Just hands. She was only lending hers as a walking stick. For balance and support. For a sick man. Especially since he was sick because of her. No other reason.

Biting down on her lip, she let her hand grip his even tighter, but only because Vir kept grinning to himself like he had a concussion. And she didn’t want him to fall because of a concussion. Right, she’d covered that already.

Although, to a tiny, irrational part of her brain—and she was never going to admit it out loud, ever—lending this sick man the walking-stick-support of her hand felt a little too good to be permissible.

“Breakfast?” Vir offered her a banana.

Nori squinted sideways, and a laugh bubbled out of her.

She’d nearly broken his nose and was now making him walk fifteen minutes uphill so they could sneak away again . And yet, here he was, beaming while he happily chomped on a banana like it was some fancy Michelin starred meal.

“Do you think you might be concussed?” she asked .

“Not at all.” His grin widened as he looked sideways and caught her eye. “I feel great.”

Vir

M idway through the two-hour journey to Chandigarh airport, their bus stopped at a crowded rest area.

As the passengers slowly trickled out to use the restrooms and to break for tea, Vir almost didn’t want to wake Nori from her slumber.

She’d only dozed off a few minutes ago with her cheek involuntarily landing on his shoulder.

But she was going to sulk later if he let her miss the tea there. The aroma of the milky brew with its strong spice blend was palpable even from a distance.

“Nori.” He nudged her. “Do you want some cha—”

She squinted up at him before her eyes widened in horror.

“Gah!” She recoiled, banging her head into the window behind her. “Ow!”

Vir grimaced, realizing how his face must look up-close. “That bad, huh?”

“The bruising…” Nori rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “Sorry. I thought you were a raccoon.”

“A racc—wow.”

“Sorry. Wait, did I drool on you?”

Nori swiped a hand across her mouth before reaching for his jacket to rub the sleeve, as if she was trying to make a genie appear out of it.

“It’s fine! It’s okay, relax.” He caught her by the wrists before she could burn a hole through the fabric. “The bus stopped here for a bit. How about some chai? I saw people having bread pakoras over there, too.”

Eyes widening, she nodded urgently.

They scored seats at the busy diner, and too hungry to talk, devoured double servings of the deep fried, potato filled, gram flour and bread delicacy in uninterrupted silence.

Once the server cleared their dishes, they took turns to use the restroom while the other watched the bags. By the time Vir returned, other passengers from their bus had already started boarding. But Nori wasn’t outside the diner, where he’d left her a moment ago.

As he neared the bus, still searching for her through the crowd, he spotted her hunched over a stream on the other side of the road.

“Nori!” he called out, watching her reach for something in the water.

She didn’t respond.

“Nori?” he called again as he crossed the road.

She seemed to have heard him this time, because she hastily sprung to her feet and sneaked something small into her jacket pocket before turning around to face him. And as she did, a sense of mortification started rolling off her in thick swirls, just as a deep crimson seeped into her cheeks.

The abrupt, near comical shift in her mood made him want to laugh.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, trying his best to keep a straight face.

“Nothing. What are you doing here?” She refused to make eye contact.

“The bus is about to leave.”

“Oh. Okay. Let’s go, then.”