Page 33 of A Lab Rat’s Guide to Fated Love

Nineteen

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Vir

G ot everything?” Vir asked, pulling the front door open.

“Yeah. Let’s go,” Nori replied, joining him at the threshold.

He put an arm around her and watched as her gaze swept over the place one last time. Her rush of bittersweet emotions mirrored his own.

“We had to leave at some point,” she said, offering him a small smile. But her words seemed directed more towards herself than at him.

The door shut behind them, and they made their way through the courtyard connecting the studios to the reception lobby.

“The jackets!” Nori exclaimed, coming to an abrupt halt midway. “I forgot the jackets.”

“I’ll get them.” Vir caught her as she started turning around. “Go on ahead. I’ll meet you in five.”

“First closet by the door.” She handed him the card-key.

Vir found their winter jackets inside the closet, long forgotten in the warm, humid Kochi weather.

As he took the smaller one off its hanger, something fell out of the pocket and went clattering to the floor. He crouched to pick it up and froze, his fingers hovering inches from the shiny white pebble.

“What in the…”

The light from the overhead lamp glinted off its polished surface as he picked it up, half expecting it to vanish into thin air.

It was the same white pebble that the woman with Nori’s face had given to him in his dream.

The one with the gold etching—the etching that he’d later gotten tattooed on his chest.

Only this one didn’t have any mark on it whatsoever.

Still, he was sure it was the same pebble. The same color, shape, and size. Even the feel of it in his palm was the same. He couldn’t explain how, but he knew he’d be able to recognize it even with his eyes closed.

His phone buzzed just as he pinched his arm to check if he was dreaming again. It hurt.

“Cab’s here,” Nori said. “It’s terminal one, right?”

“Yes. I’ll be right out.”

He put the pebble safely back inside the pocket before zipping it closed.

A blast of the hot and humid East Coast wind greeted them as they stepped out of Pondicherry Airport a few hours later.

“I’ll get the cab,” Vir said, pulling his phone out.

“No need,” Adi said, waving excitedly towards a sea of people in the distance.

Even without looking, the raw, unfiltered emotions that began surging out of him told Vir exactly who his brother was waving at. He’d witnessed it countless times before. The love, longing, and intense joy—he’d felt it all. But only as a bystander. Until now.

Now it stopped him in his tracks.

Because for the first time, he could sense—and recognize —something else, too. There was a calm, quiet reassurance his brother felt when his eyes found Anita amongst the crowd. A sense of belonging, of coming home. Only the home was a person .

He wondered if that was how his own heart sang for Nori, too. And as he glanced sideways towards her, a lump formed in his throat. She was looking at him.

Fuck, she was looking at him the way Adi looked at Anita. She was looking at him like he was home . How had he not noticed before?

“Here,” Nori said, untwisting the cap off a bottle of water before handing it to him.

He took it and drank the whole thing without a word.

She was uncannily good at concealing her feelings, to the point she could switch them off entirely, at times. So, the fact that he could read from her what he just had, meant he’d either become so attuned to her, she couldn’t hide from him anymore. Or that she no longer wanted to.

A whirlwind of emotions suddenly threatened to overwhelm him with their intensity.

Adi’s. And Anita’s as she neared them. His own. And Nori’s.

“Wow, you were really thirsty,” Nori observed, offering him another bottle. “More?”

Vir shook his head, too fragile for words.

Adi marched ahead of them, meeting Anita before they did. She asked him something, motioning towards his bruised nose. With a laugh, he looped his arms around her waist and picked her up before swinging her around in a full circle.

In Vir’s peripheral vision, Nori was staring at him again.

He cleared his throat and kept his eyes meticulously focused away from her.

It was all he could do to resist pulling her to him and never letting go.

A vivid image of him sticking to her like an insect bathed in super-glue came to mind, and for a short, unhinged moment, the idea seemed almost too tempting to push aside.

“Vir!” Anita exclaimed somewhere in his vicinity, making him blink out of the insane trajectory of his thoughts.

Slender and kind-faced with intricate sleeves of tattoos running up both her arms and the letters S T A R and M O O N inked over her knuckles in a slightly faded black than the rest, Anita stood at nearly the same height as Adi with her volume of silvery white hair fanning out in waves around her.

“Anita.” He beamed a split second before she pulled him into a hug .

“Adi told me last night,” she said, releasing him. “I’m so darn happy! I had a hunch I was going to meet you soon, but I couldn’t have imagined—and you’re Nori! Thank you. Thank you!” She turned to throw her arms around Nori.

“Hi Anita,” Nori croaked. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

Nori

I t was about an hour’s drive to Vir’s parents’ old house in the heart of Auroville, a small Indo-French city near Pondicherry. As Adi drove their jeep into the property, a set of black wrought iron gates parted to reveal dense greenery on either side of the sweeping driveway.

Orchards, Nori realized. They were Mud Apple orchards.

An abstract earthen sculpture came into view as they neared the house, rising out of a giant pond with floating pink and white lilies in various stages of bloom. The house itself looked nothing like the humble family abode Vir had described to her.

The minimalistic lines, sharp cuts, and sculptural volumes all blended together with each other and their surroundings in a Zen-like harmony of brick and wood, earth and glass, light and shadow.

Vir’s parents had both been architects. The building was their life-sized piece of art.

The kind of art you only see displayed in museums. To be perceived from a distance and not be touched.

And yet, there was something homey about it. Something warm, peaceful, inviting.

“Welcome home.” Anita beamed before grabbing Nori’s hand and pulling her inside.

After a quick house tour, Adi insisted on cooking, and an hour later, they gathered around the dining table with a cozy dinner spread between them.

“The Vineyards are right behind the house,” he said, helping himself to some toasted, garlic bread. “It’s mostly managed by staff, so we’re free to pursue other things work-wise. We can take you for a tour tomorrow, if you’d like.”

Nori nodded with her mouth full, savoring the homemade pesto pasta as it melted in her mouth. “I’d love that. This is really good, by the way. ”

“Thanks.” Adi grinned. “You should try Vir’s. We used to have cook-offs when we were younger. The loser had to give up one of his toys to the winner, and this one took all of mine. His old room is practically a museum of all my forfeited goods.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t because you wanted me to win and take your dumb old toys off you, so ma would buy you new ones.” Vir rolled his eyes at him. Turning to Nori, he added, “He taught me all the recipes, then lost at cook-offs. Every time.”

They laughed.

A while later, Nori caught Adi swiping a thumb under his eye as he sat glaring down at his plate. Anita squeezed his hand, and he glanced at her briefly before returning to his pasta with a grin.

Nori looked away to find Vir poking the food around on his plate, his brow creased. She touched his wrist.

What’s wrong? She asked with a wordless movement of her brow.

He shook his head, offering her a small smile. But when his eyes moved towards Adi, the pained look in them answered her instead.

After dinner, Anita offered to make them some coffee, and Vir followed her into the kitchen to help. Their laughter floated all the way to the living room, where Nori and Adi sat slumped on the large tan couch, too full from dinner to be of any practical help.

Nori regretted that large second helping.

“Nori, I—” Adi spoke, and his voice wavered.

It was the first time she’d seen him look so serious. She waited for him to speak.

“Sorry, I’ve been a bit emotional since…” He cleared his throat. “I wanted to thank you again for saving my brother.”

She shook her head. “I’m only doing my job. It would’ve been someone else, if not Vir”

“It wasn’t someone else, though. Thank you. I thought I was truly going to lose him this time. And he’d been so determined to stop fighting—ah damn.” He exhaled in a huff and wiped his eyes. “Please tell me, honestly. He’s going to make it, right? ”

“Yes.” She gave him a reassuring smile. “A team of doctors will run some tests to confirm officially once we get back to Delhi. But as far as I know, he has a long, healthy life ahead of him now.”

She waited for her words to sink in and then witnessed the biggest grin she’d seen on Adi yet. So similar to Vir’s, but so clearly distinct at the same time.

“You seem closer than I first thought,” Adi said, glancing briefly towards the kitchen. “Oh, and also thanks for protecting him earlier from the creep on the street.”

Nori winced at the memory, warmth seeping into her cheeks. “Sorry about your nose.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He chuckled, wiping his eyes again. “Whew. I didn’t want Vir to see me like this. But then, with him around, you can’t really hide what’s going on inside.”

“I know. It’s a pain in the ass sometimes.”

“It is.” He laughed.

“What’s a pain in the ass?” Vir appeared, holding two cups. He handed one to Nori before taking his seat.

“You.” Adi shook his head in mock disappointment.

Vir very dramatically rolled his eyes, and the exaggerated expression made them laugh.

“I thought you were making coffee,” Nori said as she inhaled the soothing cardamom notes rising from her cup.

“But you wanted chai,” he stated simply, before taking a sip of his coffee.

“You can’t keep lying about not being a mind reader, you know.”

H ours later, Nori lay sprawled on her bed, racking her brain for an excuse to sneak into Vir’s room next door. She’d gotten so used to falling asleep listening to his deep rhythmic breathing next to her, it was hard to doze off alone in her huge bed now.

“Ugh.”

She kicked the covers off and rolled on her side to curl up next to a pillow. And as she did, her eyes jumped to the towering silhouette of a man waving at her from the balcony .

“Gah—!” She slapped a hand over her mouth to stop the startled shriek from escaping. “What are you doing?” She hurried, unlocking the glass door to let Vir inside.

“Sorry!” He grinned. “The balconies are connected. And I was missing you.”

“I…” She poked the fallen pillow with her toe, her cheeks getting warmer. “…was missing you, too.”

Vir’s arms wrapped around her, letting her bury her face in his chest. She inhaled a deep satisfying fill of her favorite scent and it instantly made her eyelids grow heavy. He was her drug of choice. And her doom.

His mere proximity induced theta waves in the chaos of her brain. She could sleep now.

“Before I forget.” He kissed her hair. “I was curious about something.”

She looked up at him with a yawn. “What is it?”

Releasing her, Vir padded away to where her jacket lay draped over the back of a chair. He slipped a hand in its pocket and brought something out.

It took her a second, but as realization hit, she snatched the pebble from his hand before he could ask what the darn thing was doing in her pocket.

“Why—why are you going through my stuff?” She plopped on the bed, heat flooding her face. Maybe she could tell him she was an avid rock collector or something.

Yeah, there was no way he’d believe that.

“Sorry. I wasn’t going through your stuff.” He took a seat beside her. “It fell out when I was getting your jacket from the closet this morning. And I got curious. That’s all.”

Nori bit her lip. “No, I’m sorry. I overreacted.” She let out a huff. “Fine, I’ll tell you. But you have to promise not to laugh.”

“Pinkie promise,” Vir said, curling his hand into a fist and letting the pinkie finger comically jut out.

“I’m serious.”

“I won’t laugh. Promise.”

Nori braced herself for the sheer mortification. Fuck it. It’s a rock. Just a dumb rock .

“Grandma used to tell me stories every day when I was little,” she began. “There was this one story about penguins that I’d loved.”

She looked at Vir from the corner of her eye. He didn’t seem to have guessed it yet. But maybe he didn’t know anything about penguins.

“You see, uh, they’re monogamous creatures,” she continued, hoping he wouldn’t notice the steam whooshing out of her ears like a vintage vapor-powered engine.

“When a penguin falls in love, he goes around searching for the prettiest pebble he can find to build a nest with its mate. And then gives it to her as a declaration of his love. If she accepts it, they become lovers for life.”

She sneaked another glance and found Vir looking even more clueless than before.

She swore he was being dense on purpose now. Did she have to chuck the rock at his forehead to make him get it?

“This is for you,” she blurted, thrusting her fist under his nose.

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. Because why wasn’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…”