Page 49 of A Lab Rat’s Guide to Fated Love

Thirty

For the Record

Vir

N ori followed Vir up to his apartment for the first time in a week.

He wasn’t sure whether it was Billie’s incessant meowing from her favorite spot on the windowsill, or him mentioning he was going to make pan fried pizzas from scratch, that had done it.

But if he had to pick one, he’d bet everything that was bet-able and more on the cat.

He slipped Billie a couple of extra treats before starting on the dough.

“Did your mite redundancy ever slip below hundred over the years?” Nori asked once they’d settled on the couch with their plates.

“I don’t think so,” Vir replied. “But wouldn’t that mean the treatment actually failed?”

She shook her head. “I was recently developing a serum to flush out redundant mites, just to give people that option. But then a few cases came up where those seemed to have re-activated on their own after months of remaining dormant. In each case, it was because the patient’s condition had started declining for an entirely different issue than the one they’d just recovered from.

“I don’t remember programming this. And I couldn’t find anything about it in any of my unpublished notes, either.

The Auckland team is currently testing this with a small batch of cancer patients in remission.

Those with a higher chance of reoccurrence.

Theoretically, the prognosis looks good.

But it’s too early to disclose this publicly yet, so…

” She made an exaggerated motion of zipping her lips shut.

Vir nodded, mimicking the action, while also suppressing the impulse to blurt out how proud he was of her.

His fingers twitched, and he balled his hands into fists, trying to keep them from acting out again. He’d been slipping too often. And his pathetic apologies only made Nori’s mood plummet every time that he did.

A light drizzle began by the time they pulled into Nori’s driveway the next evening. She’d offered to cook a new fried rice recipe she’d found online.

“Look, I don’t have a wok,” she admitted, stepping into the kitchen. “No judgments, okay.”

“No judgments.”

While she washed and chopped the vegetables, Vir stood there, making unwelcome attempts at assisting.

“Stop meddling if you want to stay here.” She scowled at him. “Or else you can go and sit over there.”

“No more meddling.” He sighed in mock defeat. “I promise.” Then casually leaned against a nearby counter to watch her sauté the ingredients together.

A stray curl pried itself loose from her hair-tie and fell against her cheek. His fingers itched, desperate to reach out and tuck it behind her ear. And to let his thumb graze against her soft bottom lip that was jutting out ever so slightly. Just once.

She absentmindedly bit her lip right then, and with a quiet, shaky breath, he forced himself to look away .

For the remainder of the duration Nori cooked, Vir focused on the sputtering contents of the pan, only letting himself glance at her sporadically, to nod along or chuckle as she told him about the funny video she’d seen.

“Then he saw another plastic colander on the shelf—” Turning the stove off, she reached for a plate on the other side. “—and that’s when he completely lost his shit.”

“Careful!” Vir moved her hand out of the way of the hot pan. “Ow!” But his own knuckles grazed against one of the other scorching surfaces instead.

Nori swore under her breath as she grabbed his wrist and led him to the sink. She let the icy water run over the burn for a while before turning the faucet off to assess the damage.

“It’s not that bad,” he mumbled.

“Wait here.” She walked away briefly before reappearing with a tube of ointment.

The cool salve tingled against his skin as she carefully dabbed it on with a cotton swab. But that was just background noise.

All he could focus on was how close she was. Too close.

So close, the heat radiating off her skin conversed with his own in whispers, pulling him to her like gravity. Her soft, subtle scent that he’d never been able to attach comparable notes to intoxicated his brain, making him draw his next breath in even deeper. If he leaned forward just a little…

No. Vir clenched his jaw, keeping himself perfectly still.

He waited for her to step away. But she didn’t move. She was still staring at his hand. Still standing too close.

Move. He reluctantly willed at her. Because he couldn’t. Please.

She made an O with her mouth and blew cool air over his knuckles, making goosebumps erupt all over his skin.

If he just— NO!

Nori chose that exact moment to glance up at him. And all the clashing bargainers inside his head stilled under her gaze. He’d been so lost in his own internal chaos, he hadn’t been paying attention to the storm brewing inside her .

And now that he did, he watched his own longing mirrored in her eyes. Oh .

Her gaze dropped to his mouth and lingered there. As it slowly drifted back to his eyes, her chin quivered. Her palm rose to rest against his cheek, and he leaned into it without thinking.

“Can I kiss you?” Nori asked, barely audible.

Vir was vaguely aware of breathing out an answer before he pressed his mouth to hers. Soft kisses. Gentle. Delicate. Hesitant.

He felt a layer shift—hers or his—he couldn’t really tell.

But with a shudder, her lips parted at the same time as his. And they were no longer soft, but ravenous mouths that seemed to want to devour each other whole. Their tongues danced together with a mind of their own. And for the first time in a long time, Vir’s mind was completely devoid of thought.

A low groan built in his chest as Nori’s fingers dragged across his scalp, curving into fists, pulling him closer. The feel of her. The taste of her. He’d remembered it all wrong. It made him want to weep, knowing how badly time had diluted his memories of her.

I love you, he wanted to say—roar—sing, even as they broke apart moments later, gasping for air. I’ve missed you. I love you. But all he did was stare while her saucer-wide eyes held him glued.

“Vir,” she whispered. Her chin quivered again.

“Nori?”

“Can’t you—” She bit her lip. “Can’t you move on?”

“Move on?”

Nori looked at her feet, and without warning, her mood plummeted. “From your ex-girlfriend.”

It took him a second. But then it clicked. “You want me to move on,” he spoke slowly, “from my ex-girlfriend , because…”

Her brow furrowed as her eyes lifted to meet his again. “Because I like you. Maybe more than that. I think. And sometimes I think you like me, too, but then you… it’s as if you feel guilty because you’re still not over your first love.”

Vir stared at her, not knowing if he wanted to laugh or cry. Maybe both.

He opened his mouth to respond just as the freshly revived, bloated pufferfish started performing somersaults inside his chest. “Nori, I—” His phone buzzed loudly on the counter beside him, and he swiped a finger over it to disconnect the call from Sam. He’d get back to him later.

Nori was looking expectantly at him, waiting for him to speak. But as soon as he opened his mouth again, the phone resumed its annoying buzzing.

“Maybe it’s urgent,” Nori said. “Take it.”

Vir accepted the call to find Sam’s wife on the line, her tone thick with concern.

“Get off the phone, Annu,” Sam’s muted voice came from somewhere in the background. “Just get me a warm compress. I’m fine.”

“The old man fell, trying to fix a ceiling light,” Annu said to Vir. “He doesn’t seem to be in too much pain, but can you still come? If his shoulder’s dislocated again—”

“I’ll be right there,” he assured her before hanging up. “Sam had an accident,” he told Nori, rushing to grab his jacket from near the front door.

She got her car keys. “Is it bad?”

“I’m not sure. Could be a dislocated shoulder. I’ll take him to the emergency room just to be safe.” He took the keys from her. “You stay. Let me borrow the car.”

She nodded. “Call me if you need anything.”

Vir sprinted out into the rain. “I’ll be back as soon as I can!” he yelled over the loud pattering, glancing back at her as the car doors unlocked.

Nori was leaning sideways against the doorframe, her gaze pensive. He raked a hand through his hair and let out an impatient huff before running back to her.

“For the record,” he rasped, cupping her face in his hands. He let his eyes roam over her flushed features one more time. “You don’t have to ask me again.”

Then he crushed his rain-soaked mouth to hers.