Page 50 of A Lab Rat’s Guide to Fated Love

Thirty One

Those Synapses and Their Keys

Nori

N ori traced her fingers over her swollen lips where the brand of Vir’s kiss still lingered—molten, rough, intoxicating.

“You don’t have to ask me again,” his words echoed in her brain. “You don’t have to ask me again.” A dull throbbing headache started behind her temples. “You don’t have to—”

“Ugh!” She clutched her head with both hands as the pain rapidly bloomed into a migraine from hell.

“You don’t have to—” An invisible sledgehammer ground her skull and all its contents into paste, as she stumbled through the house, barely making it to the nightstand in her room.

She found the painkillers and washed them down with some water while resisting the urge to throw up. Her heartbeats pounded directly into her eardrums as she curled up on the bed and pressed her knuckles into her eyes.

“Please,” she whispered, begging for it to stop. “Please shut up.”

It didn’t stop. But the voice shifted.

“You don’t have to ask me again.” Another echo, but this one was whispered. It seemed to be coming from somewhere far away. From another memory, another time.

Surely, it was someone else’s memory, not hers.

“You don’t have to ask me again.”

“Please…”

“You don’t have to ask me again.”

“SHUT UP!”

N ori…” A hand smoothed her hair. “Nori.” It felt so good. She wished it would never stop.

More.

“Nori, wake up.” Something nudged her shoulder.

No.

“Nori!” The nudging grew rough. “Wake up! Nori!”

She groaned.

“Oh, thank god!”

Nori forced herself to open her eyes and Vir’s concerned gaze came into view, making her lips curve into a wobbly smile despite the dull throbbing in her head.

“What happened? Are you sick? Are you hurt?” His palm pressed to the side of her face, cool against her clammy skin. “You weren’t answering calls.” His thumb stroked her temple. “The door was wide open when I got here. Please tell me you’re okay.”

“Hmmkay,” she mumbled, burying her face in his chest. He pulled her into his arms, and with a deep exhale, she relaxed into the thump thump thump thump of his heart. “Headache,” she added after a while, her voice hoarse.

When she tilted her chin to look up at him— terrible idea —the action instantly made her head spin. She lunged off the bed and ran to the bathroom. He was there beside her before she started dry heaving into the toilet.

“Go away.” She pushed him weakly with her elbow. But he refused to budge .

Vir held her hair back till she was done. Only to continue hovering while she washed up at the sink. As she reached for the towel, her gaze fell on the strange woman in the mirror, and she froze.

This blurry, gaunt reflection of Nori had shorter hair, dead eyes, and looked like absolute crap. Vir, too, stood behind her—not the Vir she knew, but an extremely pale, skinny version of him. He was glaring at her in terrified silence.

She blinked, and the haunting scene vanished as abruptly as it had appeared.

Vir took the towel from her before grabbing her hand and leading her to the living room, where she slumped on the couch with her eyes half closed.

“You need to eat something,” he said, walking away. He reappeared moments later with a plate of lightly toasted bread and brought a small piece to her lips.

“No…” she groaned, turning her head away.

“Just a little bit.” He brought it to her lips again. “You skipped dinner, too.”

She took a reluctant bite and chewed, ignoring the way it felt like sandpaper in her mouth. Vir handed her a cup, and she took a big sip of the strong sugary coffee.

“I’ll eat. Thanks,” she said, taking the plate from him when he tried to feed her again. “What time is it?”

“Sometime after four.”

“Morning?”

“Evening.”

“WHAT?” She lurched to her feet. “I missed all the lectures? And Sam? Is he okay?”

“It’s Saturday, Nori. There are no classes.

” Vir pushed her back onto the couch. “Eat please. I’ll talk.

” He waited till she’d taken another bite.

“Sam did have a dislocated shoulder. We just returned from the emergency room about a half hour ago.” He handed her the coffee again.

“I tried calling you, but… what happened? Do you need me to get you some painkillers?”

“No, I took some last night.” She glanced sideways at him, noticing, for the first time, his bloodshot eyes and the shadows underneath them. “Did you get any sleep at all?”

“I can sleep later.” He got up and walked away again.

She followed him into the kitchen this time .

“Here,” Vir said, thrusting a small plate into her hands. “Have these. I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?”

“The car is almost out of battery,” he replied, pulling the front door open. “I’ll bring it into the garage and come.” Before Nori could offer to do it instead, he was already gone.

As the door swung shut after him, her attention moved to the plate, and she frowned.

On it, chopped up into neat little crescents, was a guava…

with the seeds removed. What a peculiar thing to do—cut away the seeds.

She’d only ever seen her grandma do that before.

And only because that was how Nori preferred the fruit.

People usually ate the thing whole, annoying seeds and all.

Picking up a piece, she turned back towards the couch and tripped on the flowy fabric of her pants.

One of her arms reflexively flung out to steady her while the other kept the plate of guava slices safe like the most precious thing to ever exist in the room that it absolutely was.

She managed to grab the kitchen counter for support.

But not before she accidentally swatted a dark rectangular thing off its surface, making Vir’s phone go clattering to the floor.

Nori swore under her breath as she knelt in front of the device. The cracked screen flickered a few times, then froze. She tapped, swiped, and shook it, trying to make it work, but it refused to cooperate.

The slice she’d picked up earlier was still pinched between her fingers. With a frustrated huff, she popped it into her mouth. And just as she did, the broken phone screen started flickering again, with all the random taps and swipes she’d attempted now happening in quick succession.

When the gibberish finally stopped, Vir’s face, partly distorted by the cracks, beamed up at her from the screen. And right beside him, with her arm looped through his, and her lips pressed to his cheek—was Nori.

They looked like lovers.

Hot tears pooled in her eyes. She was right there. This should’ve been her memory.

Remember, dammit!

Her molars crushed the fruit, making it release its juicy sweetness into her mouth.

The soft, ripe flesh and the familiar crudeness of its skin as it grated against her tongue began to wake something inside her.

But it was the subtle dry musky aroma that held the magic in its notes.

They rose, tickling her brain’s olfactory synapses, giving them the exact keys and bridges they’d been lying patiently in wait for all along.

The front door swung open, and a pair of denim-clad legs came into view. They paused at the threshold for exactly one loud thud of a heartbeat, and then they were moving in quick, long strides towards her.

“What’s wrong?” His voice. It was his voice. “Why are you on the floor?”

Nori blinked.

Vir. Her face crumpled as her eyes lifted to meet his. And she launched herself at him, a sobbing, blubbering mess.

Vir

V ir opened the front door to find Nori sitting on the kitchen floor. Her emotions were spilling out of her, a chaotic jumble of everything, good, bad, all at once. Each dense swirl at war with others, fighting to assume control.

He sprinted towards her, asking her questions she wouldn’t answer.

Then her horrified gaze lifted to meet his, and she lurched unsteadily to her feet before throwing herself at him. “Vir! V—Vir! It was you! I forgot you !” She sobbed into his collarbone, uttering his name over and over in broken syllables.

They crushed his fragile heart with their weight, and the walls he’d held together with his flimsy resolve came crashing down around him.

No. He couldn’t let her go. He wasn’t ready. Not yet. Not again.

The lump in his throat grew till he couldn’t swallow anymore, and he finally let his arms wrap around her, pulling her to him. Closer. Tighter.

It was a while before either of them let go. Stepping away, Vir opened his mouth at the same time as Nori did, but before either of them could speak, a low grumbling sound beat them to it.

“Would you like some ramen?” Nori asked sheepishly, wrapping her arms around her middle.

Vir started to reply, but then settled for a nod instead. He didn’t fully trust his words yet.

“You look like hell, by the way,” she observed with a watery smile.

It made him chuckle. “ I do?” He blinked, and it took some effort to open his eyes again.

“Please go sit.” She nudged him towards the couch. “Give me ten minutes.”

“I’ll cook. You’re not—”

“I’m fine. Really. Go.”

Nori dug what she needed out of the pantry while Vir reluctantly settled on the couch. She joined him there a few minutes later, with two steaming bowls of spicy instant noodles. She handed him the soupy one with a bit of ketchup and roasted sesame seeds on the side.

He sighed. “You remember.”

“Yes.”

“We need to talk.”

“We do.” She handed him a fork. “But not right now. Eat first.”

He opened his mouth and closed it without a word.

Nori took their empty dishes to the kitchen once they were done.

“Do you really want to sleep on the couch?” she asked, reappearing at his side.

“Couch works.” It was even harder to stay awake on a full stomach.

“Come on.” Her fingers closed around his wrist. “I wish I could just carry you inside. But you’re not as skinny as you were before.”

He laughed.

“Look at you.” She grabbed his arm and tugged. “Did you start working out? Do you have abs now?”

He chuckled at her genuinely curious expression. And a little familiar spark of—

“Are you annoyed you can’t carry me?” he asked, amused, while he let her drag him to the bed.

“Maybe. A little. I could give it a try—”

“No, thank you.” He laughed again as his head hit the pillow. “Nori?” he asked sleepily, his eyes fully closed .

“Vir?”

He sat up in alarm at how far away her voice sounded. “Don’t leave!”

“I’m not leaving,” she said, her hand hovering over the door’s handle. “I’ll be right outside.”

“Stay,” he whispered. “Please.”

She stared at him for a long moment, as if contemplating, while he fought to keep the sinking feeling inside his stomach from taking over completely.

Not again. Not yet.

With a subtle nod, she walked back to him. “Sleep now,” she said, covering him with a blanket. “I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

Even as Vir let his head sink into the pillow again, he forced his eyes to stay open for as long as he could. Nori’s fingers running through his hair didn’t make the task any easier.

And soon, he drifted off.