Page 114 of A Lab Rat's Guide to Fated Love
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 myex-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 phonebuzzed 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.
Thirty One
Those Synapses and Their Keys
January 2023:
Shoja, Himachal Pradesh
Nori
Nori traced her fingers over herswollen 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—”
