Forget Me Not

Discovering Him

Fun. Yes, fun was the word. Seeing Oliver working in the lab was nothing but fun. And being his partner all I had to do was stand aside and watch. And of course professors never really cared about us as Oliver was there. 

"Are you sure that you are 18?" I whispered when he was trying to put a particular wire to a particular jack point. His eyebrows furrowed for a second then again he concentrated on that wire.

"Oliver," this time I poked his shoulder to which he stiffened and finally decided to glare at me.

"What, Evette?!"

"I am asking, are you sure that you are 18?"

"Is it a joke?" he mumbled, as he turned towards the table.

"Nope, Oliver,"

"What?! Evette, please concentrate." 

"You are very boring by the way." 

"Thanks." 

Though I was never a girl who had avoided studies but somehow when Oliver was around I never felt like studying. Watching Oliver like that was a constant reminder that no one could be better than him. 

"Lovely." Professor Levi, who was an assistant to Professor Dutta, clapped, "You my boy...that's just amazing." 

Confused, I looked at Oliver who was looking at the professor as if she was saying something he already knew. "Thank you." He just mumbled looking around, his posture was stiff, eyes half-closed.

 I rolled my eyes, "What was that?" 

"What?"

"Oliver, she was praising you, right? And you,"

"I didn't ask her to do so." He just shrugged, "And the most important thing is, she is more worried about her dress than this." He pointed towards the table, "praise-shm raise." 

"That's rude." He seemed a little more irritated than normal. "What happened to you?" I whispered again when he closed his eyes with frustration.

"Nothing." 

"You and your nothings." I huffed in annoyance. The lab was over by then and we walked down the corridor which led us to our next class. I looked at him, his eyes were detached, and he was looking straight at where he was going. "Are you sure? Is everything alright?" I mumbled again. 

To this, he stopped just in front of the classroom door, "Why do you think that I am lying?"

"I am not saying you are lying, Oliver. It's just — I hate it when you close yourself behind this," I pointed at his face, which was blank.

***

Nana. suddenly he scribbled in his notebook and slid it towards me. I turned towards him slightly hoping the professor wouldn't see us. They are taking her. I mean...with them.

They...Who? I wrote back.

My parents.

Okay, So?

I don't want her to go.

Why?

It won't be good for her.

Why won't it be! She is staying alone there.

After that, he didn't write back and I knew he had gone back into his shell. 

With this little exchange, one thing I was sure of, was that Oliver was facing some major problems at his home front. He belonged to a wealthy family, but I actually never saw him or heard him talking about his parents like he did about his Nana. Whereas his parents were a big name. 'The Wrights' as the media used to tag them.