🖤CHAPTER 1🖤

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Her finger slightly turned the knob slightly on the microscope as her right eye was pressed on the lens on top of it. She finally moved back with a exhausted sigh, removed her gloves and began to note down her observations regarding the stained cells. She was trying to arrive at a conclusion regarding the peculiar shape of the cells when sound of footsteps rang in her ears. She removed her mask and eye protection walking away from her precious work and towards her colleague. She smiled up at her as she accepted a cup of much needed coffee but the tips of her mouth turned back down as she notice the bright green dye down the length of her hair and the rumpled state of her dress visible underneath her wrinkled lab coat.

Claire smiled brightly at her as she took the notepad from her hands and began to analyze the details extracted by her from the cell samples.

“Raine, this analysis is perfect. I think you should submit it to the manager and conduct a meeting so that we can discuss the reasons behind this mutation.”

Claire then started to tell her about her research work but nothing could prevent Raine from noticing Claire’s dyed hair and obnoxious laughter. Raine gave a brief nod at her words and began to collect her research material. Interrupting Claire in between she uttered a lame excuse and sidestepped her to walk to her dormitory.

“Her professionalism is really questionable. Who dyes their hair green and behaves unruly at a research station? And besides she is almost always untidy.” Raine muttered to herself as she increased her pace to reach faster at her destination. She wondered why Claire, Sarah and all the others always seemed to get on her nerves. It was annoying for Raine to deal with them.

“She may be a good and young scientist but that doesn’t give her liberty to-” Her thoughts halted abruptly as she skipped a step and tumbled down to the floor. She cradled her right foot in her hands removing her branded, shiny heels and began to inspect the seriousness of her injury. She let out a sigh of relief as she realized it was just a sprain. She stood up putting pressure on her left leg and balancing her body against a nearby wall but as soon as she tried to straighten and flex her right ankle, a sharp pain shot up her leg. An angry scream escaped her mouth as she realized she might have to hobble her way back to her room.

“Fantastic! Just what I needed. And there goes my last shred of dignity.” She grumbled her way back to her room, limping on her left foot and trying to ignore curious stares of the workers. None of the workers came ahead to help her as she stumbled letting out little grunts of pain and frustration until one of the workers pitied her and gained enough courage to approach her. She went to Raine and tried to assist her. But her efforts were futile as Raine stopped her and asked her to make the workers leave and to leave along with them.

“But ma’am, you really need help. Otherwise you may lose you balance once again and injure yourself even more.” The worker said with concern.
Raine cast an angry look at the lady and indignantly exclaimed, “When I said I don’t want your help, I meant it. Leave now!”
The lady lowered her head, apologized and moved back allowing Raine to carry on with her limping journey.

Raine reached her living quarters, opened the lock and entered inside looking at the wild mess of tangled clothes and notebooks. She gripped her head tightly in her hands as she fell back on her bed on top of the mess. Her hands moved to cover her face as she let out a scream into her palm. Getting back up she sat on the couch and retrieved the first aid box and began to wrap the bandage tightly around her ankle. She picked up her phone and messaged everyone to assemble in the conference room.

Her awkward gait and her head held up stiffly were in contrast with each. Raine felt particularly confident about her analysis this time. Last time she was still in doubt about whether her conclusion regarding the data was correct or not. But this time around, she was positive regarding the presentation.

With a radiant smile on her face she entered the conference hall. Her mood turned a little sour as she saw Sarah and Claire chatting animatedly and Aubrey removing her hair tie and setting her messy hair free.

Does no one here have a sense of professionalism?

Raine wondered how her female colleagues managed to keep up with the work of the research lab if they had such casual attitudes. But then she had always felt that they lacked the dedication, the Fergie needed by a true scientist. She decided she could not blame them. They were women after all. She shook her head slightly and tried to clear away the negative vibes. She sat down in one of chairs smiling at her colleague as they all waited for their senior to enter in.

Raine’s turn to present her opinions came after an hour. She stood up and walked firmly towards the head of the conference table. She explained her point of view regarding the research confidently, using sophisticated science jargon.

“But when we stain these cells with-” Her words broke off when Christine, her colleague, interrupted her in middle to give her own input. Raine bit back a sound of frustration as Christine pointed out a fault in her statement.

Was Christine the one who spent more than seventy hours a week trying to perfect her thesis? No right? Then, as a women who didn’t work that hard, shouldn’t she just shut her mouth instead of pointed out faults in her hard work?

Why did these women have to butt in where they didn’t belong? They should do what they were good at - menial jobs that didn’t require much intelligence.

Raine thought bitterly as she cursed Christine in her head. She thought back to the time when she had entered the conference room. Christine had been deeply studying her analysis. She should have suspected that she would try to cause a trouble and had been searching for a mistake. Replying to Christine’s query with a mild rebuke, Raine completed her presentation and sat back down in her seat.

At the end of the meeting, her senior went over the analysis presented to him and finally, stood up grinning at the scientists and applauded them for their hard work.
“Thank you all for your unwavering efforts and dedication regarding this project. I am pleased to say that because of our efforts, the government has decided to provide sufficient funds for our next project.” Raine cheered along with everybody else as they expressed their delight.

The senior went on to say, “To lead this project I have decided on a scientist whose diligence impressed me the most. She is brilliant…”
But Raine wasn’t listening anymore. All her mind could process as that the team leader was going to be a women.

What was their senior doing? Handing over the leadership of such an important research to a woman? What if she messes it up? What if she jeopardized the entire project because of her careless mistakes?

She looked at the women sitting around the elliptical table with disdain. They were none of them capable of leading anything. Thousands of what-ifs revolved in her mind as she thought over the consequences of making a woman their leader. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she missed her own name being called out. She blinked her eyes slowly as she broke out of her trance. Her senior was gazing expectedly at her. Realizing what he meant, Raine stood up with a start. He turned back to their audience as he pointed at Raine and said, “She will be the project leader.” He turned back towards her and said, “Raine I have always been surprised by your commitment towards science and how brilliant your latest research have been. Therefore, I would like to appoint you as the leader of this crucial project that has the capability of permanently changing our understanding and views on life. Cheers!”

Raine smiled proudly at her accomplishment but her happiness was dampened by none other than Christine.
“But sir, what if she messes it up? You know that she is the wife of a brilliant scientist herself, Raine are you sure you will be able to handle the extra responsibility?” Christine said.

Mess it up? How can she be the one to mess it up?

Raine scoffed at her words. She opened her mouth to defend herself but closed it back down as a fleeting thought crossed her head. Hadn’t she been thinking the same thing just a few moments ago? Wasn’t she a woman too? No, this isn’t the same thing. Raine tried to convince herself. She wasn’t an incompetent scientist who would ruin their hard work. She was mature woman and suitable for this job. Raine took a deep breath, thanked her senior and after promising her colleagues and juniors that she would try her best, she went to her living quarters.

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