Vein

Chapter 1

I can't wait! It felt like just yesterday when I met Kiran and now it's our first wedding anniversary. I'm so excited even my hands are trembling! I carefully placed the food I had prepared on the aluminium tray.

Bacon, check; eggs, check; beans, check; buns, check.

I carefully lift up the tray from the countertop and walk carefully into our bedroom to not drop it. Kiran was already awake. He was sitting up with his back leaned against the headboard; the sheets covering the lower part of his body, exposing the toned, bare chest above the sheets; his raven black hair falling over his face as he scrolled through his phone.

Hearing the creak of the door, he raised his head and looked at me with those mesmerizingly deep brown eyes. "Happy anniversary, darling." He raised up his arms, welcoming me into a bear hug.

"Happy anniversary, my love." Despite being married for a year now, I can't help but feel butterflies in my stomach whenever he calls me that. "I prepared this just for you. I hope you enjoy it."

I placed the tray on the nightstand and allowed myself to be consumed by his strong arms. I shifted myself to sit on his lap, my head against his chest.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

His heartbeat was calm and controlled, like the water on a silent stream, the waves before a tsunami.

"You didn't have to do this, you know?" Kiran murmured as he nuzzled his face into my hair. "It's only eight in the morning and yet you're already doing things for me. In fact, you shouldn't have."

I'm helpless against my emotions. "It's our anniversary, I wanted to give you a break, even if it means waking up early just to do it." I pouted, "Just didn't expect a lecture out of it..."

"But it's your anniversary too, don't you need a break?" He spoke into my hair and gave me a peck against my forehead.

"But I have something special to do with you today, so don't worry." He started rubbing his hands against my shoulders. I felt his deep breaths blowing against my hair, tickling me a little. "I'll make this the best day of your life. So, I'll eat the breakfast you've worked so hard on and I'll give you a ride to the lab, is that okay?"

I feel my face lifting up into a smile, my problems washing away. Goddamn, how did I capture this specimen of a man. "Alright. I'll be waiting downstairs."

The moment I step into the facility I take out my access card and go through the lobby. On my access card it wrote:

DR. ADRIENNE LYRE VEINAR

Head of Biology Department

Co-founder of LILITH'S LABORATORY

ID: C8539DB

I tapped my access card on the sensor beside the elevator. The screen above the sensor displayed: E11.

I walked to the elevator with the number '11' written above it. The moment I got there the doors opened and invited me in. I quickly got on and pressed the button to the twenty-third floor. My elevator stopped at multiple floors: the Linguistics Department on floors ten and eleven; the Lunchroom 1 on the fifteenth floor; the Architecture Department on the eighteenth floor; and finally the twenty-third floor, the Biology Department on the twenty-third floor. The Biology Department holds one of the largest areas in the entire building, along with Quantum Physics, Chemistry and Physics being, obviously, the largest.

I passed the solid metal doors in swift motion, walking towards the glass doors. The moment I passed them, a swarm of white coats came surrounding me.

"Dr. Veinar, the white rats-"