❇ Yuanfen ❇

2. Chemistry

"Rin", the teacher called out, clearly annoyed. "I'm telling you for the last time, stop talking."

The aforementioned girl scratched her head and gave the teacher an apologetic smile.

"Sorry."

The teacher sighed and continued with her lesson.

Rin simply stood there, looking into the small beaker that was kept on her table. Inside it was a bright blue liquid. The colour was so pretty, it reminded her of a galaxy.

And the eyes of a certain someone.

She whipped her head to the right and her eyes wandered to the extreme back corner. A tiny smile appeared on her face as she spotted him.

Bright blond hair pulled carelessly into a small ponytail, sparkling cerulean orbs shielded by thin glasses, eyebrows furrowed in concentration and his head slightly bent over the counter. His one hand was on his hip while the other was fiddling with a pencil.

Rin would've​ liked to look at him a little longer, but she turned around anyways. The teacher would surely catch her if she looked longer.

She sighed as she pulled out a test tube from the holder and examined its contents. She picked up her pencil and made a note of its name.

Sodium hydroxide ,she wrote down.

But just as she was about to pick up the second tube and continue her experiment, a small pice of paper landed over her book. Picking it up and unfolding it, she read what was written.

Hey, how are you gonna do the experiment? You haven't paid any attention to class. (⊙_⊙)

She smiled as she quickly wrote down a reply.

Who says I don't pay attention? I know more than you (︶︿︶).

She folded it and passed it over to her lab partner. She smiled as she saw the tealette skim through the reply. Miku frowned at her.

"If you know how to do it, teach me idiot", she yelled in a whisper .

Rin simply shrugged and passed her notes over to Miku. Miku immediately began copying the lines down . When she was done, she passed Rin a grateful smile.

"Thank you so much. I don't know what I'll do without you."

Rin laughed softly. She then continued the experiment she had earlier left undone.

Dissolve 5g of sodium hydroxide with the glucose solution and then slowly add in the prepared-

"Psst,"

-methylene blue -

"Pssst".

She looked up and raised her eyebrows at her friend.

"What?", she asked, mildly annoyed.

Her lab partner smirked. She twirled her pencil between her fingers as she answered slyly,
"I saw you steal glances at him."

Rin felt her cheeks grow warm. With difficulty she stopped herself from stuttering and averted her gaze.

"Him? Who 'him'? I don't understand, Miku", she replied coolly.

Her friend chuckled. "'Don't understand?' You mean to say you don't know who 'he' is?"

"Yes."

"Oh Rin, please. I saw myself how you were staring at Len."

Rin immediately turned to her friend. "I-I wasn't staring!"

Miku grinned. "So you admit that you were looking at him."

"N-no! I wasn't!"

"Yes, you were."

"No, I wasn't! How many times should I tell you?"

"Yeah, yeah, lie to yourself."

In midst of their argument, they forgot that the teacher was still inside. And unfortunately for them, at that moment, the teacher decided to land her eyes on them.

"So, in the presence of sodium hydroxide, the gluconic acid is converted to sodium gluconate, an- RIN!"

Immediately both Miku's and Rin's eyes shot up to meet the teacher's glare.

"Rin, this moment, up from that seat! You're not sitting there anymore." Their teacher scanned her eyes across the lab. The​n, she pointed to the corner and looked back at Rin. "You're going to sit with Len, right there!"

Rin widened her eyes. "But ma'am-"

"No buts, your new lab partner will be Len. As for Miku, she can do with some time alone."

Miku eyed her blonde friend with a shocked expression. Rin sighed and began picking up her belongings. She paced her way to her new seat amidst the gaze of all the other students. The teacher resumed her class.

When she was at her place, her eyes met with his. "H-hey", she mumbled. Her cheeks were the faintest colour of pink.

"Hey", he replied with a small smile. "Nice to meet you, new partner."

She smiled back. "You too."

Then there was silence. Among them, at least. The teacher's​ voice still resounded in the lab.

She turned to look at him. He was glancing over the textbook as he measured out the chemicals. She smiled once again on seeing how focused he was.

She noticed then that he was working with two flasks. She peered into his notebook.

She picked up the tube from his holder, not noticing that he was looking at her. Bringing the chemical closer to her, she examined its swirling contents.

"So you're using indigo carmine."

Len grinned at her. "You know what it does?"

Rin blushed slightly. "It turns the solution to green, then red and back to green."

"Yup, exactly. I think I got a pretty good lab mate", he spoke, still smiling.

"Seeing that you're trying something different than everyone else, I could say the same." She felt her mouth tug into a warm smile.

"In that case, I look forward to working more together, Ms.Rin ." He winked playfully and stretched out his hand. Rin​ took it in hers and shook it lightly.

"Me too, Mr. Len. Let's work hard together."

"Alright! So start helping me now!"
----
Word Count: 923 words

A/N
Part 2 of 10. Ah! Finally!

I feel like I've been working at such a turtle pace. I need to really speed up. It was our last day of class yesterday and I've been brimming the ideas this week. Only thing is that, my finals start next week. My inspiration strikes at such wrong times, I swear. (＞﹏＜)

So about this story, I think it's written badly and that it seems rushed. The idea popped in randomly and I really wanted to finish it. So, I'm sorry.
And the experiment they're doing is the 'blue bottle' experiment if you wanted to know. Google it up if you don't know what it is. I purposely included the chemical names and all, since I wanted my characters to bond over their common interest in chemistry.

I know that this story may not really be based on 'love' as such, except the small things I said that seem like Rin has a crush on Len. It's more based on a budding friendship, which is one of the most important relationships​ in life. A small friendship may even blossom into love. That's basically the essence of this piece- the beauty of beginnings.

And as always comment, vote, share and tell me your opinions.

Till next time,
Saraba de!