And her eyes were like melted chocolate, dark and rich. They sparkled with mischief, shone with happiness.

I was able to calm myself quite quickly, which probably was for the better, because not even ten minutes after the deputy had gone away, another knock sounded on my door.

Wiping my eyes with the palms of my hands furiously, I tried removing all the tears on my face before opening the door. Vir's face greeted me, looking extremely worried for my wellbeing. His dark blonde curls were dancing around his head. I drank in all his features, almost missing the sound of his voice as he asked me if I was alright.

"Livia?"

I shook my head to clean my thoughts before looking up at him, a tad bit confused. "Sorry what?"

He chuckled slightly with a pink tint colouring his normally pale cheeks. He was obviously embarrassed by me eye raping him. "I asked if you were okay."

Now it was my turn to be ashamed as I nodded furiously, sincerely hoping he wouldn't see the trails of tears on my face. "Yhea, I'm fine. In the Fortis pack they thought us to recognize a shooter, so I already knew he wasn't going to shoot me."

"Oh, well that's great. I'm glad you're okay."

"I am too," I said teasingly when he seemed as if he wanted to say something else but kept quiet anyway. "Do you want to come in?"

That seemed to do the trick. "No no, I was actually wondering if you wanted to come to my biochemical lab with me."

I smiled at that. He looked shy when he asked me this, and I thought it was adorable that the obvious nerd wanted me to see his research. 

"Sure," I told him. "When do you want to go?" It would be a pity if I wouldn't see him longer than three minutes today, but at least then we had an appointment – could you call this a date? - for later.

"Now?" He scratched his neck awkwardly, seemingly unsure.

"Now?" I repeated, surprise visible on my face.

"Well, ehm... Yes?"

"Is that a question?" I teased him again. It was just too easy and he always reacted so cutely, I couldn't help it. And yes indeed, there was that blush again, as he stuttered shyly that it wasn't a question.

***

So a couple of minutes later we were headed to the top floors of the Headquarters again, where Vir mostly resided. When I asked him why, he replied vaguely that he preferred to see everyone. 

Maybe smart people could make something of that, but I couldn't. But I had to keep up appearances for a little while longer, otherwise he might reject me. 

I mean, he had every right to, he was an Alpha after all. Although I had to admit that he seemed different. He seemed sweeter than any other Alpha I had ever seen before. Which was only Alpha Ethan of my own pack, so maybe my own Alpha was the odd one out, instead of Vir.

Vir was silent as he walked. His steps were long, and with my shorter legs, I actually had to make some effort to be able to keep up. However, this way it didn't take too long before we reached his lab. 

The ride in the lift was a bit awkward, with only the creepy lounge music to keep us company, but it was alright. I was happy to spend time with him.

"You have to put on a lab coat and goggles, if you want to get in. Is that okay? I mean do you want to? I mean we can do-"

I put my finger on my lips as I calmed him quickly. "Ssshh, it's okay. I'll put on one of these white tents. It's no problem, really. Don't worry."

I was right about the tent part. Even though I got a small size, I was almost drowning in it, and I had to roll up the sleeves once to be able to see my own hands. 

However, while I looked like an albino walrus with glasses, Vir looked like one of these sexy researchers you could always see on tv. I almost felt the need to look around and scream 'mine' when someone was looking at him. 

Luckily I managed to compose myself before I would be utterly embarrassed by my own actions.

I waddled behind Vir like a penguin as he showed me the enormous biochemical research lab. 

He pointed at things, and I heard everything he said. I could listen for hours to his voice. He could be naming all the numbers in a phone book and I would still be mesmerised by that godly sound. One downside to that was that I had no clue what he was talking about. 

Pretending I understood all that he had said, I nodded.

"You had no idea what I just told you, do you?"

I shook my head sheepishly, trying to find a reason for my distraction other than his voice that was like a lovely lullaby. "I was just curious... about... your eh... own research." 

Praying he didn't tell me anything about that before, I watched his face lit up in understanding. 

"You want to know?"

I nodded enthusiastically.

"Well," he started speaking after pushing up the glasses on his nose. They seemed to slide off really easily, so every two sentences he had to do it again. "So basically, I'm trying to 3D print a functioning kidney that can be used in transplants." 

Well, that wasn't hard for me to follow. "Therefore I need to incorporate some aspects that reduce the need for immunosuppressants, which is possible if I print living cells from the person that needs the transplant, but first I need to make sure all the cells are uncancerous, which is also an important aspect."

There he lost me. And he must have seen it, because he looked at me funnily. "You still don't really get it, do you?"

Improvise, Livia, improvise! "Well, ehm..." I stuttered. "I do, but.. ehm... it isn't exactly my field of research."

Now all his attention was on me fully. "What is, then? We can talk about that, if you want?" He seemed genuinely interested in me, which would have warmed my heart, if I actually had a field of research. 

Which I hadn't.

"Earth Sciences." I hoped that this was an actual thing.

He nodded in interest. "Nice, what is your specialty?"

"I focus mostly on the earth part," I said, trying to look smart.

"The earth part?" I had never seen someone looking so sceptical before.

"Well, ehm... Geography, I mean of course." Laughing awkwardly, I tried to steer the conversation in another direction again. "I actually wanted to ask you something."

He didn't believe me completely, I could tell, but he let it go anyway when I showed him my wrist, which was looking like a painting. Dark yellow, blue and purplish tints covered my entire lower arm. 

"Is this normal after getting injected with a chip?" 

***
Hoii!
It's almost been two months since I started uploading chapters of Sapientiae, and I have to say that I'm thankful for all of you who have read this far! Your feedback means the world to me :)

Having said that, my secret stash of chapters that I've written already is slowly but surely slinking. I suspect this story will have about 60 chapters, maybe more, but do far I've only written until chapter 23... let's hope I'll have enough time to write in the summer holidays in July and August then!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you next week!

Liefs,
Sanne