Queen Bee

Chapter 3: The Problem is With Her

Kara bursted into the lab. Her sudden return startled Chris who was on a video call with his girlfriend. He attempted to stand up to pretend to be hard at work, but stumbled and fell from his chair instead.

Chris struggled back on his feet, but Kara was no longer anywhere in sight.

“Heh, what was it? Did you see a ghost or something?” his girlfriend Sarah was quick to make fun of him.

“No, the Iron Virgin came back. Scared the s**t out of me. I’ll talk to you later, gotta check out what’s going on.”

“The Iron Virgin? Oh! You mean the female PhD student who rejected William? Come on, don’t hang up! I wanna see what she looks like! I’ve never seen her before!”

“Maybe next time. See ya.”

Chris hung up on his girlfriend and headed upstairs after Kara.

The second floor of the bio lab housed many different machines in different rooms with large metal doors that had small glass viewing ports.

Chris peered into each lab room, and finally found Kara in the blood sample room.

He knocked on the door softly.

“Enter.” Kara’s back was still towards the door.

“You’re back. Did something happen?” Chris popped his head into the room.

“It’s nothing. My friend needed help with some blood samples.” Kara turned around. She was holding a test tube half filled with blood, “Since you’re here, can you help me turn on the power of the centrifugal machine?”

When Chris turned around to operate the machine, Kara took the chance to slip a cotton ball to her inner elbow to stop the bleeding.

“Do you need help with anything else?”

“No.” Kara offered him a smile, “You may leave.”

Kara threw the syringe she had hidden in her pocket into the trash can once Chris left. She then split the blood sample into two smaller portions. One of them went to the centrifugal machine, while the other was meant to be studied under a microscope.

But after two hours of testing and observation, she found nothing.

She began to turn her attention towards another possibility. Maybe my abnormal increase in appetite is due to something psychological?

She heard another knock on the door as she pondered about the possibility of contacting a therapist.

It was William.

Kara knew that Chris was behind this. He had most definitely told William that she was in the lab, and the man immediately headed her way in an attempt to win her over.

With his height a solid 6’2’’, his body bristling with muscles, and his extremely handsome face, William was actually someone who fit her taste. But his mental age of a twenty-something years old was a big turn off for her. The only thing she could do was to avoid this stud of a man.

She set the lab equipment aside and made her way towards William.

“Good evening, William. If I recall correctly, you’re not a student of our faculty. You’re not allowed to be in the bio lab after 9pm.”

“I know, but Chris told me that you’re working late tonight. I brought you some food.” William beamed at her as he motioned at the food and drinks he held in his hand.

Kara finally realized that she had not eaten for a long while at the mention of food. She was immediately overcome by hunger. After a brief moment of thought, she opened the door.

“Thank you.” she said as she accepted the bag of food from William, “How much are these? I’ll pay you.”

“What do you think I am? Some food delivery boy?” William’ expression darkened. Damn it, I missed her hand.

Kara frowned at that remark, “Since you’re not going to accept it, then forget about it.”

But before she could slam the door shut on his face, William stopped the door with his leg, “Wait, wait! I’m just here as a friend giving you some food. I’ll be gone once we’re both done eating, alright?’

But he received no response from Kara.

“It’s so late now. I got these from a convenient store two blocks away. I haven’t had dinner as well. I just wanted to eat with you. I’ll be gone right after that. I promise!”

Kara glanced at the night sky outside the window. It was indeed not easy to get food at this time. She loosened her grip on the door.

William let out a sigh of relief. He took a seat on one of the chairs before laying the food onto an empty table, “Take your pick. I bought some hotdogs, onigiri, some bacon…”

“I’ll have this then.” Kara picked up a sandwich.

William snatched the sandwich away and handed Kara a grilled sausage, “You should try this instead!”

Kara bit into the sausage after some slight hesitation.

But the fragrance of meat that she remembered did not enter her mouth.

It tasted strange, just like plastic.

“What is this stuff?” she asked as she spits the piece of meat into the trash can.

“It’s grilled sausage, just that it’s grown slightly cold.” William took a bite as well.

Kara finally came to a realization when she looked at how naturally William reacted to the food. There was nothing wrong with the sausage. Something was wrong with her, “I’m sorry. Maybe I’m having a cold. That’s why my appetite is not great.”

William finally noticed her damp clothing, “Do you need medication? I’ll go get some for you.”

“It’s okay. There’s some in the office. Tell Chris to get them for me.”

“Alright.”