A Symptom of Love (GERI Labs #1)

34. At the Principal’s Office

34

At the Principal’s Office

“ S till waiting on that answer,” is Aiden’s whisper as they sit outside the HR office on the sixth floor of their GERI building.

How can this man even focus on them right now when his entire career is on the line?

Granted, when HR called them both, asking for their presence, together, it was a big enough hint that things are looking up. But now, sitting outside the closed door to the conference room—Eleanor feels anxious. And nervous. What if they don’t let him go back to work? What if they decide to shut down his lab?

“Seriously? That’s what you want to know? Right now?” she teases. “It feels like we’ve been called to the principal’s office after being caught smoking weed and making out in the bathroom.”

“I hope you’re not speaking from personal experience.” Aiden raises a berating eyebrow at her. “And yes, that’s what I want to know.”

“Can you repeat the question?” she asks playfully. Not because the hair-pulling wait for HR’s verdict has messed with her memory. Just because she wants to hear him say it again. She needs to hear him say it. Again.

Aiden smirks, and before Eleanor has a chance to blink or just take another breath, he rises from his seat and kneels before her. His new tattoo, the one matching hers, comes into view as he holds out his arms and takes her hands in his. Seriously handsome, ink-hater Professor Aiden Kowalski got a tattoo. For her.

Who would have thought?

“Eleanor Benjamin,” Aiden says in a formal tone. His beautiful blue eyes staring deep into her soul. “Would you do me the honor of being my real girlfriend?”

“Why Professor Kowalski, I thought you’d never ask. Again.” She grins at him.

“Would it scare you away if I told you that I love you?” he asks, a boyish smile on his lips.

“I think I’d quite like that,” she says, smiling back. “Quite a lot, actually.”

“Good!” he says, pulling her up as he stands. “Because you’re going to have to hear it a lot.” A small smile is pulling up on his face but his gaze still a bit apprehensive. Eleanor can’t really blame him, she’s been quite a flight risk.

“No objection here,” she says, surprised by how right it feels.

That apprehensive look on Aiden’s face turns into a relief, then is taken over by a sort of blissful happiness she hasn’t seen on him before. Not until this moment, as he pulls her into his embrace. And as she lets her muscles relax and gives her whole body to the moment, she hopes the HR people inside the conference room will take their time, because she doesn’t want this hug to end. She never wants to let go.

“Professor Kowalski?” Of course, they’d come to get them at that very moment she was hoping they wouldn’t. “Dr. Benjamin?” The woman from that last interrogation, still clutching a notepad, gives them an interesting look. Somewhere between get-a-room and this-confirms-what-we-already-knew, but interestingly enough—in a good way. “Please follow me,” she instructs, and they do as she says. Only this time, Aiden holds Eleanor’s hand, only breaking the contact to pull out a chair for her. And once they’re seated, side by side, facing the HR team, he takes her hand again, giving her an incredibly comforting ‘everything will be okay’ squeeze.

“Do you know why we’ve asked you both to be here today?” the woman asks. There are several scenarios going through Eleanor’s head right now, but something tells her she’d better not share them in this specific forum.

Since neither of them answers, the woman continues. “The first and foremost reason is that we wanted to apologize. We’ve completed our investigation and concluded beyond doubt that there was no basis for concern. There had also been a complaint against Professor Kowalski, made in conjunction to the social media fest. But this was withdrawn by the individual, who said it came out of jealousy and spite. He apologized deeply and expressed much regret. He also admitted he was responsible for the original post and that the details he had provided were falsified, made up. We are truly sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused.”

Inconvenience? This woman has her way with understatements for sure.

“But I’m sure you understand that we had to investigate,” she continues, turning her gaze to Aiden. “Your records will be wiped clean and a formal statement clearing your name beyond doubt, along with an official apology will be publicly released immediately, and signed by our team and GERI officials. I truly am sorry for what happened. I hope you understand. Until all details became clear we had to take this investigation seriously. And keep you two apart. Which, I see, did not last long.”

“Effective immediately,” the second woman says, “both of you can return to work. And I can clearly tell you two are very much happy together. There is no rule at GERI that stops you from proceeding, as I see you already have.” She gives them a genuine smile.

“Thank you,” Eleanor says, trying to sound professional. But really, she is holding back as much as she can, because right now she would happily jump up and down, and into the lap of her new, now officially not-fake boyfriend.

“And you.” The first woman focuses her attention on Eleanor. “Dr. Benjamin, would you please tell your mother that things are sorted out now? She can stop calling us.”

“Calling you?”

“Ah, yes. She made sure we knew this was love at first sight,” she splits a stare between Aiden and Eleanor, “and that we should get off your backs.”

“Reiterated every day for the past week.” The man jumps in. “We also heard from someone who claimed to be this drummer.” He looks down to his notes. “Oren Hason. He felt compelled to give us an additional perspective on the story, including how tagging his fan page on social media contributed to the noise.”

“And finally,” the first woman jumps in, “you may also want to thank Professor Harrington for doing the same, albeit not as persistently as your mother. And Dr. Finn Anderson, and pretty much all of your past and current students and postdocs for their unwavering support, Professor Kowalski.”

Once they’re out of the conference room and into the staircase corridor, away from everyone else—because, really, nobody ever takes the staircase in this building—Eleanor leaps into Aiden’s arms and hugs him tight, looping her legs around his waist and kissing all the air out of him, and then some more. This is the best possible outcome for this crazy blunder. Now they can finally put it behind them. And go back to work. Together.

Eleanor’s phone buzzes in her pocket. She tries to ignore it, but it seems persistent.

“Sorry,” she says, pulling it out. “It might be my mom texting me.”

But it’s a message from Gillie. “Eloosh, you have to watch this,” he writes in Hebrew, along with a link to a video on Oren Hason’s official Instagram page. She presses it and turns the phone so Aiden can watch too, hoping it’s not something too embarrassing.

“Guys, I wanted to comment about some rumors that have been going around in the media lately,” Oren says in Hebrew. “About Ellie and me getting back together.” He pauses. “As much as I would have loved for that to be true, this information is fabricated. The photo of Ellie and me that was recently posted is an old photo, taken more than five years ago, when Ellie and I were still an item. Ellie has since moved on, she is very much in love with her boyfriend, Aiden, which you may have seen in the other photo. And I wish the two of them a very happy ending. And Aiden,” Oren switches to English, bringing his face closer to the camera as if on a personal note that only the two of them share, “you’re a lucky man. In the three years Ellie and I were together, Ellie never even once looked at me the way she constantly looks at you.” Then he smiles to the camera and translates the gist of his little speech. “Both Ellie and Aiden are extremely talented and hard-working scientists with outstanding scientific discoveries in their past and their future. A combination that could attract haters and jealousy, I’m sure this is not a new concept for any of you, but I hope we can all come together and show them some love. Now please put your supportive comments down below.”

“Well, looks like the trip to New York was worth the trouble,” Eleanor says. And from the content look on Aiden’s face, he appears to agree.

They continue their way down the stairs, still holding hands.

“Aiden,” she says quietly as they reach the third floor, about to open the door to the corridor leading to his lab. “We can take it slow with the GERI crowd. I’ll understand if you want to take your time making us… public. That is, outside of the social media realm.”

“Do you want me to take my time?” He arches an eyebrow.

“Not really,” she admits. “But I’ll understand if you do.”

“I don’t,” he says, pulling her into him for another kiss. “I want everyone to know you’re mine.”