The Scandalous Wedding

Prologue: Lab Partners Part 2

Elijah sat on the seat that was assigned to him and his lab partner. He gritted his teeth as he glanced around and saw all the paired students talking, laughing, and flirting with each other. He sighed inaudibly and raked a hand through his gel styled hair. He knew he couldn't do that with his lab partner.

There was no way in hell he would flirt with 'the de Silva girl'. He has sworn on it, not even if she dressed up for him and begged him for attention. She was the one girl in the school who downright hated him and degraded him in front of other chics. He was aware that all those girls who ditched him on dates were under the influence of this Miss de Silva only.

And now he had to endure her for an entire semester. He looked up wondering what he did to deserve such punishment. And suddenly a cheerful voice filled in the disinfectant smelling laboratory, "Good Morning Sam", he looked up towards the voice and found her walking leisurely into the class with a thousand watt smile on her face.

She was chatting with a girl wearing pigtails and glasses merrily, and after a second she passed another girl whom she greeted with the same enthusiasm.

He groaned inwardly, what's with her cheery attitude? Who does she think she is? – Miss Sunshine? He thought with irritation. After greeting a few more classmates she strutted towards him with a small smile. Now, why the hell is she smiling at me? He thought with a suspicious look.

***

Sang gave a lot of thought to her situation and decided that she will try and befriend Elijah. After all how bad can he be? She thought. As her previous night's thoughts flashed in her mind, she projected a small friendly smile to Elijah and walked towards him.

He was frowning at her with narrowed eyes, and if she didn't know him any better she would have thought he looked cute with that expression. She quickly shook that thought and greeted him, "Hey" as she placed her bag inside the cabinet underneath their experiment tables that was provided for them to keep their bags and books.

He nodded at her once as an acknowledgement to the greeting. Sang gritted her teeth to control the anger that was bubbling within her. Couldn't he even reply with a 'Hey' or 'good morning'? She thought grimly but shook her head at his childishness.

"Let's get one thing clear Miss de Silva", Elijah's voice made her snap her head towards him. She raised her eyebrows, to say 'what now?'

"It's obvious that we don't like each other. You tried to sabotage all my dates, I never wanted to be your lab partner in the first place, our parents hate each other, our companies have been rivals since.... Forever, did I miss anything?" he asked after ranting all the reasons why they hate each other,

Sang pretended to think for a moment and then said, "You missed the part that you are a huge asshole who uses girls like tissue and I am the nice person, who tries to save girls from getting their hearts broken. And yeah, I hate you too", her patience was wearing thin. How bad can he be? She snorted at her own thoughts of earlier.

"Right", Elijah spoke with gritted teeth. "So, why don't we both mind our own business and talk only if its work related. You can keep your cheerful big mouth shut and I will mind my work. And by the way don't worry about the lab; you don't have to do anything. I will finish all the work myself", he said with finality. For a second Sang was mesmerized with the authority in his voice. He reminded her of her father when he was in a meeting. She knew, at that moment, that he will be a great business man.

However, this was not the case. She was his lab partner, and she hated him more now.

****

"Okay class, let's begin our titrations", Professor Ched said snapping the book close as he finished his demonstration. "Remember this is an individual work, though you have been assigned a partner. I will be checking all your final values and end results. So, pay attention". He said and moved towards the aisle between rows of experiment tables to keep an eye on the students.