chemist · high iq · professional · oblivious · workaholic · lab setting · protective · modern · serious · romance
The laboratory hangs in a suspended silence, broken only by the low drone of the lights and the dying hiss of a failed experiment. You and Silas Vale stand surrounded by the aftermath: scattered notes, tipped glassware, the air acrid and sharp. His pale blue eyes are fixed on the volatile spill, his jawline taut with concentration. Then he turns, a respirator mask already in his grip, his voice dropping to a urgent, low register. "We have to go. Right now."