His thoughts

Luke got back to his building, he went into the underground parking and got out. Jerry was coming towards him, he tossed the keys to him, "Do me a favour Jerry, park the car for me."

"Certainly sir." Jerry caught the keys.

Luke grabbed his bag and moved to the elevator, he got to the top floor and put his hand on a screen, on the wall beside the door, the door clicked open.

He threw his bag on the couch and slumped into it, he was exhausted physically, but with what Rachel did, he was mentally exhausted too.

"Why did she bring that up, and also where did Nora come in from? And she called that a kiss?! Her lips just brushed against my cheek, that's it. And she wasn't even affected by it. Was she?" He thought. "Yes she was, her face almost looked like a tomato." He chuckled.

"Damn I'm famished." He got up and made his way to the kitchen, and grabbed a cereal box from one of the cabinets, "Oats and honey." He muttered and moved to grab a bowl and milk. He settled down at the dinning table with the cereal bowl and his mind wandered off. "Huh, what a joke it doesn't even smell like oats and honey let alone tasting like that. Oh yes, Nora's hair smell like oats and honey, just perfect, just get close to her and anyone can smell the fresh fragrance; wait what the heck was that?! No, no just concentrate on the meal." He rebuked himself.

"But it doesn't taste that bad, it's acceptable." He gulped down a few spoonfuls. "But that pizza, it was delicious, out of the world, it was her idea. The journey was also fun totally different from what I thought, she was quite engaging. And at the competition, man those teary eyes, they took my breath away, but she got out of it like pro; cursing me like that in the corridor, it was hilarious. She really is something." A small smile formed on his face, but he jerked himself to reality. "Oh shit, I got to get some sleep right now, I am out of my fucking mind." He got up from the table and stomped away to his bedroom.

***

"Good you're up." Tina barged in, "Mr. James' looking for you, looks like you're in deep waters this time."

"I know, I mean..." Nora sighed. "Nevermind, I'll go."

"Of course you will, you built a god forsaken virus, you're going down this time Nora." Tina smirked.

"Thanks for the reassurance." Nora gave her a face.

"No worries." Tina slumped into the bed, "Now I'll go to sleep. You had your part now it's my time, good night."

"Sure go ahead, just sleep all you want. I'll go." Nora grabbed her bag and left the room shutting the door behind her.

She directly went to the faculty room, Mr. James was seated at his desk, talking to someone, she stopped and then turned to leave, "Stop right there." Mr. James said.

"Oh, I thought you were busy professor. I'll come back later." She tried to slip out.

"No I am not, come have a seat." He motioned to the chair across his table. Nora settled down.

"So, let's get straight to the topic, even though we won the Hackathon, still what you did wasn't right. It sure was cool, but not right." He leaned back in his chair. "And unfortunately the university chancellor is getting personally involved in this. I'll have to take some actions."

"So he thinks what I did was wrong. What about them, who stole our project." She said.

"That matter has been dealt with, for now you are our major concern." He said calmly. "But before I forget, the USB drive which has the virus." He put his hand forward.

"Sure." She took out the drive from her jeans pocket and handed it over.

"I really do want to look, how you built this up." Mr. James smiled at her.

"Sure professor and about the action, you said." Nora asked.

"Oh don't worry about it, I just said that because I was asked to. According to me what you did was justified."

Nora grinned from ear to ear.

"But -" he continued, "I would not like you to do anything like that again. Understand?" She nodded.

"And here you go?" He put a beautiful box with ribbon bow on the table.

"What's this?" She looked at the box, confused.

"Told you, university chancellor was involved in this personally, this is a gift of gratitude." He smiled.

"So the university is bribing me for the decision I made." She raised her eyebrows.

"Certainly not. This is a gift for keeping the university first." He pushed it towards her. Nora hesitated taking it.

"Nora, it's for you, please take it." Mr. James insisted.

"Okay." She took the box in her hands. "Thank you professor, I'll take a leave now." She grabbed her bag and turned to leave.

She stepped out in the corridor, inspecting the box from all sides, it was light blue in colour and had a dark blue ribbon bow, it looked pretty. "Hey Nora." She looked up, George was coming towards her.

"Hi." She smiled.

"Wow, that's a pretty box." He exclaimed.

"Yeah it is." She held it up.

"I heard what you did, I am so proud of you." He said.

"Thanks. But how do you know?" She looked at him.

"Everybody does. It's all over the place." He moved his hand around. " Anyway what's in that box?"

"Dunno. It's a gift for my sacrifice." She smirked. "Let open this." She put her bag on her shoulders and untied the bow and opened the lid. The box was beautiful inside out, it contained chocolates and not just some chocolates, these were delicately wrapped in beautifully designed covers; the box screamed extravagant.

Nora picked one piece and unwrapped it and put it in her mouth, it melted, it was delicious.

"Man it's exquisite." She said with a smile. "Here try some." She extended it to George. He took a piece and put it in his mouth, "True, it's real good." He nodded.

"Told ya." She grinned. "Anyway I got to go now or I'll be late for class." She stuffed the box in her bag and walked past him. "Bye." She waved her hand, George waved back.

"Man, did she just get cuter and prettier." He smiled. "She certainly was much more exquisite than the chocolate and that smile, so beautiful. She's got something that always gets me, from the day I saw her, she's been on my mind. Damn. Got to something about it." He smirked and took off his glasses and hanged them on his shirt. He looked at her disappear at end of the corridor, "One day, I'll make you mine Nora, just wait for it." He smirked.