Inspirational quote: If it doesn't open... Then it's just not your door.

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For goodness sake, Agent Astera, Lauriel wanted to scream at her. If you hadn't shown up then I wouldn't have had to take this test so early in the first place.

Lauriel was annoyed.
And no, she wasn't prepared for this test at all, she hadn't revised.

Or known that there was a test in the first place, at least before Dr Kozak had forced her to read the contract out loud for him to hear.

Staring at her, Dr Kozak scanned her up and down, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Hey. Just because you're thinking stuff doesn't mean that I can't hear you. Literally. Don't badmouth my wife."

Lauriel was even more agitated than last time.

You're just showing off because you can read minds, she thought to herself, glancing wickedly at Dr Kozak.

Dr Kozak glanced at Lauriel maliciously back as well.

"No I'm not showing off. It's a gift, I told you. Don't wind me up intentionally."

Agent Astera was baffled, as in baffled on what Dr K and Lauriel seemed to be bickering about.

"What are you guys talking about?" She enquired, looking confusingly at Dr Kozak then Lauriel then Dr Kozak again.

"Don't worry," Dr Kozak answered, looking away from both of them immediately. Plus his wife had no idea that he was a mind reader after all these years of living with him.

He never brought up the subject.
He turned to face Lauriel straight afterwards.

"I'd like you to get to know Astera first before she takes you to your first test," he explained. Then he looked back. "I, in the meantime, have some tests to mark. I've got like fifty of them. Better start marking."

Looking rather tired, Dr Kozak walked away nonchalantly, as well as agent Astera because agent Arista had texted her to come and help her.

"I'll be back," she muttered, walking out of the room once and for all.

It was then that Lauriel had realised something. Dr Kozak was marking test papers... However there didn't seem to be a mark scheme in front of him, or even on his table.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa," Lauriel echoed, when Agent Astera had left the room.

Dr Kozak was halfway through examining test papers and smiling when he read something.

He then stopped to look at Lauriel blankly, raising an eyebrow at her.

"What?" He snapped hostilely.

"You don't have the mark scheme and you're marking test papers. How does that even work?"

Dr Kozak shook his head, looking away, his eyes still focused on someone's exam paper that, for some reason, made him smile.

"Ever heard of photographic memory, kid?" Dr Kozak asked her, not looking at her once. "Yeah. I've got that. Side effects to the mind reading thing."

Lauriel was still intently watching him, absolutely dumbfounded.

"What? And you're ambidextrous?" She realised, gasping as she watched Dr Kozak mark one page of the exam with his left hand, then the next page right, then the next page left again, and so on and so forth.

Dr Kozak just nodded, but said nothing else in return.

"Yeah. Except the ambidexterity thing wasn't any side effects. I just taught that myself, when was I still your age."

Wow. He's a mind reader, he's got photographic memory, he can write with both hands and he's rich? Lauriel thought to herself jubilantly. This doctor is not human. And Agent Astera must be really lucky to have him as a husband.

Doctor Kozak looked at her and then smiled, before marking the exam again and grinned even more.

He then stopped once he noticed something sort of out of place, and it was to do with Lauriel.

"Hang on. What did you just think again?"

Lauriel was confused.

"You should know. After all, you're the mind reader."

Dr Kozak was annoyed.

"Yeah, yeah I know. But I wasn't paying full attention," he told her, still mainly glancing down at the test papers.

"Plus. I can't have two of these things working simultaneously. If I'm using my photographic memory, then my ability to read people's minds stops working. But I heard what you thought, just not all of it. So what were you thinking?"

Lauriel didn't say anything.
Man, these doctors were so hard to understand.

She couldn't say anything anyway, because just as she was about to, like usual, someone had to come in and interrupt her completely.

Agent Astera came in, relieved, yet also stressed out, and anyone could have seen sweat literally everywhere on her face within a two mile radius.

"Did you rescue her?" Dr Kozak wondered. "Is Agent Arista okay?"

"Yep. She nearly died, but yeah, I saved her and her cat's life," Astera answered, hyperventilating uncontrollably.

She then applied her, what seemed like it, twentieth layer of lipstick today when her husband wasn't looking before turning to face him again.

"Sorry about that, loves." She told him, walking up to him and kissing him lightly on the cheek.

Lauriel had to admit, she kind of felt half jealous because she wished Dr Kozak was her mother's husband, instead of Lauriel's actual father.

He seemed cool.

For some reason.

His fashion sense wasn't resplendent, and he looked like he had just escaped the French Revolution.

Maybe that was what Lauriel liked about him. Or mainly just for his looks, rather than personality.

"Anyway, where were we?" Agent Astera continued.

"I'm busy, Astera. And I told you to get to know and meet Lauriel. She has to take her first test at four o'clock pm. It's three fifty right now."

"Aha. Right," Astera whispered to herself, looking away from Dr Kozak before intently facing Lauriel.

They had physically nothing to talk about.
Literally.

And Lauriel swore Agent Astera was giving her these dirty looks the whole time, goodness knew why. She already knew that Astera never liked her, so she didn't even bother starting the conversation.

Sadly, though, that didn't last for long before she finally said something.

"Hi," Lauriel introduced herself, smiling at her and waving. Agent Astera didn't do any of those things back.

"I'm Lauriel. Nice to meet you."

She put out her hand for Agent Astera to shake it, but after she gave her this warning look, Lauriel knew that that was the wrong thing to do.

It felt weird, all of it, really.

Why?

Lauriel had never been this nice to anyone, ever.

Except for the time she apologised to Kieran for driving him crazy on Lauriel's first day of going to her school - that was the only time she was truly nice to someone.

Lauriel's smile dropped instantaneously once she found out that she was still holding out her hand for Astera to shake but she wasn't doing that.

"You gonna shake it or what?" Lauriel snapped rudely.

Agent Astera ended up not shaking Lauriel's hand at all. Instead she looked at it in disgust, before following Lauriel's gaze as to what she was currently looking at.

Realising that Lauriel was staring admiringly at Dr Kozak, Agent Astera went mentally ballistic before screaming at the top of her lungs, nearly, at Lauriel.

"Er.. Who do you think you're looking at?" She vociferated at Lauriel.

Lauriel didn't reply.

Agent Astera followed her gaze again, for even longer this time, kicking her.

"What was that for?" Lauriel wanted to know, anger fuming inside her body at the moment.

"There are a few things you need to know about my husband," Agent Astera began, coming up even closer to Lauriel then stepping on her.

"Go ahead. I'm listening," Lauriel lied, feeling like she had just shrunk, agent Astera was a million times larger than her, and she was about literally to step on her any minute.

Which was a bit ironic because, well, Lauriel was much taller than Astera.

"Listen, Lauriel. Dr Kozak is my man. Okay! Not yours. Don't wink at him, flirt with him, smile at him, look at him, touch him, talk to him, laugh at him, tease him or wind him up. Okay?! That is my thing, and you can't change that, ever."

Lauriel was irritated by now completely.

"Don't look at him? What! What if he's talking to me?"

"Don't look at him lustfully I mean," Agent Astera corrected her.

Lauriel didn't reply.

Astera's insanity levels must have been pretty high because she was staring into space but Astera thought that Lauriel was looking at Dr Kozak, who was listening to music and had no idea on what was currently going on at the moment.

Astera slapped her.

"What was that for?" Lauriel hissed back, angrily.

"You looked at him lustfully."

Lauriel stared at the ceiling again.
Agent Astera slapped her again.

"You just did it again."

"No I didn't," Lauriel argued. "I was just looking at the ceiling. Jesus Christ."

Astera wasn't convinced.

They were arguing for about twenty seconds or so, until Dr Kozak turned his music down and broke them apart.

Lauriel didn't like Agent Astera.
No.
She hated her.

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Moral of chapter: Hate is a very strong word so don't use it incorrectly, otherwise it could damage friendships and relationships.