Cheers To Comeuppance
Chapter 11

Leon

Things with Annika had taken an interesting turn, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious to see where our newfound partnership would lead us. I knew better than to get my hopes up, but it was hard to ignore our chemistry after dealing with my fair share of dishonesty. That is until I did the unthinkable and subconsciously patted her on the head. It was clear that I had f****d up, and I didn’t even make it to the end of my apology before I was cut off and dealt a blow to my ego when she used my own words against me.

It was absurd, realizing it stung a bit hearing Annika state this was a mere business partnership when I had persuaded her of just that a short while ago. I wasn’t sure if it was because she wasn’t interested in me or if it had more to do with the fact she was broken-hearted to the point where she never expected to replace love again. The more I thought about it, the more I figured it was a combination of both. I honestly couldn’t blame her because her situation wasn’t like mine and Sadie’s. Annika and her douchebag husband had been together for over a decade. I’d be skeptical of loving again if I were in her shoes.

I snapped back to reality and made a phone call as we left my office to see my friend, Austin Chester, who I dubbed the ”Mad Scientist” since he was a genius and practically lived inside the lab for his entire life. His microscope was his best friend, lover, and arch-nemesis all in one. When we arrived at his facility, I noticed Annika’s face lit up immediately.

“Wait, your friend works here?!” she exclaimed while pointing at the building.

“Yeah? Is there something wrong?” I asked, a little confused by her enthusiastic reaction.

“When you said your friend’s name was Austin Chester, I didn’t think you meant the Austin Chester!”

“You’ve heard of Austin?” I asked with a slight tint of jealousy. She’d heard of Austin, but she had never heard of me?

“What doctor or scientist hasn’t heard of Austin Chester! He’s world renown in his studies of infectious diseases. You’re taking me to see him!?” she cried out with pure joy in her voice and adoration in her eyes. It was like Austin was some kind of superstar to her or something.

“Yeah. We should head in. Austin is waiting for us,” I mumbled while getting out of the car, trying to hide my disappointment. I couldn’t help but feel so incredulous at this sudden turn of events.

We entered the building, and since I have visited on multiple occasions in the past, the security guard had no issues allowing us to waltz right in without checking our IDs. Annika seemed surprised, but she also seemed a little too excited for my liking. Was it because she was going to meet Austin? I tried not to sulk at this revelation, and we walked up to the private elevator.

“Is this a private elevator?” she asked me as we waited for it to come down.

“Yeah. This one goes straight to Austin’s lab on the bottom level, and it’s the only one that does. He’s very meticulous about maintaining absolute privacy and silence,” I explained, glancing at her to gauge her reaction.

“Oh, yeah, that makes a lot of sense,” she replied.

“It does?” I asked in return and furrowed my brows.

“Well, yeah. He’s a f*****g genius who needs silence and space. You can’t be a genius in a lab with too much noise. I get the feeling he’s the type that listens to music while he’s working or has the TV playing in the background with some kind of science or biological documentary playing.” I stared at her, dumbfounded. She was spot on. How the f*uck did she know how Austin liked to work? What the hell is going on?”Aren’t you coming?”

“Huh?” I was shaken from my thoughts once I realized the elevator had arrived, and Annika was already inside.”Yeah, I’m coming,” I replied and got on board. I hit the button that would take us to the basement, and we descended smoothly to his lab. I texted Austin to let him know that we had arrived, so he was already there waiting for us when the door slid open.

“Leon, it’s been a while, old pal,” he said and gave me a bro hug.”And this must be the patient you want me to look at?” he asked while looking in Annika’s direction. I turned around and noticed she was still frozen in place, looking like the textbook definition of a deer caught in the headlights of a car.

“Annika?” I called out to her.

“Huh?”

“Are you going to come over, or are you just going to stand there?”

“Oh, sorry, I’m just starstruck. Dr. Chester, my name is Annika Hollands. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance!” she gushed while acting giddy. What in the flying f**k? Was she … was she really smiling from ear to ear while introducing herself to him?

“The pleasure is all mine, Ms. Hollands.”

“Doctor.”

“I’m sorry?”

“It’s Doctor, actually. I’m a doctor in family medicine,” she said proudly.

“Oh, I see. My apologies, Doctor Hollands. It’s nice to meet a fellow doctor,” Austin replied and smiled back at her. This fucker never smiles at women. I looked between the two of them, and they seemed to be having a silent conversation amongst themselves, so I cleared my throat to get their attention.

“Austin, we’re kind of in a crunch here,” I said, hinting that I wanted to get the show on the road.

“Oh, right. My bad. Doctor, if you could come with me, I will take a b***d sample, and we can test it right away,” Austin told her as he led her further inside his laboratory. I followed behind them, and I watched as Annika became more and more fascinated with his lab

“Oh, wow! Dr. Chester, you have a mass spectrometer?”

“Of course. I have to be able to break down the composition of certain matter to determine what it’s made of.”

“I read that you’ve helped law enforcement solve cold cases. Is that true?”

“Yes, it is. I’m not big on crime-solving per se, but sometimes, they come to me for assistance when their own CSI is having issues.” Annika nodded her head in amusement and admiration. The way she was looking at Austin was making me green with envy. She had yet to give me the same doe-eyed look she wore as she stared at Austin. Never once did I ever consider Austin competition. He was never into dating, and girls barely looked his way because of his geekiness. But this was completely the opposite. Here I am trying to get her attention, yet she’s focusing solely on Austin and his drawing her b***d.

“Austin, how long?” I asked, trying to deter his attention away from her.

“About 30 minutes, give or take. I have nothing going on right now, so I’ll process the sample now.”

“Dr. Chester, can you please test for all known types of STDs?” Annika asked shyly.

“That was the original plan. And there’s no reason to be shy, Dr. Hollands. Though I’m not sure why you need to be tested, I would hypothesize that your husband cheated, and you’re worried he contracted something from the mistress?” Annika and I both snapped our heads up to look at him.

“Chester, how in the f**k?” I babbled.

“It’s not rocket science. I see the tan line on her ring finger. There was a ring there, but now, it’s gone. My EQ may be low, but that doesn’t mean I’m not observant. She had a wedding ring at one point, and it was there for a while if it left a tan line. But it hasn’t faded much, which means she took it off within the last few weeks to the last couple of months. Those tan lines don’t fade very quickly, so they will be there for a while. Which means she’s been recently divorced or separated. Plus, if she wants to get tested for STD, one can reasonably deduce that her husband had sex with someone and then came back and had sex with her. Unprotected on both sides. Having come to this conclusion, it makes sense that Dr. Hollands would want to get checked. You only came to me for expedited results.” I looked at him incredulously. I hated how smart he was and how he could figure s**t out without being told.

“Actually, Dr. Chester, I’m still technically married,” Annika replied honestly.

“Oh, you are? Oh man, I’m sorry to hear that. Allow me to edit my hypothesis then. You only recently found out he’s been cheating on you even though it may have been going on for quite some time?”

“Yes. You’re indeed correct. I feel like a fool. And to think, I graduated at the top of my class at Johns Hopkins.”

“Wait, did you say Hopkins?” Austin asked her.

“Yes. Why?”

“Your surname is your married name?” he asked, and she nodded.”Wait, then your maiden name isn’t by chance Hiller, is it?”

“Hiller?” I repeated in confusion. I could have sworn it was Silverton. But then again, if she hid her identity from the ignoramus, she may have used a fake surname.

“Yes, it is. How did you know?”

“You’re that Annika! Oh wow, now I’m starstruck!” Austin shouted like a kid on Christmas morning. Seriously, what the f**k is going on?

“You know who I am?” Annika asked, equally as confused as I was.

“How could I not!? I followed your thesis on ‘Love is a Choice and Not a Feeling,’” he gushed while digging through his desk. He pulled out a giant folder and slammed it down on the table in front of us.

“Wait, is that … Why do you have a copy of my thesis?” Annika asked, frowning in dismay.”I never shared this with anyone,” she said and looked up at him with furrowed brows. The look she gave him made it seem like he was some kind of stalker.

“I’m sorry, Dr. Hill … I mean, Dr. Hollands. When I was visiting Hopkins as a guest speaker for the Organic Chemistry fair four years ago, one of the professors asked me to look at a thesis paper for an up-and-coming medical student. He wanted to get my take on it since it was something that he had never seen before. Most medical students base their thesis on the actual sciences of the medical world, but this student focused on the logic behind a feeling that people know all too well. When I read this thesis, I was floored that you took something so simple and added logic, reasoning, and scientific proof to prove that love is not a feeling but a choice one makes in life. I asked the professor for a copy. Because I have such a low EQ, your thesis threw me for a loop, and I liked the feeling.”

“Oh, wow. That’s so crazy! I can’t believe someone of your caliber actually read my thesis and liked it!” Annika’s face flushed pink, and the jealousy stirred within me again.”Though, my professor didn’t.”

“What?” Austin asked in shock.”He’s the one who asked me to read it over!”

“I didn’t know that. Either way, I didn’t receive a good merit on my thesis, and he made me write a different thesis, one that actually had to do with medicine. He said that the other thesis was more for psychology, and that psychology isn’t truly medicine since most psychologists don’t need a medical license to practice. They’re not ”real” doctors; ergo, psychology isn’t really a medical profession,” Annika explained and rolled her eyes at the end.

“Well, I can’t argue with that logic,” Austin agreed while nodding his head.

“What?! You agree with that load of horseshit!?” Annika’s outburst shocked both Austin and me.

“I’m sorry if I’ve offended you, Dr. Hollands. But as a scientist, I base everything on facts. Psychology has no facts, and it’s all hearsay in the end.”

“And yet, Dr. Chester, law enforcement uses psychology to get into the minds of criminals so that they can be caught. Profiling is psychology at its finest. The science behind the evidence is only an attribute to apprehending a suspect, and understanding that suspect and how their mind works is how they’re ultimately caught. The evidence is only a tool to get them behind bars so they can’t hurt anyone else.”

“I’m not saying that psychology is baseless, doctor. I’m merely stating that it’s not considered a form of medicine or science,” Austin tried to defend himself.

“How is it not a form of science? Isn’t the human brain part of the human anatomy?”

“Yes, but …”

“And isn’t human anatomy studied in biology and chemistry?”

“Well, yes, but—”

“And aren’t biology and chemistry subjects of scientific matter, both of which are also required for majors in the medical field, such as nursing, chemical engineering, and being a doctor?”

“Yes, they are, but—”

“Then explain your logic to me as to how psychology, which is the study of understanding the human brain and how an individual thinks and acts, is not scientific or associated with medicine?” Chester stiffened and was rendered speechless. This was a first. No one could ever win an argument against Austin when it came to anything scientific in nature or relating to medicine. It’s no wonder Annika got her medical license so quickly. She’s a genius like Austin. Except she’s way easier on the eyes.

“Damn. I never thought I’d see the day when the great Austin Chester didn’t have a comeback,” I told him as I slapped him on the shoulder. Austin glared at me and was about to respond, but a beep caught his attention.”Hm, saved by the beep,” I taunted. Austin grabbed the printout and read over the results.

“Well?” Annika asked.

“You don’t have any chronic STDs, which is a good thing, but …”

“But what?” we both asked.

“Sorry, Dr. Hollands, but it looks like you have Chlamydia.”

“SON OF A f*ucking b!tch!”