The Marked One (The Marked Series Book 1) by Chevoque

she said, still in awe as they passed a lab with terrariums filled with critters that gave her the heebie-jeebies. They passed all the labs and took the elevator at the end up to the third floor, which were mostly offices, apart from the last door, where they entered a cafeteria.
    It was mostly void of people, other than the older man sitting in the far back with a laptop on the table next to his odd-looking meal. As they approached, Aaliyah saw his silver-gray hair showed a few black strands. He peeked from behind his glasses to reveal bright brown eyes.
    “You must be Ms. Labuschagne. I’m Dr. Ramadan.” The man stuck out a wrinkled hand, which looked like dark brown leather. She took hold of his hand and gave it a shake.
    “While you two get acquainted, I’m off to help Maiha with the feedings,” Stephen said and left before she could say thank you for his help.
    “Take a seat, miss,” Dr. Ramadan said, and she remembered to finally let go of his hand.
    With an awkward grin, she found her seat. “Thank you so much for meeting me, but I am a little lost over what is happening. I was under the impression I’d be someone’s lab assistant, or something in the line of a fish tank cleaner.”
    He laughed full-heartedly. “That is what I am here for. Not the cleaning, the help with clearing up the confusion.” He took a bite of his food, chewed while tapping away on his laptop, and looked at her once more. “I am aware that you have all that you need to have a degree, but what we want to do for you is actually help you gain it, because once you have decided what you want to make your main study, it’ll be easier for journals to accept your work, and ultimately it would give you a name as a scientist. I’m sure you can understand that?”
    She nodded, but it didn’t answer what was causing her the most confusion.
    “Good, well, I’ll be working with you from next week to get your practical work ready, and then we’ll have Prof. Li evaluate everything the week after. Once she passes you, we’ll have an actual degree in your hands within the month. That would be followed by you deciding what you would like to study further, but that, of course, would be discussed as it does need to benefit the labs and so on.”
    “Can I just stop you there, Dr. Ramadan?” He eyed her over the frame of his glasses. “I appreciate this more than anything, but people don’t just… get these things. I don’t want to sound accusatory, but it feels like Mr. Gerardo’s liking toward me might—”
    The doctor belted out a laugh and it made Aaliyah feel her cheeks burn with confused embarrassment. He found his wits when he said, “No, don’t worry that he has any more control here than paying us. His company name just gets to be on all the papers we write.”
    “But I am getting a huge opportunity I would’ve never gotten if it weren’t for his help.”
    The doctor thought for a moment. “True, but we also wouldn’t have taken you in if we couldn’t benefit from you.” Her brows popped up, making him smile as he continued. “What I mean is that, regardless of Mr. Gerardo’s and your relationship…” she wanted to protest, but the doctor pressed on, “…we evaluated your achievements, and if it weren’t for him seeing your potential and informing us about you, a great mind would’ve been lost. You are exactly what we were looking for and it made me wonder. Why hadn’t you applied for the open lab technician position?”
    “I…I don’t have a proper degree. I never thought I’d stand a chance at such a huge research facility. After being turned away from smaller labs in the city right after I had finished university, I just thought it would be pointless.”
    “Well, I’m glad that you and Mr. Gerardo’s paths crossed, because I believe you’ll bring great things for our groups here. What are you leaning toward?” He looked excited and maybe even a little hopeful, which Aaliyah thought meant he was hoping