Chapter 4

"The name rhesus factor goes back to the use of erythrocytes extracted from the blood of rhesus monkeys for obtaining the first blood serum," Harold said as he pointed to the slide with a picture of a rhesus monkey. "This protein is genetically inherited and 85% of the human population are Rh-positive. While this will not affect one's overall health, this is important for pregnant women."

Harold then faced his laptop which was mounted on a metal stand on top of the coffee table. On the screen were 50 pairs of eyes with more than half of those eyes looking at him with love-struck gazes. He chose to ignore those eyes and focused on the ones who were either expressionless or more intent on his PowerPoint presentation.

"If the woman is Rh-negative and the child she is carrying is Rh-positive, this can cause complications in her pregnancy."

"How so?" a student asked looking at him curiously.

Harold smiled at the student's expression causing some of the girls to let out a shrill scream. The other students shouted back to keep it down. Harold kept his smile plastered on his face even if he was slightly annoyed at the interruption.

"Rh incompatibility. This happens when the mother and child have completely different Rh factors. The immune system will detect the fetus as a foreign object and attack it."

The students gasped and some even looked horrified. Harold began to explain the pathophysiology of Rh incompatibility. Once he was finished with this lecture, he faced his students with a slight smile on his face sending a few of the girls alternating between squealing and tittering.

"Alright, let's try something here. Fiona," Harold said turning to a wide-eyed female student.

"Y-yes, sir?" Fiona said breathlessly.

"What's your blood type?"

"Um O positive, sir."

"Okay good. If my blood type is A and I am Rh negative and we have a child together, what would be our child's blood type and Rh factor? Also would he or she be at risk of Rh incompatibility?"

The screams coming from the girls in class drowned out Fiona's attempt to answer the question. The girl in question was blushing so badly she looked like an overripe tomato. The more sensible members of the class were trying to bring order back but the girls were still screaming. Harold was about to intervene when he heard loud booming sounds. He held a hand to silence the class and they went quiet or at least they tried to.

The booming sounds continued and realized that they were coming from the front door. He inwardly groaned. "Let's have a 10-minute break, class. Fiona, I want your answer later once the break ends."

"Y-yes, sir." Fiona stammered.

Harold immediately turned off his web camera and nearly ran to the front door. Taking a deep breath, he carefully opened the door. A hand nearly hit his face, but he dodged it and the first thing he saw was a pair of bloodshot brown eyes. Uh-oh. He thought. He was screwed.

When he was able to get a clearer look at his visitor aka angry neighbor, he saw that it was a woman dressed in a black spaghetti-strapped tank top and a pair of dark blue shorts. Her hair was a mess as if she had just jumped out of bed and her expression was so murderous that if looks could kill, would have died several times in his lifetime.

Harold opened his mouth to apologize but the woman began to hiss at him.

"HAS IT EVER OCCURRED TO YOU THAT YOU LIVE IN A BUILDING WITH SEVERAL PEOPLE IN EACH UNIT AND SOME OF US LIKE TO SLEEP IN PEACE?! THREE DAYS! DO YOU HEAR?! I WAS NOT ABLE TO SLEEP PROPERLY FOR THREE BLASTED DAYS BECAUSE OF THE NOISE YOU'RE MAKING! WHAT THE HELL, MAN!?"

Harold stared at her in shock. No one, not even his mother, yelled at him like a banshee. He had dealt with annoyed and angry people in the past and he was always diplomatic about it, which almost always calmed the aggrieved party and any dialogue with them ended up being amicable. but this woman was so furious it seemed that she chose violence when she woke up.

Once she was through yelling at him, she was panting. Despite this, she met his eyes evenly and her scowl never left her face. Harold took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry for causing such a racket. How about a peace offering?"

"WHAT." The woman's voice rose in pitch as if in a panic.

"Please, come on in. I'll explain the reason why it's been noisy recently," he said as he gestured for her to come inside his apartment.

"Why not explain here?" she said crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Because it's going to look awkward for the both of us. Please, I know how angry you are right now but why don't we talk things out first?"

The woman looked like she wanted to refuse, but she muttered her agreement as she went inside the apartment. Harold offered her a seat and sat down on one of the two-seat sofas in the living room. He noticed that she was taking in the surroundings and her eyes landed on the coffee table and then on his laptop, then his Bluetooth speakers, and then an overhead projector which was still showing his slides of today's lecture.

"Um yeah about that." Harold began as he took off his lavalier microphone that was clipped on his shirt. He extended his hand to her. "My name is Harold Sales, I just moved in here a few days ago."

The woman stared at his extended hand for almost a minute then gingerly took it giving it a tired handshake. "Rayne Valera." She said listlessly.

"Nice to meet you," Harold said giving her a friendly smile.

"Right. So, what's with the gear here?" Rayne said looking bored.

"Okay, I'll get to that. You see I am a professor at the university a few distances from here and since the pandemic I've been conducting online classes."

Rayne nodded although she hardly looked convinced. "So you teach. But what's with the screaming and squealing? Are you actually teaching or hosting a private show?"

Harold looked flabbergasted. "What? No! I teach genetics as well as other higher science subjects at the university."

"Okaaaayyy. I just never knew classes nowadays sound like virtual meetups with BTS."

"Believe me, I can't sing even to save my life. I'm sorry about my students, they can be pretty…lively at times."

"I wonder why. Anyway, if that's the reason why then I get it. But please, keep it down next time. I work at night and I sleep during the day. Stop looking at me like I'm a vampire, I don't sparkle."

"What do you exactly do?"

"I'm a VA."

"But aren't they usually open during the day?"

"What are you…? Oh no. I'm a virtual assistant, not working for the Veterans Affairs. Anyway," Rayne snapped as she stood up. "Keep it down. If this happens again, I will be going straight to the building management."

Harold nearly ran in front of her blocking her way. She glared at him. "I promise I'll keep the noise to a minimum but at least let me give you a peace offering."

"Seriously? The only peace offering you can give me is silence."

"And I will do my best to do that, but how about a cup of coffee and uh, pizza?"

Rayne looked like she wanted to decline, but her stomach told her otherwise. She scowled at her stomach then looked up at him giving him a tired sigh. "Very well, sure. It would be rude if I refused."