Chapter 2
It had been a day, and Rolf hadn’t called once, nor had he sent any explanation.
Instead, I received an email from the school account-my paper had been completely altered. The first author’s name had been changed from “Clarissa Barber” to “Faye Thompson.”
Anger clouded my judgment. I went to the lab and deleted all of Faye’s paper reports.
Watching the progress bar on the screen, I felt a strange sense of relief for the first time.
Three years of hard work–why should I just hand it over?
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At that moment, Rolf stormed into the office. “Are you out of your mind?!”
His tie was askew, clearly rushed over after Faye had gone running to him.
How laughable. He never worried when I worked late into the night, but one call from Faye had him frantic.
“Stop right now!” He immediately cut the power, and the screen went black.
Then, he yanked my chair away, the force so strong it sent me stumbling into the edge of the desk.
I winced in pain, curling slightly, but he didn’t even glance at me.
“You know I can make sure you never get a job at any school, right?” he said coldly while
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inspecting the computer.
I stared at the man in front of me, unsure when he had started to feel like a stranger, as though a hole had been torn open in my heart.
He was willing to hurt me, even threaten me, just to protect Faye’s work.
I leaned against the desk, my mouth pale from the pain, but he merely cast a glance my way, as if I were invisible, before continuing.
“I’ve already talked to the director. You either go apologize to Faye now, or…”
“Or what?” I struggled to stand upright, my voice trembling from the impact.
“Or you can wait to have your teaching
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credentials permanently revoked.” He finally turned around, his gaze as unfamiliar as if he were looking at a lifeless object.
“Clary, I’m giving you this chance out of the five years we’ve been together. Don’t force my hand.”
“Do you really hate me that much?” I stared at him in disbelief.
“I don’t hate you, but your actions have been incredibly disappointing,” he loosened his tie. “Faye was right. You’re too headstrong, too full of yourself!”
The next day, I was reassigned to the storage
room.
And Faye swaggered into my seat, as if it were hers by right.
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All my permissions were revoked, and now, even entering the experimental zone required special approval.
As I packed up my desk, Assistant Gilbert rushed over, panic written across his face.
“The lab’s database has been breached!”
“All experimental data is being deleted!”
I dashed to the server room and saw two sets of data at risk of being wiped out.
One set was my three years of hard work, the other was Faye’s new research paper.
And the storage space available could only
save one.
Rolf stood in front of the computer, without hesitation, he chose to save Faye’s paper.
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I watched helplessly as my work disappeared.
“Don’t…” I slumped against the wall, powerless.
“You should be thankful I didn’t fire you immediately,” he said coldly, his voice as icy as the words themselves. “Faye’s paper has more value, and yours… it’s no longer needed.”
Of course, he always had a thousand reasons to justify her.
That night, I wandered the empty streets like a lost little girl–without love, without a future.
In my despair, my phone vibrated:
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“Clary, there’s an issue with the files in the storage room. You need to come back
immediately!”
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