Stole My Thesis, I Chose Overseas Study

Chapter 3

Inside Daniel's office, a soft, cloying voice drifted out. "Daniel, it's all my fault. Chelsea seems really mad at me."

He frowned slightly, his tone flat and unconcerned. "Graduation's still a while away. She can just make another project. Don't take it to heart. My old teacher asked me to look out for you, so I'd never let you fail to graduate."

"I know, Daniel." The girl's voice softened even more. "Dad told me the AI kernel you developed a while back is called Brownthorne. It's a mix of both our last names, right?"

Ramona paused for a beat, then went on in a shy, tentative tone. "I was just young and stupid back when I turned you down. I never thought Chelsea would end up dating you later, so I had to bury all my feelings for you. If you'd be willing to give me another chance..."

He cut her off sharply. "What's in the past stays in the past. Don't bring it up again. Once you graduate and get a stable job, we'll finalize the divorce."

'Oh. So that's why he'd shut me down cold when I asked to learn his AI algorithm a while back.'

I stood frozen outside the door, clenching my fists so tight my nails bit into my palms.

Of course. She was his precious first love from their younger days, and I was just a disposable stepping stone he'd use to pave her way. How stupid I'd been, how hilarious this whole thing was.

I pulled out my phone and fired off a text to a contact who has been scouting me for weeks now.

Chelsea: I've made up my mind. I'll join Professor Holland's research team with you.

I got a reply after only seconds, saying that they'd pick me up in a week then.

By the time Daniel walked through the door of our apartment, I was in the middle of shoving my clothes into a suitcase.

He lunged forward and grabbed my wrist hard, his voice sharp with irritation. "What the hell are you doing? It's just a senior project. Is that really enough reason to move out?"

I wrenched my hand out of his grip so hard my arm stung. "Just a senior project? Do you have any idea how much blood, sweat, and tears I poured into that thing? And Ramona stole it from me. I swear to God, I'm gonna make her pay for this."

"I was the one who did it. It had nothing to do with her. Leave her out of this."

I flung the shirt in my hand straight at his chest, my temper flaring. "I knew it was you!"

Memories came crashing back to that day. I'd just typed the last line of code for my project, saved the file, and was about to hit send to the department office when Daniel burst into the room.

"You done with your senior project yet?"

"Yep, just about to send it to the faculty."

"Hold on a second. Let me look it over first, check for any bugs."

"Okay."

I had agreed just like that because Daniel was a year above me after all, and an absolute legend in our major.

He'd barely sat down for two minutes before he told me there was a bug in the code, but that he'd already fixed it for me, so I didn't have to worry about it.

"Wait for it to run stable, then turn it in to the department tomorrow, all right?" Then he left in a huge hurry.

Snapping back to the present, I snapped at Daniel, "You did all this for Ramona? Did you even stop to think about what this would do to me? How am I supposed to deal with all the sideways glances and questions from everyone?"

Daniel pressed his lips into a thin line. He knew exactly how bad this would be for me. He just thought she needed that final project more, so he'd never given a single thought to my side of things.

"What's done is done. There's no point dwelling on it. I'll help you make a whole new final project, okay?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he reached for my laptop. I smacked his hand away hard, smack.

"Don't you dare touch my laptop! I don't want to be accused of stealing someone else's work again. Get out!" I fought hard to hold back my tears as I shoved him out the door.

For three straight days, I poured all my energy into polishing the original final project, building it into an even more polished AI project. Then I sent the file to the contact I messaged earlier, asking him to pass it along to Professor Holland.

Those days, every time Daniel tried to strike up a conversation with me, I dodged him subtly.