He Stole My Win, So I Walked Away

“Right, the flash drive, you've got it? Then hurry up, though I think you might not make it in time?”

When the clip finished, I went straight at him. “You insisted I go back for the flash drive. I came back, and you were already onstage with Tilda Fox. Jim, can you really tell me this wasn't planned from the very start?”

The moment I said it, the faces of our classmates in the room changed.

Jim couldn't stand the embarrassment and started shooting me looks.

I acted like I didn't see a thing.

When he saw it wasn't working, he got angrier. “Deidre, what's wrong with you? You think I did it on purpose? Why would I ever say that? You cook up a recording like this to frame me, is that fun for you?”

Seeing that Jim still wouldn't admit it even now, I couldn't be bothered to say much more.

“Jim, since that's what you think, then let's break up.”

“Deidre, don't use a breakup to threaten me. I'll take it seriously.”

Meeting that threatening look of his, I suddenly remembered the first time I'd brought up breaking up.

Jim was the kind of person who took things at face value. Back then I didn't understand that yet.

I'd thrown out a breakup line just because I was in a mood.

All he said at the time was, “You serious?”

I nodded, and he walked away.

For months after that he didn't contact me, while I reached out to him over and over.

All he ever said was, “Sorry, Miss Henson, we've already broken up. Please don't contact me again.”

In the end I gave in. I promised Jim I would never bring up breaking up again.

And I really kept that promise.

Even when Jim sided with Tilda Fox time and again afterward, no matter how angry I got, I never said the word breakup.

But today I really didn't want to keep going.

“Deidre, is this really necessary? Jim and I spent so long preparing for this competition, and you were barely involved. Even if it was Jim and me who went up in the end, isn't that just how it should be?”

Tilda Fox couldn't sit still, putting on a show of standing up for Jim.

I almost laughed out of sheer anger. “You're saying you and Jim spent a long time preparing it?”

“Yes.”

Tilda looked me dead in the eye, full of conviction.

Without a flicker, I pulled out the lab's entry logs. “Then let me ask you. Where are your entry records? Where are your edit records? Where are your original drafts?”

My three killer questions left Tilda frozen on the spot.

Jim knit his brows and pushed her behind him. “Anyway, you were the one who showed up late first. You……”

“The rule says you can go up anytime within ten minutes of the start. I got there the second the competition began. Did you give me a single chance to go up? You're the one who sent me for the flash drive. What gave you the right not to wait for me?”

“Jim, admit you never meant to let me go up in the first place. Is that so hard?”

This time I didn't waste words on him. I went straight to the point.

The classmates couldn't take it anymore. “Jim, what's actually going on here? How could you tell me this project was done by you and Tilda Fox?”

“Yeah, didn't you say Deidre was only helping you out?”

“You even said Tilda was being kind, that she wanted Deidre to go up with you so you two lovebirds could share the moment, but Deidre just couldn't pull her weight, so Tilda reluctantly went up instead. Is that right?”

The classmates' questions left Jim even more at a loss for how to respond.

I just stood there and watched them with a smile.

The truth didn't really matter anymore. I'd treat it as a lesson, and see a person for who he was.