My Girlfriend and My Best Friend Were Stealing My Life's Work

"Fairmont? How did you end up at Fairmont?"

Cyril's face changed too.

"Orson, we agreed we'd go to Kingsley together—"

I took the acceptance letter back. "I changed my mind. I don't feel like going with you two anymore."

Ina grabbed my wrist.

"Go register for another admissions cycle. Even if it takes another year of exams, you have to get into Kingsley!"

She caught herself, then softened her voice.

"I'm saying this for your own good. Your research only has value if it's published through Kingsley."

Over the past few days, I'd dug up the truth: Ina's uncle was a professor at Kingsley.

The reason she was so set on Kingsley was that her uncle could work it from the inside, help swap the credited author on my submitted research over to Cyril's name.

"Ina, I think I have the right to choose my own school, don't I?"

Cyril gave Ina's arm a light tug.

"Let it go. As long as Orson's happy."

"Just a shame about his research, though. If only it could've been taken to Kingsley."

Cyril leaned on the word "taken."

Ina understood exactly what he meant, and led him away.

At eleven that night, the alarm for an attack on my computer went off again.

Now that they knew I wasn't going to Kingsley, they were even more desperate to steal my research.

The system flagged over a hundred intercepted attacks before it finally stopped.

Ina sent me a message.

【I can't find my bracelet. Do you think it's at your place? I'll come look tomorrow.】

The remote attack on my computer had failed, so now she wanted to walk into my home and steal it in person.

I tapped the keyboard and replied, "Sure."

A lie that clumsy, and she'd still come up with it. If I told her not to come, wouldn't that make me the rude one?

Early the next morning, Ina rang my doorbell with dark circles under her eyes.

"Look around yourself. I'm going out for breakfast."

Hearing that I was leaving, Ina's eyes lit up. She nodded eagerly.

"Take your time. Don't worry about me!"

I went down to the restaurant on the ground floor of my building and ate my breakfast slowly.

Better to hand them what they wanted myself than let her get cornered and pull something I couldn't guard against.

Half an hour later, a message came from Ina.

【I'm leaving now.】

I knew it. She'd gotten what she came for.

For the rest of the summer, I didn't reach out to either of them again.

In September, I dragged my suitcase to Fairmont alone.

I'd just walked into the dorm when my phone buzzed.

It was Cyril.

【Shame you didn't come to Kingsley. You won't get to see me take the place by storm.】

Take the place by storm? Take it by storm with my research?

Just as I was about to block him, Cyril sent another photo, the two of them posing beside the Kingsley crest.

His hand was on Ina's shoulder, her arm around his waist. Like a couple.

I replied, 【A hundred years of happiness, may you grow old together】, and dropped them both into the blocked list.

I brought my research files to my mentor's office.

Professor Whitney read through it and lit up. "This is perfect! With this research, our department can make a run at number one in the country!"

"Do you have any thoughts about the presentation?"

The voice from that mysterious call circled back into my ears.

"Don't go to Kingsley! On September twenty-ninth, at ten in the morning, Cyril is going to steal your research and publish it!"

I said, "I'd like the presentation to be at ten in the morning on the twenty-ninth."

On the twenty-eighth, Kingsley and Fairmont posted announcements on their official sites at the same time.

【Tomorrow at ten a.m., we will unveil groundbreaking research by one of our incoming freshmen. Stay tuned.】

The whole internet went into a frenzy.

【Kingsley and Fairmont releasing new research on the same day? Both from freshmen? Is this a battle?】

【Fairmont's biting off more than they can chew, picking the same day as Kingsley. They'll probably get crushed to dust in seconds.】