Chapter 7

Nathaniel stared at Audrey standing outside his door. He didn't step aside or say a word.

After a few seconds of silence, she spoke, "I've already turned Jackson down."

She paused, then added, "Don't get the wrong idea."

Nathaniel was surprised. He had thought she had come to tell him that she and Jackson were together now.

Instead, she was telling him that she had rejected Jackson.

She was even worried that he might misunderstand, so she had come all the way here to explain herself.

He replied calmly, "Whether you accept him or not has nothing to do with me anymore."

Audrey seemed unprepared for such an indifferent response. A look of surprise crossed her face.

Nathaniel continued, "If there's nothing else, I'm going to get some rest."

Audrey pressed her hand against the doorframe to stop him from closing the door.

Her voice grew low. "Nathaniel, you've been acting strange lately."

He said nothing.

He looked away from her and closed the door without saying another word. Then he leaned against it and slowly let out a breath.

His heart ached.

Coming all the way here to explain something like this wasn't Audrey's style. He had never heard her say such things before. She usually thought there was no need to explain anything.

In the past, Nathaniel had always been careful around her. His emotions rose and fell with hers, but she had never noticed.

Yet when Jackson confessed his feelings, Audrey barely reacted. Now, she had gone out of her way to clear things up with Nathaniel.

The whole thing felt both absurd and bitter.

He didn't know how much time had passed before his phone rang and brought him back to reality.

"Nathaniel! Have you seen the latest paper acceptance notice on the institute's internal website? How is Jackson listed as the first author on the new materials paper? Weren't you and Ms. Sinclair leading that project? You spent months collecting all that data!"

Nathaniel froze. "What did you just say?"

"Go check the system! Jackson's the only name listed as an author! Ms. Sinclair isn't even on it. What's going on?"

Nathaniel immediately opened his laptop and logged into the institute's website.

The latest announcement was right there on the bulletin board. "Congratulations to Jackson Reed on the acceptance of his paper by Materials Frontiers, with Jackson Reed as the first author."

Materials Frontiers was one of the top journals in their field.

And the paper's title was from the very project he and Audrey had poured the most effort into over the past few months.

The idea had come from Nathaniel in the first place. He and Audrey had discussed it repeatedly before spending three months running experiments in the lab to obtain the key data.

Under the circumstances, even if Audrey wasn't listed as the first author, Nathaniel should have been.

But the author list contained only Jackson's name.

Audrey wasn't even mentioned. It was as if she had merely offered a helping hand out of kindness.

Nathaniel immediately called Audrey. "What happened with the author list?"

Audrey answered calmly, "I turned down Jackson's confession. He's been feeling down, and it might affect his upcoming promotion review."

Nathaniel was so angry he almost laughed. "So you decided to comfort him by handing over the results of our research? Did you even ask for my permission before doing that?"

Audrey brushed aside his question and focused on defending her decision. "The data was already there, and he organized the first draft. It's reasonable to list his name on the paper. The research belongs to the institute, and I have the authority to decide who gets credit. Your contributions will be recognized in future work."

Nathaniel's voice trembled with hurt and anger.

Three months of hard work had just been erased by Audrey. She had handed everything over to someone else without a second thought, letting him use Nathaniel's work to advance his own career.

Just moments ago, Nathaniel had been upset because Audrey had taken the trouble to explain herself to him for once. Now he understood. She had only done it so she could feel justified in giving Jackson the project.

His voice grew sharper. "How exactly are you going to recognize my contributions? By mentioning my name in the acknowledgments, like you've done before? Audrey, what am I to you? Am I just a tool on your team? Someone who does all the work but doesn't deserve to have his name on the paper?"