All Chapters of He Was But A Failed Detour: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

There was an unwritten rule in academic circles: the doors of top-tier research institutes did not open for the nameless.Yet Rick Allen—hailed as a living legend in the medical world—had gone into an impoverished mountain ravine and unearthed Beth Chalke.For the sake of her astonishing talent, he defied his father, the institute's chairman. He rejected a prearranged academic marriage and personally guided her through experiments, revised her papers, and worked alongside her day and night. Almost hand in hand, he polished her from a rough, uncut stone into a masterpiece capable of stunning the world.He once smiled and told her, "Beth, don't be afraid. You have me. Your talent deserves the very best."Eventually, the Allen family relented.They allowed him to keep Beth—but the institute's Chief Young Scientist had to be Summer Belden, an heiress from a medical family who was a perfect match for the Allens.From that moment on, the words Rick said most often to Beth were, "Just w

The doctor said with a helpless smile that it was only a superficial injury, but he insisted on a tetanus shot anyway, terrified that she might get an infection.And now—Beth lowered her head and looked at her pale fingertips. Suddenly, she laughed.She laughed and laughed, until tears came crashing down.Leaning against the wall, she dragged herself back to the dorm, limping the entire way.The pain in her waist grew sharper by the minute. Dizzy and barely able to stand, she pulled out her phone to call a car to the hospital—when someone suddenly seized her wrist from behind with brutal force."Beth!" Rick's voice was tightly restrained with fury. "Summer fainted from anger because of you, and you still won't let it go? Hiding here, playing dead?"She turned and met his tightly furrowed brows and the chill in his eyes.He was dressed in a white lab coat, as aloof and refined as ever. Only now, his body carried the scent of the perfume Summer always wore—cloying and nauseating

Beth's heart seized violently, her blood seeming to freeze in an instant.He wanted her to take the blame. He wanted her to bury Summer’s lies with her own academic career."And the reason?" she asked, her voice trembling. "Rick, give me a reason.""You're still young. You have time to start over." His justification sounded lofty, yet cut like ice. "But Summer doesn't. Behind her stands the entire Belden Medical Group. Our lab consumables and equipment all depend on their support. Beth, this is for the greater good.""So my future—my reputation—is the price you're willing to sacrifice at any time, in your so-called greater good?""I told you I'll compensate you!" His patience finally wore thin, his face darkening. "Beth, you need to face reality! In this circle, without my protection, you are nothing. If this conference falls apart, do you really think you'll still have a place in this field?"The logic was absurd, the emotion ice-cold. Like a fire, his words burned away the last

Summer's true ability didn't even measure up to that of an outstanding undergraduate.In that moment, Rick felt his entire world collapse.He had always believed that sacrificing Beth was a reluctant but necessary act of academic politics—an unfortunate compromise to protect a partner who, though flawed, still possessed talent.He thought he was the strategist, the one moving the pieces on the board.Instead, he was nothing more than the most foolish tool, played in the palm of an academic fraud.And what he had sacrificed for it was the most precious treasure of his life—the most gifted mind he had ever known, the woman he had once sworn to protect with his entire existence.His views on scholarship, on values, on love—along with his ridiculous arrogance—were all smashed to pieces by reality in that instant.He sat in the conference room like a petrified statue, his ears filled with the investigators' verdict on Summer and the deafening roar of his own world collapsing.…Sum

"Professor Allen."Beth finally spoke, her voice cold as ice."First, let go of me. Your behavior constitutes harassment."She paused, then raised her other hand and pried his fingers off her wrist—one by one.The movement was slow, yet carried an undeniable force."Second, Summer's outcome is entirely of her own making. It has nothing to do with me. I have no interest in watching the fate of a fraud.""Finally"—she freed herself completely, stepped back, and put an absolutely safe distance between them—"the institute is yours. You are you. And I am me. There has long been nothing between us."With that, she turned to leave.But Rick snapped, lunging forward again and wrapping his arms around her from behind."No! There is!" He buried his face against her neck, his voice breaking with desperate sobs. "Beth, I love you! I did everything wrong, but my love for you is real! Give me one more chance—just once…"His tears fell onto her skin.In the past, she would have been heartb