Chapter 342
She found it utterly unbelievable.
The moment she heard those words, Maurice was stunned.
Sylvie came in second?
With scores like that, second place?
Jarrod glanced over at her, eyes narrowing.
After Sylvie hung up the phone, her expression turned grim.
Maurice finally found his voice. “What’s going on? What did they say? Are you sure there’s no mistake?”
Such a tough field, such a high score, and yet someone managed to beat Sylvie?
“Yeah, they only confirmed the ranking.” Sylvie’s expression grew complicated. The certainty she’d felt just moments before had vanished, leaving her face darkened and clouded with disbelief.
Joseph seemed to remember something. He suddenly looked over. “Did they say what the top score was, or… who got it?”
Jarrod’s long lashes lifted slightly; his tone was cool and measured. “They probably won’t say.”
It would depend on what the university officially released after their internal review.
Sylvie pressed her lips together. “No, they didn’t say.”
She took a deep breath before adding, her voice full of frustration, “They also said… Dr. Sterling has already chosen his graduate student, but it’s not me.”
Even though the professor would consider both the written exam and the interview, she knew she’d had every advantage. Even if someone else had scored higher, they couldn’t possibly match her real-world experience—she’d worked for a Fortune 500 company overseas, participated in major projects, and was now part of Neural Intelligence, one of the leading tech firms in the industry. Not to mention her academic background at a top university.
And yet, the spot didn’t go to her…
She simply couldn’t make sense of it.
Joseph lowered his gaze, lost in thought.
He didn’t say a word for a long time.
Jarrod noticed his silence and glanced over. “What’s on your mind?”
Joseph recalled how Haywood, chief engineer at The Delacroix Group, had once praised Elodie at length, and how Elodie had been the project lead at VistaLink Technologies. Now, putting two and two together…
His face registered a flash of shock, but he quickly hid it, tightening his grip on his teacup as his heart pounded in his chest.
A wild guess took shape, making his blood rush to his head.
He looked up and met Jarrod’s deep, steady gaze, sensing a quiet question in his eyes.
By now, both Sylvie and Maurice were watching him.
Joseph forced himself to rein in the roiling speculation and said, slowly, “It’s just… surprising. To even make it to the interview round at Verdant University, you’re already among the best of the best-everyone’s scored at least 400.”
If Sylvie was edged out, just how exceptional was this first-place candidate? Sylvie’s brow furrowed even tighter at that.
Jarrod absently ran his thumb along the edge of his phone, saying nothing.
Maurice, still puzzling over it, spoke up. “Is there some incredible dark horse we don’t know about? I mean, the professor must have picked the top scorer. The university should release the final list soon.”
Sylvie did her best to steady herself before speaking. “I want to try one more time.”
This time Jarrod turned his head to look at her.
Sylvie rallied her thoughts and said quickly, “The opening ceremony for Neural Intelligence is in two days. I want to invite Dr. Sterling to attend, and try to talk with him face-to-face-maybe I can convince him to open up an extra spot for another graduate student.”
She wasn’t ready to give up. Not after coming this far.
She also wanted to find out more about this so-called dark horse, and their score.
If the margin was only a few points, there was no way their credentials could match hers. So why wouldn’t Dr. Sterling choose her? Or at least give her a chance as well?
But…
Dr. Charlie Sterling wasn’t just anyone; getting a meeting wouldn’t be easy. Jarrod set down his teacup, gaze calm and unwavering. “I’ll set up the meeting.”