Betrayed and Dumped: She Rose Stronger Than Ever novel Chapter 7

The group chat was full of students who had all applied to Dr. Palmer’s graduate program. Someone posted, “Dr. Palmer’s birthday is next Saturday. If you want to come, send me a message.”

Dr. Palmer was a giant in financial engineering, one of the top names in the country, and the advisor Rebecca had once dreamed of working under. Back in her undergrad days, she’d been lucky enough to have one-on-one meetings with him at Larkhaven College. He saw something special in her, and under his guidance, she’d applied for several patents. The most famous one, the automatic interest rate curve model, had made waves in the industry. Hardly anyone knew the patent was actually in Rebecca’s name. Most people assumed Dr. Palmer was the mastermind behind it.

Dr. Palmer appreciated her talent. He reached out to her directly, saying, “Apply for my grad program. I promise, three years from now you’ll be a star in financial engineering.” Rebecca applied and got in. But before the semester started, she turned down her offer and decided to start a business with Bruce instead.

Dr. Palmer tried to convince her to stay. “Finish grad school first, then go start your company. You’ll reach your full potential that way.” Rebecca didn’t listen. She was scared that if she kept studying while Bruce was off chasing his own dreams, their already shaky relationship would fall apart. Dr. Palmer was disappointed, but he let her go.

For the first few years after graduation, Rebecca would still send him messages on holidays. He always replied, but his responses were short, almost distant. After a while, she just felt too awkward to keep reaching out. She stopped messaging him altogether.

Now, Dr. Palmer’s birthday was coming up. Rebecca kind of wanted to go, but the thought made her anxious. She didn’t feel like she belonged there anymore.

She was about to turn off her phone when a private message popped up. “Rebecca, I signed you up for the professor’s birthday party.”

It was Caleb, the student who had posted in the group chat earlier. He was Dr. Palmer’s star pupil now. They’d only met once, years ago, during the graduate interviews. Caleb had added her to the group chat back then. Now he was working on his PhD with Dr. Palmer, while Rebecca’s own pursuit of love… well, that hadn’t gone as planned.

Her eyes filled with tears before she managed to reply. “Thanks, but I shouldn’t go.”

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