Zora was stunned. How could he do that? Who knows what will happen in the future? Why pin it all on me?! But right now, she just wanted out of this mess. Swallowing her anger, she nodded stiffly. The presentation resumed. Mia had planned to slip in a few digs at Darcy during her part, but seeing Zora's fate, she immediately deleted all questionable content from her slides. When the presentations concluded, Bram announced that the first review meeting was officially over. People clapped with blank faces. As people began to rise and leave, Alistair spoke up, asking everyone to stay. His cold wasn't fully gone, his voice still a bit hoarse, but his words were firm."I finally figured out what exactly happened before. "First, my apologies. I wasn't clear enough, which led to doubts about Darcy's place here. "Some of you may wonder why Darcy, a student who hasn't even officially entered my program yet, is part of this project. The reason is—" Everyone leaned in, straining to hear. Alistair paused, then continued, "The core data model you are all currently using was built by Darcy during her undergraduate years." A collective gasp rippled through his students. After a long moment, Bram spoke, voice tinged with disbelief, "Prof. Reed, are you saying the large-scale data model we've been using in our computers for the past five years... was Darcy's undergraduate work?" "Yes. It was." The looks directed at Darcy changed instantly—surprise, admiration, utter shock.An undergraduate achieved this? It was unbelievable! Darcy became the center of attention, yet she remained composed. She offered a modest smile to the admiring glances. "I have to thank Prof. Reed. Without his guidance back then, I might not have succeeded in developing it." Alistair shook his head with a smile. "Don't be too modest. Such an achievement was primarily your own doing. My help was merely supplementary." Listening to the praise showered on Darcy, Mia bit her lip hard. No way! Darcy has that kind of skill? Then why didn't she join Prof. Reed's program back then? Why is she only applying for a part-time degree now? Something doesn't add up! A sly smile curved her lips. She looked directly at Darcy. "Sorry, I have to ask. If that's the case, why didn't you apply for Prof. Reed's graduate program back then? If you had, you'd probably be his PhD student by now, just like Bram." The other students caught on. "Yeah, with your talent, not pursuing further study is such a waste!" "If you'd applied back then, Bram wouldn't even be in the picture now!" Faced with their clamor, Darcy lowered her eyes, silent. Back then, she'd been blinded by love and tossed her studies for a relationship. It was a past she wasn't proud of. She didn't want to discuss it. But clearly, someone wasn't letting it go. "Darcy," Mia pressed, smiling sweetly. "Don't tell me you didn't pass the exam back then? Hmm, I recall the cutoff score wasn't even that high. What was your score?" The room fell quiet again. Someone waved a hand dismissively. "What does the score matter? Darcy's ability can't be measured by a number." Darcy looked up and stared right at Mia's provocative look. Her gut feeling was right—Mia was picking on her, specifically. Darcy couldn't remember ever upsetting Mia, but since the attack was so obvious, she had to fight back. "I scored a 485. First in both the written and the interview. I also got the admission offer. "However, due to personal reasons, I chose not to enroll. It was a foolish decision on my part, and I owe Prof. Reed an apology." Out of 500, she scored 485... What kind of prodigy is this?! The other students were electrified. "Holy—so you're the legendary from the FinEng program back then!" "The highest score in history! No one's broken your record yet! That's insane!""Yeah! Prof. Reed mentioned you once! Such a shame you didn't enroll." Even Mia was shocked. That mythical top-scorer—basically a campus legend—turned out to be Darcy. She clenched her fists, utterly humiliated. Thank god I didn't say anything worse. But everyone else was now far more interested in the reason Darcy gave up the offer than in Mia's embarrassment. "Back then—I made a stupid choice for someone who wasn't worth it," Darcy said quietly. "But luckily, I've wised up." Ohhh— Understanding dawned on their faces. She got her heart broken. Some love story gone wrong. They exchanged looks, a wave of sympathy and shared outrage washing over them. Who's that jerk?!The "jerk" in question, Zane, felt his shoulders tremble slightly. It all came flooding back. Back then, when Darcy learned he was starting his own company, she had given up her graduate studies without a second thought.