***** Vol.3 Chap.39 Revelation at last *****

It was getting late. It was already past six o’clock. He thought of going to the faculty club for dinner, but for fear of meeting anybody he knew there, he changed his mind. Desirous of being alone more than ever, he picked up at the Ah-Choo Kitchen at the campus corner the special for the day: Moo-Goo-Gai-Pan with fried rice, a spring roll, and, of course, a fortune cookie.

With the food, he walked aimlessly back to his office avoiding the office area just in case there may be other faculty there. He saw no one as he sneaked into his office and closed the door quickly. Though not hungry, he ate the chicken and the fried rice leaving the spring roll untouched.

Breaking with tradition, he opened the fortune cookie. He never really cared much about those messages in the fortune cookie before. But today, he thought he would just open and see what it says. The message in the cookie said, ‘Honor and duty will come your way.’

He chuckled and said aloud to himself, “Boy, are they wrong!” and threw the paper in the trash can.

After dinner, He did not feel like working at all. Nothing seemed important.

A thought came to him regarding JB. Searching for the original reference letter from JB’s advisor, he sat down and read the letter.

“… JB is one of the best doctoral students, if not the best…”

Well. That was the reason he hired her.

“She is extremely self-motivated and resourceful…”

For sure.

“She usually knows what she wants, and she always gets what she wants…”

Hmm. What does that mean?

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“She is very single-minded, and she seldom lets other things distract her from her goal…”

That was as good a reference letter as one could write for a student. But what was the actual message here?

On the surface, the letter gave a superb recommendation for an outstanding student with words like ‘the best’, ‘self-motivated’, and ‘resourceful’. These were qualities that every faculty wanted their students to have, students who could take care of themselves and carry out independent research. These were certainly desirable and admirable qualities.

He certainly had observed JB in the past years, exhibiting these qualities. He never had to tell her where the library was, or where to go on the web for free software. The moment that she arrived, she was going full steam ahead, just like any other team members. That was the reason he hired her in the first place. He was tired of post-docs that could not do any independent work at all and had to be told what to do for every move. JB was a joy because he never had to tell her what to do.

But what else was contained in the letter: ‘single-minded’ and ‘goal?’ What was the message here?

He leaned back in his chair and recalled the past two years when JB was one of his team members. It was true that she could produce excellent research work. She was a genius and catapulted the project to results that he could not even dream of.

He had always taken her as a colleague and not as someone working under him and had always encouraged her to look for a permanent faculty job elsewhere. In fact, He had even spoken to the department chair when there was a faculty opening earlier in the academic year, but the position had already been earmarked for another area and she was not a good fit for that position.

He had written countless recommendation letters for her and had spoken to many of his colleagues about her. He knew that she had received several offers during the past year. Among these offers, at least two were from Ivy League schools. Why she turned them all down was the one thing that he could never understand. Though he had asked her several times about those offers, she had never given a straightforward answer. Eventually, he left off asking her about the offers.

To him, he had done everything he could other than give her his own job...

Boom!

Ding, ding, ding, ding!

A loud ring exploded in his head!

Frank almost fell off his chair when the realization dawned on him.

She wants my job! She desperately wants my job! She really wants my job!

He put the files back. The events of the past years became crystal clear.

What happened with all the past shenanigans related to the fiasco of missing classes was planned. The complaint with plagiarism was planned. The accusation today was planned.

The execution of her plan was simply superb.

Finally, everything that happened during the last two years fell into place.