Since Christine was attending an academic conference abroad and had not returned, Miranda’s group did not have their mentor present at the meeting.
Coincidentally, their group’s presentation was scheduled right after Sophie’s group. Joli stood up and began summarizing their group’s academic progress for the month, highlighting a particularly impressive achievement–Yasmine had published a paper in an SCI journal as the first author.
At that point, Joli paused briefly. The audience was a little confused but quickly realized it was a cue for applause. Soon, the room was filled with thunderous clapping. Joli remained silent. The school and faculty leaders on stage beamed with pride, especially Joseph, whose face was practically split into a grin.
On the other hand, Sophie instinctively straightened her posture, smiling confidently. Amid the applause, Yasmine stood up and said, “Thank you, everyone. But the person I owe the most gratitude to for this achievement is my mentor, Dr. Sophie Xander. Her professional guidance and patient teaching made this possible.”
Another round of applause erupted. Sophie gave a slight nod in acknowledgment, while Joli quietly sat.
Theodore, sitting next to him, couldn’t help but marvel, “Wow! Yasmine spends all her time either eating or playing, and even skips classes, yet she somehow managed to publish an SCI paper. That’s incredible!” He wondered how she found the time to write a paper, especially when she hardly ever went to the lab. Didn’t writing a research paper require actual experiments?
“Joli,” Theodore said, nudging him. “Didn’t you mention last time that you’d finished your paper and submitted it? Which journal did you submit to?”
“I didn’t submit it,” Joli replied flatly.
“When will you?” Theodore asked eagerly, his eyes full of admiration. He also longed to have his own academic accomplishments. He dreamt of the day he could send a copy of his published paper home to his parents, who would undoubtedly be proud.
“I’m not submitting it.”
Lost in his daydream, Theodore took a moment to process what Joli had said. “… Not submitting it? What do you mean? Why not?” Joli had spent countless hours in the lab, working tirelessly day and night, conducting experiments and analyzing data. How could he suddenly decide not to submit it?
"The research direction turned out to be flawed. All the data has to be scrapped, and I’ll have to start over," Joli explained with a blank expression.
“What?” Theodore was stunned. The paper had been finished, hadn’t it? Such a massive issue shouldn’t have gone unnoticed until the end.