Chapter 10: The Future They Couldn't Take From Me
The committee chair asked me to sit down.
I did, keeping my hands folded on the table so nobody would see them trembling.
Professor Shaw stood near the wall.
The external examiner had disconnected from the video call, but the other committee members remained seated with their notes in front of them.
The chair took a breath.
“Thank you for your presentation and for answering the committee's questions. We recognize that you experienced significant disruption this morning. Our assessment, however, is based on the submitted thesis, your presentation, and your responses during the examination.””
I nodded.
That was all I had wanted.
A fair assessment.
Not sympathy.
Not revenge.
Not a special advantage because my family had treated me cruelly.
The chair continued.
“The committee has reached its decision.””
For one terrible second, I heard nothing else.
Then she said, “We are recommending that your thesis be accepted, subject to the revisions discussed during the examination.””
I stared at her.
“Accepted?””
“Yes.””
The word seemed too small for what it represented.
Five years of work.
Years of failed experiments and rewritten sections.
Long nights spent trying to understand why a model that performed well in one setting failed in another.
The uncertainty of not knowing whether the research would ever become useful outside the university.
And the morning my sister tried to stop me from presenting it.
My eyes filled with tears.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
The chair smiled.
“You should be proud of the work. The revisions are important, but they are manageable. Professor Shaw will help you understand the required next steps.””
I nodded again.
I couldn't speak.
When the examination ended, Professor Shaw walked with me into the corridor.
I stopped beside the window and finally let myself cry.
Not because I had won a battle against my family.
Not because Lila had been exposed.
Because I had been terrified that someone else's cruelty would erase something I had spent five years building.
It hadn't.
The research was still mine to defend.
My academic future was still mine to pursue.
And I had made it through the examination without pretending that the work was perfect or that the morning had been easy.
Professor Shaw handed me a tissue.
“You did well.””
“I almost didn't make it here.””
“But you did.””
I looked at him.
“Thank you for coming to my house.””
“I wish there hadn't been a reason to.””
“So do I.””
He paused.
“There's something else you should know. The university's research-integrity team will continue investigating the attempted access. Your examination result doesn't resolve those questions.””
“I understand.””
“And the licensing discussions will be reviewed separately. The company has indicated that it wants the process to proceed through the university's authorized channels.””
I felt a cautious sense of relief.
“So there's still a possibility of a pilot program?””
“Yes. Nothing is guaranteed, but the discussions haven't been automatically terminated.””
I looked through the window at the campus courtyard.
Students crossed between buildings, carrying books and talking about ordinary things.
May you like
Somewhere, a clinic was waiting for better tools.
Somewhere, a patient might eventually benefit
