The room went silent.

For the first time since I walked in, Nadia stopped crying.

Not gradually.

Instantly.

As if someone had pressed a switch.

Ethan stared at my phone.

“You called the police?”

“Yes.”

“For a thesis?”

I looked directly at him.

“No. For unauthorized access to an academic account, destruction of digital files, identity-related fraud, and a knowingly false accusation submitted to the university.”

The Academic Integrity Director, Dr. Morrison, raised a hand.

“Olivia, perhaps involving law enforcement is premature.”

“Then verify the computer logs before they arrive.”

The counselor’s expression changed.

“There’s no need to turn this into a circus.”

I smiled.

“Why not?”

Then I looked at Nadia.

“You’re certain you deleted my thesis?”

Her eyes flickered toward Ethan.

“I… I already admitted it.”

“Good.”

I turned toward Ethan.

“And you personally saw her delete it?”

He hesitated.

“Yes.”

“Excellent.”

I put my phone on the table.

“Then neither of you should have anything to worry about.”

Nadia’s fingers tightened around Ethan’s sleeve.

That tiny movement told me everything.

Dr. Morrison finally opened the university’s internal system.

“What computer was used?”

“Library station L-47.”

He called Information Technology.

Within ten minutes, a technician arrived.

Unlike everyone else in the room, he didn’t seem interested in emotions.

He wanted timestamps.

Account IDs.

File histories.

He typed for several minutes.

Then frowned.

“That’s strange.”

Ethan shifted.

“What?”

The technician turned the monitor toward Dr. Morrison.

“At 8:14 p.m. yesterday, a folder named ‘Final Version’ was deleted.”

Nadia immediately pointed at me.

“See?”

The technician continued.

“But the session wasn’t logged into Olivia Lin’s account.”

Silence.

Ethan’s face changed.

I leaned back.

“Whose account was it?”

The technician clicked once.

A student number appeared.

ETHAN JIANG.

Nobody spoke.

Nadia looked at Ethan.

Then at me.

Then back at Ethan.

“No…”

Ethan rushed toward the screen.

“That can’t be right.”

The technician checked again.

“It is.”

Ethan’s voice rose.

“But Olivia was using my account!”

I nodded.

“Yes.”

He turned toward me.

“Why?”

“Because two days ago you asked me to correct the sections your supervisor marked.”

His mouth opened.

No words came out.

I continued calmly.

“You sent me your thesis because you said you were too busy taking Nadia to her cardiology appointment.”

Nadia went white.

“And because the university library automatically saves to the cloud under the logged-in student account, I worked directly from yours.”

Dr. Morrison looked at me.

“And your thesis?”

“Submitted seven days ago.”

I opened the university portal.

Submission date.

Time.

Confirmation number.

Supervisor acknowledgment.

Everything.

My thesis had never been missing.

The counselor slowly sat down.

Ethan stared at the screen as if sheer anger could restore the deleted folder.

“How much did she delete?”

The technician checked the recovery history.

His expression became uncomfortable.

“The folder contained the most recent draft, reference database, statistical appendices, source annotations and presentation materials.”

Ethan grabbed the edge of the desk.

“Restore it.”

“I can try.”

“Try?”

The technician looked at him.

“Someone emptied the recycle bin and then ran permanent deletion.”

Everyone turned toward Nadia.

She began shaking her head.

“I didn’t know.”

Ethan’s face became terrifyingly still.

“You permanently deleted it?”

“You told me Olivia’s thesis was on that computer!”

“I said she was working there!”

“You said—”

She stopped herself.

Too late.

I looked between them.

“What exactly did Ethan tell you?”

Neither answered.

Dr. Morrison’s expression sharpened.

“Nadia?”

She started crying again.

“I only wanted to scare Olivia.”

Ethan stepped away from her.

“You said it was an accident.”

“I panicked!”

“Last night you told everyone you accidentally deleted it because you were trying to help.”

“I was protecting you!”

The room changed.

Ethan stared at her.

“Protecting me from what?”

Nadia realized what she had said.

Before she could answer, the technician spoke.

“There’s another problem.”

He opened the access log.

“The deletion wasn’t the only activity from that session.”

My attention sharpened.

“What else?”

“At 8:22 p.m., someone accessed the academic complaint portal.”

Dr. Morrison immediately looked at Nadia.

The technician continued.

“A draft complaint against Olivia Lin was created from the same computer.”

The counselor stood abruptly.

“That doesn’t prove anything.”

“No,” the technician said. “But the final complaint submitted this morning contains identical metadata.”

I looked at the counselor.

“Who submitted it?”

Dr. Morrison checked the file.

His expression slowly hardened.

The complainant information had been sealed during the initial review.

Now he unlocked it.

For several seconds, nobody moved.

Then he read the name.

Professor Martin Kang.

Nadia’s uncle.

The same counselor sitting across from me.

His face drained of color.

“That’s confidential information!”

Dr. Morrison looked at him in disbelief.

“You filed the complaint?”

“I received evidence.”

“From whom?”

He said nothing.

I did.

“From Nadia?”

Nadia burst into tears.

“Uncle Martin was only trying to protect me!”

Ethan took another step away from her.

The counselor slammed his palm against the desk.

“This girl has caused enough trouble! She deliberately provoked Nadia despite knowing about her medical condition.”

Dr. Morrison’s voice became cold.

“Her medical condition has nothing to do with academic falsification.”

I almost smiled.

Finally.

Someone had remembered what room we were actually in.

Then two university security officers entered with a police officer.

The atmosphere changed immediately.

The officer listened while Dr. Morrison summarized the situation.

When he finished, the officer looked at Nadia.

“Did you intentionally delete the folder?”

Nadia looked at Ethan.

Ethan didn’t protect her this time.

Her lips trembled.

“I thought it belonged to Olivia.”

The officer wrote something down.

“So the deletion was intentional.”

“I didn’t mean—”

“That wasn’t my question.”

Nadia started crying harder.

Ethan suddenly turned toward me.

“Olivia, enough.”

I looked at him.

His eyes were red.

“Tell them you don’t want to pursue this.”

I almost couldn’t believe him.

“Why?”

“My thesis deadline is in less than three hours.”

There it was.

Not Nadia.

Not her heart.

Not morality.

His thesis.

His future.

I checked the clock.

Exactly two hours and thirty-six minutes remained.

“I thought delaying graduation one year wasn’t important.”

His face twisted.

“Stop repeating that!”

“Why?”

“Because this is different!”

“How?”

He couldn’t answer.

I did it for him.

“Because now it’s your future.”

Nadia began pulling at his arm.

“Ethan, don’t listen to her. You said you would protect me.”

He shook her hand off.

The entire room froze.

It was probably the first time in years he had done that.

“You deleted my thesis.”

“I thought it was hers!”

“That makes it better?”

“You said her future was insignificant compared to my health!”

Ethan stared at her.

Then slowly looked at me.

And I watched him remember every word he had said during the livestream.

Anyone’s future is insignificant.

Even mine.

I would trade my future for Nadia’s health without hesitation.

Now his face was gray.

Dr. Morrison closed the complaint file.

“Until this investigation is complete, Professor Kang is removed from this case.”

The counselor exploded.

“You cannot—”

“I can.”

He turned toward Ethan.

“And because the destroyed work belongs to you, your submission status will depend on whether sufficient verified backups can be recovered before the deadline.”

Ethan grabbed my wrist.

“You have a copy.”

I looked down at his hand.

Then at him.

“Let go.”

“Olivia.”

“You corrected my thesis. You must have downloaded it.”

He was right.

Two nights earlier, I had exported a full backup before beginning my edits.

A complete version.

References.

Data.

Annotations.

Everything Nadia had deleted.

Ethan knew how careful I was.

His expression suddenly softened.

The same expression he used four years ago when he stood outside my dorm in the rain.

“Olivia, please.”

Nadia stared at us.

“You wouldn’t actually let him fail because of me.”

I slowly removed Ethan’s hand from my wrist.

Then I opened my laptop.

His eyes lit up.

I found the backup folder.

ETHAN_JIANG_THESIS_FULL.

Relief flooded his face.

“I knew you’d have it.”

I clicked the folder once.

Then I looked at him.

“Last night I asked whether you would sacrifice your future for Nadia.”

His smile disappeared.

“You said yes.”

“Olivia…”

“You said it in front of everyone.”

I closed the laptop.

“So I’m going to respect your decision.”

Ethan’s face went completely white.

But before he could respond, Dr. Morrison’s phone rang.

He listened for less than thirty seconds.

Then slowly looked toward the counselor.

“Professor Kang…”

The counselor stiffened.

Dr. Morrison put the call on speaker.

A voice from the Registrar’s Office filled the room.

“We finished verifying Olivia Lin’s academic history.”

There was a pause.

“Her records are authentic.”

Another pause.

“And there is a second issue.”

The counselor swallowed.

“What issue?”

The voice continued:

“The scholarship records Professor Kang called ‘questionable’ show seventeen unauthorized modifications over the last two years.”

My smile disappeared.

I had expected Nadia to have tried to destroy my thesis.

I had expected her uncle to protect her.

I had not expected this.

Dr. Morrison asked quietly:

“Whose account made the modifications?”

The answer made Professor Kang collapse back into his chair.

“Professor Martin Kang’s.”