For the first time since I entered the office, Nadia stopped crying.

The Integrity Director stared at me.

“Police?”

“Yes.”

I placed my phone on the table.

“If I fabricated evidence, punish me.”

I looked at Nadia.

“If she deliberately deleted academic work, investigate her.”

Then at Ethan.

“And if someone knowingly submitted a false accusation to manipulate an academic investigation, I want that documented too.”

Ethan grabbed my wrist.

“Olivia, stop.”

I looked down at his hand.

“Let go.”

Something in my voice made him release me.

The director cleared his throat.

“Before involving outside authorities, we can examine the university’s digital records.”

“Perfect.”

I smiled.

“Start with the computer Nadia used.”

Nadia’s face turned white.

The IT administrator arrived twenty minutes later.

He asked for the computer’s identification number, checked login records, cloud synchronization, and document history.

Nobody spoke.

Finally, he frowned.

“This computer wasn’t logged into Olivia Lin’s university account.”

Ethan looked up.

“What?”

The administrator turned the screen.

“At the time the deletion occurred, the active account belonged to Ethan Jiang.”

Silence.

Absolute silence.

I watched Ethan’s expression change.

Confusion.

Disbelief.

Then fear.

“No.”

He rushed toward the computer.

“That’s impossible.”

“Why?”

I tilted my head.

“You asked me to correct your thesis two days ago.”

His lips parted.

“I used your account because you gave me the password.”

Nadia suddenly stood.

“But the folder said Final Version!”

“It did.”

My smile disappeared.

“Your final version, Ethan.”

His face became bloodless.

The administrator continued.

“The deleted folder contained a thesis registered under student ID E204817.”

The director checked the database.

“Ethan Jiang.”

Ethan stared at Nadia.

She began shaking her head.

“No.”

“I thought…”

“You deleted mine?”

His voice sounded almost unrecognizable.

Nadia immediately started crying.

“I thought it was Olivia’s!”

And there it was.

The sentence that destroyed her entire defense.

The room froze.

Even the counselor stopped moving.

Nadia realized what she’d admitted.

She covered her mouth.

I leaned back.

“So it wasn’t an accident.”

“No!”

She looked frantically around.

“I mean…”

“I didn’t know it was Ethan’s.”

“Exactly.”

I nodded.

“You intended to delete mine.”

Ethan stepped away from her as though she had suddenly become poisonous.

“You deliberately deleted what you thought was Olivia’s thesis?”

“Ethan, listen—”

“You told me you accidentally pressed something!”

“I was angry!”

“At what?”

Her face twisted.

“At her!”

She pointed at me.

“She’s always there!”

“Your classes, your projects, your meetings. Every time I call, you’re with Olivia!”

I almost laughed.

“I was his girlfriend.”

“Exactly!”

Nadia screamed.

Then she clutched her chest.

Everyone instinctively moved.

Everyone except me.

And, surprisingly…

Ethan.

Nadia noticed.

“Ethan…”

He stared at her.

“My thesis.”

Her tears fell faster.

“You said losing a year wasn’t important.”

The irony was so perfect that even the Integrity Director looked uncomfortable.

Nadia reached for him.

“You said it yourself last night.”

Ethan backed away.

“Because I thought it was Olivia’s!”

The words escaped before he could stop them.

My heart went quiet.

Four years.

That one sentence ended all of it.

I looked at him.

“So my year was disposable.”

“Olivia, that’s not what I meant.”

“But yours isn’t?”

“I was angry.”

“Your future matters.”

I glanced at Nadia.

“Hers matters.”

Then I pointed at myself.

“Mine was the only one everyone here agreed could be sacrificed.”

Nobody answered.

The IT administrator broke the silence.

“There may still be a recoverable synchronized copy.”

Ethan immediately rushed toward him.

“Can you restore it?”

“We can try.”

“But the submission portal closes in two hours.”

Now Ethan understood.

The panic.

The clock.

The helplessness.

Everything he’d told me to accept as a “blessing.”

I didn’t enjoy watching it.

That surprised me.

I simply felt finished.

The director turned to me.

“Ms. Lin, we still need to verify your thesis.”

“Of course.”

I opened my email.

“My thesis was submitted eight days ago.”

Ethan spun toward me.

“What?”

I pulled up the confirmation.

Submission date.

Timestamp.

Document hash.

Supervisor approval.

Everything.

The counselor stared.

“But Nadia deleted—”

“Ethan’s.”

I looked at Nadia.

“Neither of them bothered to check.”

The director opened my submitted document.

My name was on the title page.

My student number.

Version history.

Research logs.

Citation records.

Then came the call verifying my previous academic history.

The director’s expression became increasingly uncomfortable.

Finally, she removed her glasses.

“Your record is legitimate.”

“Yes.”

“And the allegation concerning your educational background appears to contain altered documentation.”

I looked at Ethan.

He immediately shook his head.

“I didn’t alter anything.”

Then everyone looked at Nadia.

She cried harder.

“I only wanted the school to investigate her!”

“Using false information?” I asked.

“I found someone online who helped me!”

The counselor suddenly interrupted.

“This has gone far enough.”

I turned toward him.

“No.”

“It hasn’t.”

I placed copies of scholarship emails on the table.

“Since we’re investigating academic integrity, I’d also like the university to review whether the counselor improperly influenced scholarship decisions involving his nephew.”

Ethan’s face changed again.

“Olivia!”

“What?”

“You brought me into this!”

I almost couldn’t believe him.

“You testified against me ten minutes ago.”

“I was trying to make you apologize!”

“By accusing me of academic fraud?”

He had no answer.

The investigation didn’t end that morning.

But my part did.

My thesis had already been submitted correctly.

My academic history was verified.

The allegations against me collapsed.

Nadia’s own words, the computer records, the livestream recording, and the altered documents became evidence in a much larger disciplinary review.

Ethan’s thesis was eventually recovered from an earlier backup.

But not the completed version.

Several corrected sections were gone.

He missed the submission deadline.

The university later allowed him to complete the academic process under the outcome of its review, but he did not graduate with our class.

Exactly one year.

The same amount of time he’d told me was insignificant.

As for his uncle, the scholarship review uncovered enough irregularities that he was removed from decisions involving students while the university investigated further.

Nadia disappeared from our social group almost immediately.

Her “heart condition” became less effective once people realized that every time accountability appeared, symptoms conveniently followed.

I never tried to determine how sick she truly was.

It didn’t matter.

Illness could explain vulnerability.

It couldn’t excuse cruelty.

Ethan found me after graduation rehearsal.

I was carrying my gown.

“Olivia.”

I stopped.

He looked exhausted.

“I broke up with Nadia.”

I almost smiled.

“We broke up years ago.”

His face tightened.

“You know what I mean.”

“No, Ethan.”

“I don’t.”

He stepped closer.

“I was wrong.”

“Yes.”

“I shouldn’t have believed her.”

“Correct.”

“I shouldn’t have testified against you.”

“Correct.”

“I should’ve protected you.”

That finally made me laugh.

“I didn’t need protection.”

He froze.

“I needed my boyfriend not to join the people attacking me.”

His eyes reddened.

“I thought you’d forgive me.”

“I know.”

That was his real mistake.

Not Nadia.

Not the thesis.

Not even the false complaint.

He had believed my love made me permanent.

He reached for my hand.

I stepped back.

“Olivia, four years can’t end like this.”

“They didn’t.”

I looked at him calmly.

“They ended when you said my future was insignificant.”

Then I walked away.

At graduation, my parents flew in from abroad.

My mother cried before I even put on my gown.

My father photographed everything so aggressively that three strangers asked him to move.

When my name was called, they stood.

I heard them cheering louder than anyone else in the hall.

For years, I had avoided mentioning their achievements because I wanted everything I earned to belong to me.

That day, I finally let myself be their daughter again.

Months later, I received an offer from an international research program.

I accepted.

Before leaving, I passed the old library.

Through the window, I could see the computer where Nadia had sat smiling as she emptied the trash.

She had believed one click could destroy my future.

Ethan had believed losing a year of my life was a small price to protect another woman’s feelings.

Neither of them understood the funniest part.

My thesis had never been in danger.

Only Ethan’s was.

And in the end, the file Nadia deleted wasn’t the most important thing Ethan lost that night.

Documents could be recovered.

Deadlines could sometimes be extended.

A delayed graduation could be completed eventually.

But the woman who had loved him for four years?

Once I finally deleted him from my future…

there was no backup copy.