As they stared at Nathan with amazement, Professor Damian cut off the silence and spoke, “There’s still one more, remember.”

The student’s and the other professors were bewildered, it was clear that Nathan won the mock test, why is there a need for another test.

Selene, who stayed silent and watched Nathan in awe, spoke up, “It’s okay to back out of this one right? It’s apparent that Nathan won this mock test.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to at least try?” Professor Damian asked, Selene responded with a no.

The students thought that it was a natural statement but for Nathan, he kind of saw through the words of Selene. For him it was obvious that Selene felt dejected.

Selene grew up in a poor family, a reality that she had already accepted and was not bothered if others knew of it. She was not in a prestigious university so others are more or less the same as her.

At a young age, she wanted to help in supporting his family’s money problems and offered to help in working for it, but instead of an expected approval, what she got was denial. Her parents, especially her father, disapproved of her notion greatly.

“I worked everyday not to see my daughter at a young age working on the streets, we didn’t raise you to suffer the same problems we are having. Don’t ever say that to me again, finish your studies and graduate in a university, only then will I permit you to find work. I’ll cast you out of this the moment you hand me money. Over my dead body!” Her dad said as he stormed out of the house.

As a fresh high school student her father’s words stuck to her mind. It was the first time in her life that her father raised his voice like that and threatened Selene. Selene and his father didn’t say a word to each other for days, leaving her mother speechless and not knowing anything to do but urge her daughter to understand her father. It was a father’s pride.

She spent days reflecting on the words of her father but with no avail was she able to understand it.

“I suppose I won't be able to understand it until I grow older.” Selene reaches an acceptance of her father’s words despite not knowing the deeper meaning, all she knew was that he was doing it for her sake.

She went to her father’s side and apologized, she said that the only thing she could do now was to do her best in her studies, that way she would be able to go to a high-paying job and support her family.

Her dad accepted her tears in his eyes, he also apologized for shouting at her.

“Don’t cry dad, you’re also making me cry here.”

A few years have passed and now a new chapter in her life has unfolded, as others say, she’s now entering the exciting part.

She aspired to be a doctor, so she picked biology as her course and her plan is to specialize in medical biology when second year comes. For the first semester of the, she tried her absolute best, even studying things unrelated to her course and also somewhat distant from topics related to medicine. Selene only came third in the rankings of the first semester, only a few points away from the other two.

She was satisfied, she knew how hardworking the other two are, she heard they were previously top students in their last school so she didn’t have any hard feelings when she was defeated by them, it only made her want to work hard even more.

The start of the second semester, there was a math competition in the mathematics department. Having exposure to competition isn’t a bad thing so Selene decided to volunteer for it.

She didn’t think anyone would want to join the math competition since it’s for a different department but it shocked her when there was someone, it was Nathan.

Selene was bewildered at first and asked herself, “How come Nathan had the guts to participate in it? Didn’t he see his own grades?”

While she was busy asking herself what happened with Nathan, the professor wanted to use a voting method to filter it out. Selene knew that she would be picked if that happened, it’s not confidence but a hurtful fact. Yes, she wanted the spot, but taking it just like that left a bad taste in her mouth, so without her mind fully thinking about it, she spoked.

“The representative should be decided by intellect as it is a math competition, so why are we deciding it by voting when there's clearly another person who volunteered?"

The professor wanted to make sure that what he heard was right, he asked Selene if she was sure, and the latter said yes.

Professor Damian announced that he would conduct a mock test and let the winner be the representative of the class.

Selene the topics that he knew and even added some unfamiliar ones. She studied everything she thought would be tackled. Since she doesn’t have a general idea what topic the questions will be, it left her review a total mess despite memorizing many formulas.

The day of the mock test arrived, even though she was feeling the hopeful gazes of her classmate, she was even feeling a little proud for a while but stopped it as anything can happen, overconfidence is a poison to one’s mind.

The first question was given and she was puzzled as to how easy the first question was, with this question she was sure that Nathan would pass this round no problem. She hoped that the next question would be harder but not too hard that she won’t be able to answer, just a little bit of hardness that Nathan would surrender.

She knew that it was too specific to hope for but who cares.

The second question was a bomb for her, with all the memorization she did, she forgot how to differentiate the function, all she remembered was the graph of the critical points. It took her a lot of time before she remembered and it took all her energy to do so.

As she raised her hand, she saw the unbothered look of Nathan. With both of their answers right, she thought that Nathan might’ve cheated on her paper, how else would he be able to answer that if she struggled.

She refused to believe it until the third question was plastered at the front. She doesn’t know how to solve the problem; she gave up and looked at Nathan to see if he also gave up.

To her surprise though, Nathan was busy solving it without care, no difficulties, it’s like he’s just walking by the roadside.

As the clock ticked, she didn’t leave her eyes off of Nathan, she couldn’t believe that he would be able to solve it so she observed the whole time if he really did cheat.

After Nathan finished, she gave up and accepted that Nathan really did all the work by himself, no cheating happened.

But with that acceptance, comes also pain. Under the cheering of the class, her heart wanted to cry but she forced herself not to.

One person wanted proof that Nathan did not cheat, Selene was about to say something but she didn’t.

The whole time that Nathan was explaining how he got the answer, Selene was busy contemplating.

Why was it easy for Nathan to change from being the worst to being smart?

Is my dream just a fleeting dream?

Is my hard work really negligible?

Was my effort non-existent?

Selene, faced with this emotion, felt heavy on her heart. How come she studied all her life with dedication, just to be overshadowed by someone who changed within a day. It was just not fair.

Life is not fair.