Jasmine Henderson had been staying with the Ross family for the past few days, showing no signs of leaving even over the weekend.
Thorne Henderson hadn''t mentioneding to pick her up, either.
Recently, Charlene Ross had submitted another paper to a top-tier international journal. It had been epted without a hitch and was ted for official publication early Sunday morning.
But Charlene didn''t stay up waiting for it. She turned in early on Saturday night.
When she woke up the next morning and checked her phone, a flood of missed calls and unread messages immediately poured in.
She nced at the screen and decided to return Stewart Ferguson''s call first. He picked up almost instantly. "You''re awake?"
"Yeah."
"I assume you know why I''m calling?" Stewart chuckled. "Unsurprisingly, yourtest paper caused an absolute sensation right after it dropped. Congrattions."
"Thank you."
He was genuinely thrilled for her and just wanted to share his excitement.
They didn''t chat for long and quickly wrapped up the call.
Charlene scrolled through the rest of her notifications, replying to each person one by one.
Upon seeing her texts, Granger Harden, Gaylord Hearst, York Watson, and Professor Hancock all called back to personally offer their congrattions.
She thanked them graciously.
Shortly after, reporters from major news outlets began reaching out, eager to schedule an exclusive interview.
By the time she finally put her phone down, over an hour had passed.
Jasmine had woken up earlier. Seeing how busy Charlene was right out of bed, the little girl had quietly kept to herself to avoid interrupting.
Even though Jasmine was staying with the Ross family, Thorne still called her every single day, and this morning was no exception.
"So many people are calling Mommy," Jasmine told him over the phone. "She''s so busy."
On the other end of the line, Thorne gave a soft hum of acknowledgment, chatting with his daughter for a few more minutes before hanging up.
The Hawkins and Spencer families also found out that morning about Charlene''s newly published, sensational paper.
With her relentless string of groundbreaking publications she was now held in the highest regard by industry professionals both domestically and internationally.
Watching the inte ce
Charlene on a pedestal sent Leah Spencer into a furious rant. "She''s listed as the first author again! She has absolutely no shame! And what is wrong with Stewart? Has he never seen a woman before? He''s throwing away all his own
hard-earned des just for some girl!"
Leah was, of course, still convinced that Stewart was the real mastermind behind all of Charlene''s work.
She wasn''t alone; with the sole exception of Vesta Hawkins, everyone else in both families believed the exact same thing.
To be fair, there were a few whispers echoing that sentiment online.
After all, in the public''s eyes, Stewart was Kenton Wagner''s star pupil, yet he was never listed as the lead author.
However, those cynical voices were a minority.
Over the past year, Charlene had made numerous public appearances, and her undeniable brilliance had firmly established her credibility.
Most people reasoned that neither Stewart nor Dr. Wagner would risk their
prestigious careers and sterling reputations just to indulge a woman.
The Hawkins and Spencer families secretly knew she had the skills to back it up.
But...
Watching her ride the coattails of
her connections to Stewart and
Kenton to achieve skyrocket
farne and undeniable prowess left a bitter taste in their mouths.
"If Vesta had juste back earlier and hadn''t missed her chance to join PrimeStar
Technologies, everything Charlene has now would be hers."
"Exactly," Leah scoffed. "My sister''s starting point was miles above hers."
It wasn''t just the two families nursing that grudge; Raleigh, a former employee at PrimeStar Technologies, felt the exact same way.
Staring at Charlene''s newly published paper on his screen, his expression twisted into an ugly scowl.