When he held Eleanor''s report card in his hands, he saw it-eight core courses, an average score of ny-eight.


    Dr. Lyman adjusted his sses, scanning the numbers again and again, hardly able to believe it. He immediately picked up the phone. "Bring Eleanor''s exam papers to my office. I want to review them myself."<fn18ab> N?w ?ovel chapt?rs are published on f?i?n?d?n?o?v?e?l?</fn18ab>


    That afternoon, a stack of Eleanor''s testsnded on Dr. Lyman''s desk. He sipped his tea, picked up the first exam, and began to read. Each answer was in Eleanor''s own handwriting, and every response came so close to perfection that it left him speechless.


    "This girl... Elliot, how did you raise a daughter like this?" Dr. Lyman eximed, shaking his head in amazement. Then he dialed his assistant. "Could you please ask Simone toe here?"


    "Right away!"


    About fifteen minutester, Simone pushed open the office door. "Lyman, you wanted to see me?"


    "Come here. You won''t believe your eyes."


    "What am I looking at?" Simone asked, curiosity piqued.


    "Eleanor''stest exam results," Dr. Lyman replied, unable to hide the excitement in his voice.


    Simone''s eyebrows shot up. "The scores are out?"


    "Come and see for yourself. This girl is exactly the person you need," Dr. Lyman said earnestly.


    Skeptical but intrigued, Simone pulled a test paper from the pile and took a seat. As she read, her eyes widened, mouth falling open as her heartbeat quickened.


    "This is... Eleanor''s paper? No way. How could she write something this wless?"


    "You think she cheated?" Dr. Lyman replied, taking another sip of tea. "Simone, even if you or I sat that exam today, we might not do as well as her. Who could she possibly copy from?"


    Simone quickly dismissed the idea. The test covered topics from recent research, some only emerging in thest couple of years. Eleanor''s father had passed away five years ago—there was no way he could''ve given her any hints.


    "How did she do overall?"


    "Eight subjects, average of ny-eight. She even beat her father''s average back in the day."


    "Elliot only managed a ny-six," Simone murmured, almost to herself.


    "She''s a prodigy-one of the brightest minds in medicine I''ve ever seen," Dr. Lyman said, awe in his voice. "Don''t let her talent go to waste, Simone." Simone gave a wry smile. "She won. I lost."


    Dr. Lyman had heard about her little wager with Eleanor. Heughed. "Isn''t that a good thing?"


    Three dayster, Eleanor''s results were posted on Ashford Medical University''s website, the announcement celebrating her extraordinary achievement in bold, congrattory tones.


    Not only that—her test papers were showcased as the best in the university''s history.


    Eleanor was tidying up in theb when her assistant, Darcy, charged in, breathless with excitement. "Eleanor, your results are up! You averaged ny- eight-this is incredible!"


    Eleanor, already notified in advance by Dr. Lyman, just smiled calmly.


    "So you already knew, huh?" Darcy scratched his head, grinning sheepishly.


    Meanwhile, Gwenda, Faye, Horace, and Callie were deep in discussion in the conference room when the news broke. Gwenda immediately pulled up the university website, and when she saw the scores, her vision blurred with shock.


    "No way... How could Eleanor average a ny-eight? She couldn''t have copied, could she?"


    Faye snatched Gwenda''s tablet, eyes glued to the results. For a moment, her mind went nk-Eleanor hadn''t just passed; she''de close to a perfect score in every subject.


    "Impossible. Only a genius could pull this off. Her father''s average was just ny- six, wasn''t it? She actually outperformed him," Horace said in disbelief.


    "The test papers are public. See for yourself," Gwenda replied, scrolling through her phone.


    Faye''s face turned pale as she stared at Eleanor''s transcript, unable to utter a single word.