Kyle cursed under his breath. “Didn’t you tell her Natalie hasn’t shown up at school for three days?”

“What does Natalie not coming to school have to do with her?” Vincent shot him a sharp look. He added, “Instead of grilling Josie, why don’t you just try calling Natalie a few more times?”

Kyle kicked a stool in frustration. “You think I haven’t tried? She won’t pick up. Her depression must be acting up again. It’s all Josie’s fault. If Josie hadn’t hogged all the attention at the school competition, Natalie wouldn’t have…”

Aiden said as he walked in from outside, “Shut up. Natalie isn’t that narrow-minded. If Josie stands out, it’s because she’s got the skills. We should congratulate her.” He shot a look around. “And don’t let me hear that kind of talk again. Just because you’re petty doesn’t mean the whole team is. Professor Lawson isn’t the type to be jealous of Josie’s success, either.” He waved his hand. “Alright, get back to work. Since Josie doesn’t need us anymore, let’s just leave her alone.” He added, “Stop worrying about Natalie. She’ll be back at school tomorrow. She couldn’t make it these past few days because she had a little accident on her way home. It has nothing to do with Josie getting attention. Everyone clear on that?”

Aiden swept his gaze over the group. Everyone nodded in unison. “Got it!”

Once everyone had left, Aiden stopped Gavin. “Come in with me.” They stepped into the back room. Aiden turned to Gavin. “So, what exactly did Josie say?”

“Just what I said before…” Gavin recapped everything for Aiden. He added, “I’ve seen her practically living in the library, pulling all-nighters just to catch up on her coursework. Honestly, she had zero time to secretly pick up acupuncture. Maybe we really did her wrong.”

Even though Aiden really didn’t want to admit it, he had to face the truth that Gavin was right. There was no way Josie was Delilah’s spy. However, he still couldn’t accept the fact that Josie could master acupuncture in just a month. He just couldn’t believe she was smarter than him. He felt that it was absolutely impossible. It was a fact that Delilah had helped her, whether it was with research papers or professional knowledge. Aiden felt that Josie had an unfair advantage over the other students, and that couldn’t be allowed to go on.

Aiden said, “Gavin, I know you’re still hung up on the past with her, but things aren’t as simple as you think. You’ll find out what kind of person Josie really is soon. Now, get out.” Aiden waved his hand dismissively, clearly not interested in explaining further.

Even though Gavin didn’t really get what Aiden meant, he still wanted to remind him. He said, “If you have time, maybe try talking to Natalie a bit more. I just feel like she’s got some misunderstandings about Josie. Honestly, Josie doesn’t have any real malice toward her. Natalie doesn’t need to take everything so personally.”

As Gavin stepped out of the back room, he rubbed his temples. He had no idea if Aiden would actually talk to Natalie, but with the way Josie was acting now, he figured it was better not to get on her bad side. He thought, ‘Natalie’s basically my wallet these days. I really can’t afford for anything to happen to her!’

After Gavin left, Aiden also left the lab and headed to the faculty building. He walked into David’s office.

“Professor, these are the materials you asked me to prepare,” Aiden said, handing over a stack of documents. He added, “Here’s all the experimental data Josie was involved with during her two-plus years on the team. I checked, and up until she left, she hadn’t completed a single experiment on her own. She did write quite a few papers, but not a single one ever got published.”

David nodded. “Got it. Just leave them here.”

Seeing that David had no intention of even glancing at the documents, Aiden couldn’t help but speak up. Aiden asked, “Professor, do we really have to take it this far? Josie really didn’t do anything wrong. If anyone’s at fault, it’s Professor Wilcourt. Isn’t it unfair for Josie to take all the blame for this?”