p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"strongI/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"Miller bumped into him in the corridor and asked him to come to his office immediately. He did not tell him why. He approached his office and opened the door. The secretary invited him to sit in an armchair./p
p class="MsoNormal"The conversation was strange. Miller began to ramble on about his future with the company. He just nodded silently. His attention swayed like the tides until Miller blurted out a piece of news that rattled his nerves: a position as head researcher at a lab he couldn't elaborate on. Only one position, Miller warned him. A single position for one of the top two students in the class. He didn't name anyone. He didn't need to. He took the hint and knew instantly who the runner-up was./p
p class="MsoNormal"He left the office. He leaned against the corridor wall. Thoughtfully, he folded his arms. His last chance to repent. If he lost, there would be no job. If he won, there would be a job. Would he like that job? His desire for astrophysics had not receded. Not quite. And that other one he was competing with, Wesker, was found to be quite competent./p
p class="MsoNormal"He didn't know what to do. I didn't want to go back to the neighbourhood. He didn't want to witness him disappoint his parents again. He didn't want to hear the laughter of the other kids who had soured his existence. He couldn't back out./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"strongII/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"He positioned himself in his corner. From there, he could see Birkin diagonally across the room, who spent his time engrossed in his notebook, his papers, whatever he could get his hands on, ignoring the rest of the students./p
p class="MsoNormal"Miller had promised him a job as head of research. A good start, and he wouldn't accept anything less than that. But to get the prize he had to beat Birkin. Younger than him. Smarter. No matter what, he wouldn't give in. He would play fair, for the time being. Or if the course went his way. Everything else was indifferent to him. As far as his grades were concerned, there was no difference between the two of them. He'd sneaked a peek at Birkin's transcript and they were tied./p
p class="MsoNormal"There was a chance./p
p class="MsoNormal"Miller bumped into him in the corridor and asked him to come to his office immediately. He did not tell him why. He approached his office and opened the door. The secretary invited him to sit in an armchair./p
p class="MsoNormal"The conversation was strange. Miller began to ramble on about his future with the company. He just nodded silently. His attention swayed like the tides until Miller blurted out a piece of news that rattled his nerves: a position as head researcher at a lab he couldn't elaborate on. Only one position, Miller warned him. A single position for one of the top two students in the class. He didn't name anyone. He didn't need to. He took the hint and knew instantly who the runner-up was./p
p class="MsoNormal"He left the office. He leaned against the corridor wall. Thoughtfully, he folded his arms. His last chance to repent. If he lost, there would be no job. If he won, there would be a job. Would he like that job? His desire for astrophysics had not receded. Not quite. And that other one he was competing with, Wesker, was found to be quite competent./p
p class="MsoNormal"He didn't know what to do. I didn't want to go back to the neighbourhood. He didn't want to witness him disappoint his parents again. He didn't want to hear the laughter of the other kids who had soured his existence. He couldn't back out./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"strongII/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"He positioned himself in his corner. From there, he could see Birkin diagonally across the room, who spent his time engrossed in his notebook, his papers, whatever he could get his hands on, ignoring the rest of the students./p
p class="MsoNormal"Miller had promised him a job as head of research. A good start, and he wouldn't accept anything less than that. But to get the prize he had to beat Birkin. Younger than him. Smarter. No matter what, he wouldn't give in. He would play fair, for the time being. Or if the course went his way. Everything else was indifferent to him. As far as his grades were concerned, there was no difference between the two of them. He'd sneaked a peek at Birkin's transcript and they were tied./p
p class="MsoNormal"There was a chance./p