He Had A Calendar For Her, I Had To Request To See Him Chapter 04

He Had A Calendar For Her, I Had To Request To See Him Chapter 04

I gripped the paper in my hand.

Back inside the restaurant, Elliot raised a hand and asked a server for a pen. I slid the document across the table to him.

“So this whole ‘avoiding the appearance of favoritism’ started two years ago?”

He glanced at the date without any change in expression.

“Making a contingency plan early doesn’t mean we acted on it then. Paige likes to plan ahead. Don’t fixate on one date and read too much into it.”

“Who wrote the part saying I ‘voluntarily gave it up’?”

“It’s a standard form from the college.”

He folded the document.

“You shouldn’t stay involved with the project. Long distance has already made you overly sensitive. Once professional stakes get mixed in, it’ll only wear down our relationship.”

Paige poured him half a glass of water.

“Mara, Elliot is trying to protect you. Once the project goes commercial, he’ll compensate you privately. Why does it matter whether your name is on it?”

“The difference is that it’s my name.”

Elliot rested a hand against the rim of his glass, his voice turning colder.

“Mara, what matters more—having your name on the project, or having a future with me?”

I looked at the tiny puncture the pin had left in his tie.

“What if I don’t confirm it?”

“You will.”

He pulled out the pen and pushed it toward me.

“We’ve been together five years. I know you. You can make a fuss all you want, but you won’t jeopardize my future over it.”

I held the pen without signing anything.

He leaned over and pulled my coat back up where it had slipped from my shoulder.

“Once the graduate fellowship decision comes through, I’ll come to your city for your birthday. I’ll put it on the calendar this time and leave it there. Okay?”

Before I could answer, Paige’s phone lit up on the table.

A message preview from the college office appeared on the screen.

[The credit-reassignment paperwork is complete. Once the original developer confirms, Paige will officially take over.]

I asked her about it.

“What does ‘credit reassignment’ mean?”

Paige immediately turned the phone facedown.

“It’s just an internal label, Mara. Don’t read so much into the wording.”

Elliot reached over and took the phone from her.

“It’s a technical handoff. Your model was the baseline. It didn’t meet competition standards until Paige got involved. The university can’t give core-team credit to someone who isn’t officially on the team.”

“So I can’t even be acknowledged publicly.”

“Mentioning you would raise questions.”

He paused.

“Mara, I’ll admit we used your framework at the start. But the final result belongs to the people who made it competition-ready. You understand that.”

Suddenly, I remembered a rainy night two years ago.

Elliot had called me on video and said his transportation team was missing a rainfall module. He asked if I could help them get through the preliminary review.

I slept in the lab for twenty-seven straight days before finally sending him the entire source code.

He had said, “Mara, when I win, you’ll be the first person I thank.”

So he hadn’t forgotten.

He had simply decided two years ago that he wasn’t going to thank me.

A college administrator walked in with a smile and patted Elliot on the shoulder.

“Is everything confirmed? The updated project listing goes live on the university site at nine. We need her recorded consent tonight.”

Elliot nodded and turned his phone camera toward me.

“Come on. Don’t keep everyone waiting. All you have to say is, ‘I’m voluntarily withdrawing from the project. Paige will take over from here.’”

I woke my phone and uploaded the model’s original timestamps, our email trail, and the withdrawal statement to cloud storage.

The progress bar stopped at 99%.

Elliot didn’t notice.

He set the script in front of me and even adjusted the camera angle himself.

“I had you clear out the old project emails two years ago to free up storage. I know you don’t have any evidence left.”

“Just record the video. It’s a formality. Then everyone can walk away without a mess.”

“Just behave. Once you say it, we’re done talking about the project and can focus on us.”

Paige stood beside him and reminded me softly,

“Mara, look at the camera. Three, two—”

Elliot pressed the record button.

I raised my eyes to the camera and slowly began to speak.