The Evolution of Genius: Every Night, I Get Smarter!-Chapter 57: Complications

As I approached the cafeteria, I noticed Lydia sitting at a table, sipping her coffee.

She looked elegant in her light brown jacket, and her dark hair flowed gracefully down her shoulders.

"Hey, Lydia," I greeted her with a friendly tone.

She had been gazing out the window, but her attention shifted to me when I sat down.

"Oh, hi, Max. I’m happy that you made it. How was the flight?" Lydia greeted me warmly.

"Not bad... I don’t even feel tired," I replied.

"That’s good. So... Max, I wrote to you before that I got my Ph.D. already. Or rather, I will get it in 3 days at an official ceremony," she said with a smile.

"So they let you skip 3 semesters, from what I understand?" I asked. It seemed a bit unusual to me. Normally, you would at least need to pass some exams.

"No, they let me through based on trust," Lydia explained.

"Trust?"

"Yeah... I still need to write those exams after I get my Ph.D., but with my other project, I had enough points to obtain my Ph.D. So after an oral examination, the Professors agreed to grant me the Ph.D."

"I understand. That’s cool, but why did you want to speak with me?" I asked curiously.

With a hint of shyness, Lydia said, "Well... I thought that maybe... I really enjoyed working with you, Max. So I thought that you could hire me or something? I heard that you’re working on fusion technology. I would love to work on that!"

"Hmm... That actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea. You already have a good basis on the monopoles after all," I said.

Lydia’s eyes lit up. "Yes! And I’ve made good progress on that, Max. I learned your theory on this..."

"Alright, Lydia. I’ll start hiring people soon, so I’ll call you then. I can even make you a team leader," I offered.

"Caugh!", She seemed overwhelmed by the idea and accidentally spilled her coffee. "I don’t know if I can take that sort of responsibility, Max."

"Don’t worry! I’ll give you some training," I replied with a playful smirk.

"I’m already shaking, Max. Be lenient,"

We continued to talk about more details, and at some point, students started approaching me, asking for autographs.

It seemed that I couldn’t escape from my newfound celebrity status.

Lydia mentioned that an autograph I’d given her earlier, complete with the date, was fetching a pretty penny from collectors.

Back in my dorm room, I found Rick as usual.

The tough part of the semester was on the horizon, but Rick seemed unruffled. He didn’t need to revise at all.

He was still killing it at Microsoft, and he’d even snagged a well-deserved promotion.

As I was laying in my bed, weird thoughts invaded my brain.

What was I even doing all of this for? Was it for myself? Was it for someone? What’s the point? What was the endgame here?

Was there something that I trully cared about?

...

The Dreamland was still fading to a menacing shade of red that seemed to seep into every crevice.

The eleven blue comets now floated in the midst of this crimson nightmare.

The very ground beneath my feet had transformed into a surreal, unsettling blood-red abyss.

the only remnants of normality were the nets, still retaining their unique, shifting shades.

...

I woke up in the middle of the night.

I grabbed my laptop and began scrolling through arXiv, exploring a myriad of Quantum Physics papers and mathematical theories.

I felt like I could prove some of them with just some time; however, they appeared entirely irrelevant, yielding little benefit even if comprehended.

What to do?

As time passed, it was already early morning.

Our plan was to visit New York with Olivia.

Finding parking space in New York would be a huge challenge, especially on New Year’s Eve, so we set off around 11 AM as soon as Olivia got ready.

She sported a pair of stylish black sneakers, paired with sleek black trousers. To complete her look, she wrapped herself in a vibrant red puffer jacket.

A little while later, we stumbled upon a charming restaurant and ate lunch.

As we sat at our cozy corner table, an uneasiness crept over me.

I thought back to the situation with Ms. Brooks, and how I understood it, in theory, I should be experiencing regret.

I should feel like I have done something wrong.

As if I had made a grave mistake.

"Max? Hello!" Olivia waved her hand in front of my eyes, attempting to rouse me from my thoughts.

I blinked, realizing she was trying to get my attention. "Oh, sorry, Oliv. I was lost in thought for a moment there."

"What’s up, Max? Is something wrong? Is the beef not to your liking? You can just order something else."

"No, it’s not that, Oliv."

"You need to relax, Max. Something has been different with you lately. You shouldn’t be thinking about work today.", she seemed genuinely concerned.

I didn’t feel like I have made a mistake. I didn’t feel remorse.

What’s the point of regret and remorse.

Those simply felt like unnecessary burdens.

Devoid of any enrichment or purpose in my life.

After our lunch, Olivia suggested going for a walk in Central Park.

We found a parking spot closer to the park, paid for parking, and took a leisurely stroll around Central Park.

After about an hour, we sat down on a bench and began discussing our plans for the evening.

We talked about the upcoming New Year’s Eve party, the countdown to midnight, and our future plans together.

Olivia was enthusiastic about the idea of buying a house with me, and we decided that we’d start house-hunting the next day.

Before that we really wanted to have some fun.

"How’s your semester going, Oliv?"

"Really well, Max. I’m loving Professor Milik’s classes; his way of teaching is crazy good and he make me laugh too. I might even get a scholarship for next semester with my results."

"Yea. Professor Milik is a great guy. I know something about that!"

"And how did your trip to Germany go? Did you manage to convince people, and where are you planning to build the fusion engine?"

"Well, I can say that we made some progress. There are some crazy investment comming. The plan is to build it in Germany."

"Oh... so you’re gonna be away from Boston?"

"Yea. For some time..."

"Hmm. I hope you will visit often."

I looked at Olivia and my feelings were getting extremely complicated.

My social awareness was telling me that something was wrong.

I knew that usually people don’t reveal things that they know could hurt someone.

Things that would not be beneficial for them in any way.

However, for some reason, I didn’t feel the same way.

I didn’t feel like that at all.

"Olivia, I need you need to know something", I said.

She lookes at me, confused, "Hmm? Why are you calling me Olivia? What’s happening here?"

"I cheated on you Oliv.", I said blatendly.

Olivia’s eyes widened as she looked at me, "What? What are you talking about?"

"Back in Germany. I cheated on you with Ms. Brooks."

There was a long pause, before Olivia broke the quiet, "So that’s why you’ve been so absent all this time?"

"Not exactly", I answered.

"Not exactly? Are you fu**cking kidding me? But what’s the reason? It’s not like I’m completely closed to an open relationship. Why did you do that behind my back?"

"Well... I just did it."

"You... you just did it?! Max... Something has been very wrong with you lately. I think you should get some help. Some medical help."

"I might just do that", I said, but I wasn’t really considering it.

I felt like I was fully in control of my thoughts. In control of what I did.

Hiding things was useless

Lying was useless.

A complete waste of time.

A sense of clarity washed over me as if I had found answers to the questions that had been haunting my thoughts.

"Max! I wanted to spend this night together, but I’m sorry, I can’t just continue this like that. I think we should break apart. At least for now..."

"Do I drive you back?"

She thought for some time, before shaking her head, "I will just take an Uber."

Should I be sad? Should I cry? I didn’t feel like it.

Being in a relationship where people hide their true selves seemed unnecessary.

Inefficient.

My mind quickly moved away from what had happened and focused on the house I wanted to buy.

The only difference would be that I would be buying it alone...

Or maybe I should invite someone to help me choose?

In hindsight, there was only one mistake in what I did that day, the last day of 2023.

I omitted the fact that Olivia had a different side to her.

She had a crazy side to her. Or did she?