Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

The dishes started arriving at the table in quick succession.

Stoddard caught the aroma and felt his stomach rumble with anticipation. He grabbed a piece of the roast chicken, its tender meat perfectly juicy, "Delicious! I haven't had such an authentic roast chicken in ages. Today's definitely a good day." Sammy, hearing the praise, also took a piece to try, "This is really good! Liz, you should try some."

"No thanks, I'm on a diet."

Sammy quickly retracted his fork, placing the chicken onto his own plate with a chuckle, "Well, when you're off your diet, we can come back here just the two of us..."

Liz rolled her eyes in response, "Who said I would come with you?"

While they bickered, Jen, in a good mood, turned to Roseanne with a curious glance, "Hey Roseanne, I forgot to ask, how old are you? Going into grad school in September... you must be what, 22? 23?"

It was just a casual question with no other implications.

Roseanne answered just as casually, not thinking much of it, "No, I'm 26."

The atmosphere shifted slightly at her response.

26 and just starting grad school?

Sammy sneaked a glance at Owen, who was calmly continuing his meal, clearly having known this piece of information beforehand.

Liz raised an eyebrow, her first smile since sitting down appearing, "26 and just now getting into grad school? How hard did you have to work for that? How many times did you take the exam?"

Her words were met with a quick nudge from Sammy under the table: Don't stir the pot, she's with Owen.

But Liz only responded with a cold glare: Mind your own business!

Roseanne replied coolly, "Just once. All in all, the preliminary and final exams weren't too difficult."

"Really?" Liz sounded skeptical. "If it's as easy as you say, why didn't you go for it right after undergrad? How many times have you actually taken it?"

Roseanne was unfazed, "After

undergrad, due to some reasons, I gave up the opportunity for a direct Ph.D. program. Now I regret it, so decided to pick up the books again and apply for grad school. Is there a problem?"

Liz laughed dismissively. "This story keeps getting better! How come I've never heard that Kingswell University offers a direct Ph.D. program outside of medical fields?"

Back when Liz decided to study

abroad for her master's, it wasNôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

because she couldn't secure a spot

in a direct Ph.D. program at

1.n

Kingswell University, which, to her knowledge, only offered such

pathways in medical fields.

And now, someone claims they had an opportunity for a direct Ph.D. at Kingswell University but turned it down?

Sounds like a tall tale!

Roseanne countered, "Just because you're not aware, doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

Liz burst into laughter, still refusing to back down, "Even now, you won't admit it, huh?"

"Mr. Stoddard, you work at Kingswell University. Are you aware of any non-medical fields offering a direct Ph.D. program?" Liz turned to Stoddard for confirmation.

Stoddard hesitated for a moment,

"Well... as far as I know, which might

it's

not cover everything, mind you, it mostly medical fields that offer direct Ph.D. programs. I'm not aware of any others."

"So, what do you say?" Liz looked at Roseanne smugly.

Throughout the exchange, Roseanne remained calm, "It's not a direct Ph.D. program, it's an integrated program from undergraduate to Ph.D." Stoddard was taken aback.

Liz scoffed. "What's the difference? Sounds like the tale's getting even taller, now it's an integrated program from undergrad to Ph.D.?"