“Solve This, and I’ll Marry You!” Professor Mocked a Single Dad — Then He Shocked Her!
Chapter 3
Theme:
Font Size:
24px
One student looked at him with surprise. "What?"Thomas pointed toward the diagram. "This connection is one-way during emergency closures, but the next condition seems to treat it as two-way. If the program uses both assumptions, it could produce a route that doesn't actually exist."The student stared at the screen. Before he could respond, Professor Evelyn entered the room. "Is there a problem here?" she asked.The graduate student explained what Thomas had noticed. Evelyn glanced at the diagram, then at Thomas. "Thank you, but our team has already examined the network assumptions."Thomas nodded politely. "I may have misunderstood the model." He returned to his toolbox. Evelyn continued the discussion as though nothing had happened, but the graduate students exchanged uncertain looks.Two days later, Thomas was called to the mathematics department to repair a malfunctioning digital board. The room was filled with students preparing for an open seminar. Evelyn stood beside a large screen displaying a complicated problem in graph theory. She was explaining a challenge related to the emergency network model, although she presented it as a theoretical exercise. The problem involved connecting a set of seven locations using the fewest possible routes while ensuring that every location remained reachable after two specific connections failed. The conditions were deliberately restrictive, and the problem had confused several graduate students.Thomas finished repairing the board and began collecting his tools. One student asked Evelyn whether the problem had a unique solution. She explained that it did, but only if the solver understood how the failure conditions affected the structure of the network.Thomas, who had been listening without intending to participate, noticed that the diagram contained the same questionable assumption he had seen earlier. He quietly said, "The answer depends on whether those two connections can fail independently or together."Evelyn turned toward him. "Excuse me?"Thomas repeated his observation. A few students looked at one another. Evelyn's expression tightened. "This is an advanced optimization problem, not a maintenance exercise."Thomas immediately apologized and reached for his toolbox. But one student, a young researcher named Peter Lawson, asked whether Thomas could explain what he meant.Evelyn, already frustrated by the repeated delays in her research, gave a short laugh. "All right. Since you seem so interested, perhaps you should come to tomorrow's public seminar. We can all benefit from your expertise."Thomas understood the sarcasm and said nothing.The next afternoon, the main lecture hall was nearly full. Students, faculty members, and several visiting researchers had gathered to hear Evelyn discuss the unfinished problem. Thomas arrived to replace a faulty microphone before the presentation began. He intended to leave as soon as the equipment worked, but Evelyn noticed him near the rear entrance. She recognized him and decided to make an example of the interruption from the previous day.During her presentation, she invited questions. Peter raised his hand and mentioned that Thomas had identified a possible issue with the router assumptions.Evelyn looked toward the back of the hall. "Our technician has apparently developed an interest in mathematical research," she said with a thin smile.A few people laughed. Thomas remained still, holding his tool case.