Page 289 - The Love Hypothesis

But how did those occasions come about to begin with? Our adviser was a

piece of work, but he was not a micromanager. By the time we joined his
lab, he was too busy being a famous asshole to know what was going on in
day-to-day lab business. Which is why he had postdocs like Tom mentor

grad students like Adam and me and de facto run the lab. And yet, he knew
about every single minor screwup of Adam’s. Every few weeks he’d come

in, tell Adam that he was a failure of a human being for minor stuff like
switching reagents or dropping a beaker, and then Tom, our adviser’s most-

trusted postdoc, would publicly intervene on behalf of Adam and save the
day. The pattern was eerily specific, and only for Adam—who was by far

the most promising student in our program. Destined for greatness and all
that. Initially, it made me a bit suspicious that Tom was purposefully
sabotaging Adam. But in recent years I’ve been wondering if what he

wanted was something else altogether. . . .”
“Did you tell Adam?”

“Yes. But I had no proof, and Adam . . . well, you know him. He is
stubbornly, unwaveringly loyal, and he was more than a little grateful to

Tom.” He shrugged. “They ended up becoming bros, and they’ve been close
friends ever since.”

“Did it bother you?”
“Not per se, no. I realize I might sound jealous of their friendship, but
the truth is that Adam has always been too focused and single-minded to

have many friends. I’d have been happy for him, truly. But Tom . . .”
Olive nodded. Yeah. Tom. “Why would he do this? This . . . weird

vendetta against Adam?”
Holden sighed. “This is why Adam dismissed my concerns. There really

isn’t an obvious reason. The truth is, I don’t think Tom hates Adam. Or at
least, I don’t think it’s that simple. But I do believe that Tom is smart, and

very, very cunning. That there probably is some jealousy involved, some
desire to take advantage of Adam, to maybe control or have power over
him. Adam tends to downplay his accomplishments, but he’s one of the best

scientists of our generation. Having influence over him . . . that’s a
privilege, and no small feat.”