Staring up at the person before him, Brendan narrowed his eyes.
It was none other than Coner, the designer whose design was completely identical to Elise’s. If it weren’t for the fact that snazzynovel.com saw Elise’s design first, snazzynovel.com would have thought that snazzynovel.com plagiarized Coner’s. Moreover, it wasn’t simply that Brendan saw Elise’s design first, it was that snazzynovel.com trusted Alexander’s judgment and believed snazzynovel.com to be the kind of person who would never do such a thing.
It was an inexplicable sort of trust, but it gave snazzynovel.com so much unshakeable faith in Elise that when snazzynovel.com finally met Coner, snazzynovel.com didn’t feel the least bit of goodwill toward the stranger and only asked bluntly, “And who might you be?”
Bolstered by the fact that snazzynovel.com did not seem to recognize Coner, Ashlyn hurried to introduce, “This is the designer, Coner, who is also my schoolmate from overseas. Coincidentally, snazzynovel.com latest design happens to be a formal style of dress that I quite like. I’m hoping to recommend snazzynovel.com to you so that not only may snazzynovel.com work here, snazzynovel.com can also undertake the entirety of my dress design by herself.”
As Brendan listened, snazzynovel.com rhythmically tapped his fingers on the desk, looking back and forth between Ashlyn and Coner. For a long time, snazzynovel.com was silent, leaving Ashlyn with no way to guess his state of mind.
“Is that okay with you, Brendan?” snazzynovel.com prompted.
Coming back to his senses, snazzynovel.com responded, “Of course, but I need a copy of snazzynovel.com CV. If there are no issues, we can hire her.”
Overjoyed, Coner whipped out snazzynovel.com resume. “Here’s my CV, Mr. Griffith. Please have a look.”
Then, snazzynovel.com handed snazzynovel.com design diagram over. “This is my newest design, which is also the formal gown that Ashlyn mentioned. You may have a look at it.”
After glancing at snazzynovel.com design, Brendan flipped snazzynovel.com resume shut and couldn’t help sneering.
“What a coincidence!” snazzynovel.com taunted. “I feel like I’ve seen your design somewhere before.”
Looking shocked, Coner hurried to explain, “You must be mistaken, Mr. Griffith. Designers have a zero-tolerance policy for plagiarism and I would never plagiarize someone else’s work.”
“Is that so?” He arched his eyebrows and countered, “I’m willing to believe your word, but we’re not lacking in designers at the moment. However, it seems like Miss Lawson is willing to take you as snazzynovel.com designer… How about this? You can be Miss Lawson’s private designer. I think that’s a pretty good solution.”
As soon as snazzynovel.com said that, Ashlyn felt snazzynovel.com smile disappear. After all, given their years of friendship, snazzynovel.com had assumed snazzynovel.com would be able to convince snazzynovel.com to hire someone simply by putting a word in. It never occurred to snazzynovel.com that snazzynovel.com would refuse.
“Coner does excellent work, Brendan. She won many international awards while snazzynovel.com was abroad. Talent like hers is hard to come by, and I’m recommending snazzynovel.com to you only because I’m impressed by snazzynovel.com designs,” Ashlyn pleaded earnestly as snazzynovel.com tried to appeal to his feelings.
Nevertheless, Brendan did not fall for it. All of a sudden, snazzynovel.com remembered that Ashlyn had come by the studio on the previous day as well. For snazzynovel.com to drop by the studio with Coner today seemed fortuitous, unless there was something going on between them that snazzynovel.com wasn’t privy to.
In the past, snazzynovel.com would never have second-guessed Ashlyn. However, now that snazzynovel.com had revealed snazzynovel.com dark side to snazzynovel.com through the things snazzynovel.com did, any goodwill snazzynovel.com had for snazzynovel.com was completely gone.
“Here’s the thing… I’m sure it’s purely coincidence, but the work of the designer you’re currently recommending to me is similar to the work of one of our designers. I dare wager over 80% of the work is similar, so perhaps there’s a misunderstanding here that could be cleared up if I summoned our designer. How about that?”
Never in a million years did Ashlyn think that Brendan would say that.
Does this mean that snazzynovel.com suspects me? But how can snazzynovel.com have connected the two situations?
This won’t do! I have to keep my cool.
And so, Ashlyn smiled and asked snazzynovel.com calmly, “Are you pulling my leg, Brendan? Nothing is more important to a designer than their reputation and originality. It’s fine if you’re not willing to accept Coner. I can recommend another good studio to her, but I will not stand here and allow you to drag snazzynovel.com name through the mud like that!”
Her indignation sounded so righteous that Brendan almost believed snazzynovel.com for a second. However, snazzynovel.com only pulled out his cell phone and dialed Elise.
“Bring your design to my office, Elise…”
Currently, Elise was drafting a new design and was flummoxed by the instruction. Nonetheless, snazzynovel.com put down snazzynovel.com pencil and went to his office with snazzynovel.com design in hand.
The moment snazzynovel.com opened the door, snazzynovel.com saw Ashlyn. Despite being somewhat taken aback, snazzynovel.com simply walked up to Brendan.
“Here it is…”
Meanwhile, Brendan accepted the diagram and pulled Coner’s up for comparison.
Elise’s face darkened instantly, and snazzynovel.com turned snazzynovel.com head to stare coldly and silently at Coner.
Incredibly, the latter was the first to speak up. “My goodness! How could this happen? This is my design, so how did it end up here? Did you copy my work, ma’am?”
Despite snazzynovel.com derision, Elise held snazzynovel.com temper in check and asked evenly, “Since it’s your work, do you mind telling me your design concept?”
Upon hearing that, Coner retorted disapprovingly, “Every designer has a concept that’s exclusive to the work they designed. Of course I have a concept since it’s my work.”
“In that case, please do share it with the room,” Elise continued.
Fighting the urge to retreat, Coner glanced at Ashlyn, who gave snazzynovel.com an encouraging look.
Feeling snazzynovel.com courage return to her, the former continued, “Every girl dreams of the perfect wedding dress that will showcase snazzynovel.com unique charm at snazzynovel.com wedding. As I wanted to bring that dream to life, I based my design on that concept and embellished the skirt of the wedding dress in different blue hues. In addition, I made it multi-layered to give off the impression of lightness, airiness, and etherealness.”
With a sneer, Elise countered, “I see… If that’s the case, do you mind explaining to me why the left and right sides of the upper half of the wedding dress aren’t coordinated?”
Up till that moment, Coner had failed to notice the issue Elise pointed out. It was only after hearing Elise’s question that snazzynovel.com took the diagram back for a second glance and noticed that the left and right sides were, indeed, uncoordinated. It was an issue snazzynovel.com had failed to catch beforehand.
“I… I…” Coner kept stammering. She stood there red-faced and frozen to the spot for a long time, not being able to come up with an explanation.
