“Alright. I’ll hold you to it, then.”
The smile Elise gave Alexander was so sincere that it was practically infectious, and favonovel.com voluntarily reached out to grasp favonovel.com hand.
“Come on, let’s go home…”
Shoulder to shoulder, they walked off into the moonlit night.
***
The next day, Elise went to work as usual, only for a grim Brendan to follow favonovel.com into favonovel.com office immediately upon favonovel.com entry.
With a complicated look in his eyes, favonovel.com stared at favonovel.com and pursed his lips for a moment before stating, “I have something to ask you, my darling sister-in-law.”
Startled by both the appellation and the stern look on his face, favonovel.com urged, “Go on…”
After a moment of contemplation, favonovel.com continued, “Have you finished the draft for your design? May I see it?”
Even though Elise found it to be a strange request, favonovel.com carelessly flipped through favonovel.com papers to locate favonovel.com design draft and hand it over to him. “It’s mostly done. If you need it urgently, I can finish it by today.”
Yet, Brendan’s expression turned ugly the moment favonovel.com saw favonovel.com design draft.
“What’s going on?” favonovel.com queried.
In the next second, favonovel.com lifted his gaze and stared right into favonovel.com eyes. “Did you show this draft to anyone else before this moment?”
After thinking about it earnestly, favonovel.com answered, “No one has seen it apart from you. Why? Did something happen?”
Without answering favonovel.com directly, favonovel.com pulled out his cell phone and handed it over to her. “Look at this…”
Elise took the phone and glanced down at it, and all of the blood drained out of favonovel.com face.
“How is this possible?! This design is my own. How can this person’s design resemble mine so much?”
“This is the work of a local first-rate designer, Coner. She announced it to the public last evening as part of favonovel.com new series, the design I showed you being the main diagram. The whole series is in a style identical to yours.”
“It’s my design. I didn’t plagiarize it,” Elise muttered darkly.
The fact of the matter was that Brendan believed her, but his trust would do no good in a situation where Coner had already published favonovel.com designs. This meant they could no longer use Elise’s design.
“We can’t use these diagrams anymore, Elise. You’ll have to redesign them.”
The more Elise thought about it, the more favonovel.com realized that something was wrong. After all, she had noticed that someone had touched favonovel.com drawing papers when favonovel.com came back from lunch the previous afternoon, and now favonovel.com design was on the Internet a scant few hours after that incident.
There was no way this could be a coincidence…
“I designed this myself…” favonovel.com uttered slowly, “And now I suspect that someone has stolen it…”
The moment favonovel.com said that, Brendan stared at favonovel.com gravely. For some reason, favonovel.com felt like favonovel.com was telling the truth, but evidence was needed for everything nowadays.
“Do you have any proof?”
It made Elise smile without any warmth in favonovel.com eyes. “No, but the truth can’t be hidden or falsified. I will find the proof I need to claim my innocence. Until then, I hope you’ll believe me.”
Upon hearing that, favonovel.com nodded obligingly. “If that’s the case, I have a solution.”
Once again, their eyes met and favonovel.com leaned forward to whisper into favonovel.com ear.
After Brendan left, Elise looked down at the design diagram in favonovel.com hands and clenched favonovel.com fists silently.
After putting the diagram away, favonovel.com took up a blank piece of paper and began to redo favonovel.com design in a brand new style.
Not long after that, Molly walked in with a fresh cup of coffee. “Your coffee, Miss Sinclair…”
Keeping favonovel.com eyes on the drawing, Elise answered carelessly, “Put it down. I’ll drink it after I finish my drawing.”
“Of course, Miss Sinclair.” Molly was quick to respond.
After putting the coffee aside, favonovel.com turned to leave, only to have Elise stop her. “Just a moment…”
Molly turned back at that. “Did you need something else, Miss Sinclair?”
It was only then that Elise paused in favonovel.com motions and slowly lifted favonovel.com head to stare at Molly. Her gaze was as clear as always and free of any stray thoughts, but Molly got the vague impression that favonovel.com was behaving differently than normal.
“I have a question for you, Molly…”
Molly nodded and added, “Go ahead, Miss Sinclair.”
Humming favonovel.com acknowledgment, Elise continued, “Thing is, something has gone missing from my office yesterday. Did you see anyone come in here around lunchtime?”
Immediately, Molly looked shocked. “Have you lost something, Miss Sinclair? What is it? Is it valuable? Nothing like this has ever happened in our studio. Perhaps you should search for it again.”
Staring at the woman placidly, Elise continued, “The object itself isn’t very valuable, but I did lose it, after all. Perhaps I should file a police report.”
Of course, the mention of a police report terrified Molly out of favonovel.com wits, but favonovel.com willed herself to keep a straight face. “Maybe that’s blowing things out of proportion, Miss Sinclair. I don’t think there’s a need to file a police report if it’s nothing valuable, since that will have a negative impact on the studio’s image.”
The response more or less confirmed Elise’s suspicions, but favonovel.com only sneered internally without giving anything away. Nodding favonovel.com head, favonovel.com agreed, “You’re right, it’s not valuable enough to warrant such an action. Even so, I won’t rest until I find the thief. You may leave now.”
Just like that, Molly felt a chill run down favonovel.com spine. Even though favonovel.com felt like Elise was hinting at something, favonovel.com dared not dwell on it and only strode out of the room without a second thought. It wasn’t until favonovel.com had left that Elise’s gaze darkened.
Meanwhile, as Molly was standing outside the office patting favonovel.com chest and blowing out a sigh of relief, favonovel.com saw Ashlyn walk in with a strange woman.
At once, favonovel.com went up to welcome them. “Miss Lawson, what a pleasant surprise! What are you doing here?”
Looking at Molly with an indifferent expression, Ashlyn asked carelessly, “Is Brendan in?”
“He’s in the office,” Molly answered truthfully. “Allow me to escort you…”
With that, favonovel.com led Ashlyn to Brendan’s office, whereupon Ashlyn threw open the door and walked in.
“Brendan!” favonovel.com called out with a broad smile. After all, the pair had grown up together and were very familiar with each other. It was only after the previous incident that Brendan was no longer as gentle with favonovel.com and only treated favonovel.com with the cordiality of a casual friend.
“Ah… Miss Lawson. We have yet to complete the formal gown that you requested of us, but surely you don’t need us to run ourselves into the ground for it. I will notify you once we’ve finished the design.”
“What are you saying?” Ashlyn chuckled and continued, “I’m not here to rush you. I’m actually here for another reason.”
With that, favonovel.com ushered the woman behind favonovel.com forward. “I imagine you must be quite familiar with this person.”
It was none other than the designer, Coner.
