Nicole did not call Joanna out despite seeing the pretentious look on her face.
“It’s fine. I understand. After all, I’m the one plagiarizing now, so it’s normal for everyone to have such a reaction,” Nicole said, seemingly unbothered.
A hint of surprise flashed in Joanna’s eyes. As she stared at Nicole’s still indifferent look, a trace of suspicion arose in her heart.
Plagiarism was considered a lifelong blotch for a regular designer, let alone a renowned designer such as Nicole herself. Furthermore, the rumors were spreading like wildfire on the Internet. Yet, there was not an ounce of worry on Nicole’s face.
Suppressing the doubts in her heart, Joanna looked at Nicole again. Then, she phrased her words mildly. “Lisa, I believe you’re innocent, but…”
Joanna pursed her lips in embarrassment.
After pausing for a long time, she added, “But, you are caught up in a plagiarism scandal now. If you don’t clarify the matter, it will bring damage to you, F&M Apparel, and the Gardner Corporation. So, regarding the coming drafts…”
As she listened to the hesitation in Joanna’s voice, Nicole knew what she wanted to say. Joanna’s intention is as clear as day. She just wants to call the shots for the cooperation between F&M Apparel and the Gardner Corporation.
Nicole was not surprised at all and thereafter nodded. “Right, I got it. I’ll let you be responsible for the affairs regarding the drafts for the time being. We’ll see how to go about it once the scandal is over.”
Upon seeing the relaxed look on Nicole’s face, Joanna frowned slightly. She thought Nicole would continue to hold on to the matter and refuse to surrender. At that time, she would have an excuse to complain about her act to Colton. However, she did not expect Nicole to agree so readily.
Joanna jeered in her heart. Wait for the plagiarism scandal to subside? I thought Nicole had a well-thought-out plan, but I didn’t expect that she was preparing to wait until time passed, and the others would forget about this matter. Such foolish thinking!
After getting her hands on the implementation rights, Joanna did not stay in Nicole’s office for long. She turned around and left.
I reckon Queenie must have something to do with this matter. Not many people know that Henry is my ex-boyfriend. I really underestimated Queenie, judging from this series of stunts she pulled off. It surprises me that she’s actually quite smart. Also, although Joanna tries her best to pretend to have saintly behavior in front of others, it’s likely that she has something to do with this matter too. I’ll just have to see if she will be involved after this.
Later, Nicole turned on the computer and found that almost all the posts on the Internet now were criticizing her.
‘Lisa, you copycat! Get the hell out of the fashion designing circle!’
‘F&M Apparel’s Chief Designer, Lisa, plagiarized the design draft!’
‘Lisa broke up with her boyfriend five years ago because of money! She sold herself for money!’
As she scrolled further, Nicole discovered that not only were the posts about the plagiarism, but there was also quite a handful that talked about the incident from five years ago.
Never have I expected Queenie to go this far. By the looks of things, she wishes to force me to a dead end! Upon realizing that, Nicole sneered, and her eyes darkened. In that case, I would like to see how huge of an uproar you can stir up, Queenie!
Suddenly, there was a loud noise coming from outside the door. “Miss Gardner! Miss Gardner! Miss Lisa is still working. You can’t go in.” After she listened carefully, she felt it sounded like Scarlett’s voice.
Shortly after, a brisk and angry voice sounded. “This is my brother’s company. It’s the Gardner Family’s company. How am I not allowed to enter!?” If Nicole heard it correctly, that should be Wendy’s voice.
At once, Nicole felt it was rather pitiful to be her assistant. As her assistant, Scarlett needed to help her stop all these troubles all day long.
Nicole opened the door. At a glance, she saw Wendy standing at the door angrily.
Upon seeing Nicole come out, Wendy fumed with anger while her pair of beautiful eyes were about to burst into flames. Then, she looked straight at Nicole, gritted her teeth, and uttered, “Nicole Anderson!”
It nearly slipped off Nicole’s mind. Her clothes involved elements of plagiarism, and Wendy would definitely be implicated since she wore the outfit that she designed. As a lady who was cherished dearly by her family, Wendy must be pissed beyond belief from suffering such a big grievance.
“Miss Gardner, let’s discuss this matter inside my office.” Nicole smiled lightly and took a step back.
With a slightly worried look on her face, Scarlett turned her head and looked at Nicole. “Miss Nicole, she – “
Realizing Scarlett’s concern, Nicole comforted her by saying, “It’s fine. I know what to do.”
Stepping on her high heels, Wendy stepped into the office with no regard. Nicole closed the door and looked at the angry young lady standing in front of her. With a slightly apologetic look on her face, Nicole apologized by saying, “Miss Gardner, I’m sorry for what happened this time.”
Thinking that Nicole was apologizing to her for the plagiarism, Wendy snorted coldly and scorned, “If apologizing would solve anything, we would have no use for the system of justice. If you’re not competent enough for the job, you shouldn’t have taken on the feat. Plagiarism is a very shameful thing!”
Facing Wendy’s questioning, Nicole hesitated. Then, she sighed slightly and explained, “I’m not apologizing for the plagiarism, but for implicating you in this matter.”
Upon hearing that, Wendy frowned. Then, she looked at Nicole in confusion. “What are you up to again?”
However, Nicole could not disclose her real plan of action to Wendy at this moment. Wendy was a straightforward person, and all her efforts would be in vain if Wendy leaked her plan. Therefore, Nicole could only give her a promise. “There’s absolutely no element of plagiarism in my design draft. I can assure you that I’ll give you a thorough and truthful explanation by this month at the latest.”
However, Wendy’s current trust in Nicole was almost zero. She did not trust Nicole. “Go ahead and tell me! What’s your plan?”
“Miss Gardner, I’m aware that you’re infuriated now. If I can’t give you a satisfactory answer at the end of this month, you can do whatever you want to me. How about that?” Nicole pledged while looking at Wendy.
Wendy looked suspiciously at the confident person in front of her. Since Nicole made such a promise, I guess there’s no need for me to be polite to her.
“Okay. If you can’t clear your suspicion of plagiarism before the end of the month, get out of the fashion designing circle!”
“It’s a deal.”
The plagiarism scandal also exposed the news that Nicole sold herself for money five years ago. Hence, the talk among the netizens ranged from her dishonesty in her profession to her integrity.
In the afternoon, one of the media outlets released a video. Once again, the heat of the plagiarism scandal reached a new high.
Although the person in the video had already been blurred, Nicole could still recognize that the person was Henry!
In the video, Henry first described his whole ordeal in courting Nicole and her leaving him to hook up with other men for money. Nearing the end of his description, he even started to cry hypocritically.
“I didn’t expect that I would meet her again five years later. Now, she’s a superior Chief Designer, while I’m just an ordinary salaryman. I asked her about the incident that took place five years ago, but she just kept apologizing to me…”
The length of the video was not long – only 5 minutes. However, every word Henry spat in the video painted a bad picture of Nicole.
In addition, the video even played out the audio of Nicole apologizing at the end. The recording was edited and left only a few words. “Henry, I’m sorry…”
Once the video was released, comments started flooding in, and most of them were hateful remarks made by the netizens toward Nicole.
‘How unexpected! Not only did she plagiarize, but she also obtained her current position by hooking up with men!’
‘This kind of woman is willing to do anything for money and power. I speculate that she’s been promiscuous since the beginning!’
‘Chief Designer of F&M Apparel, my foot! How ridiculous!’
The comments went on and on.
It would be a lie to say that Nicole was not enraged when she saw this video. She had never expected Henry to be the person betraying her.
With her teary eyes, Nicole played the video. Then, she closed her eyes slightly as she listened to the looping audio in the video.
“Regarding the incident that took place five years ago, she just kept apologizing to me…”
Yes, what Henry said is true. Because of the incident that took place five years ago, I felt that I had mistreated him. However, how could he twist his words and make me sound so despicable?
At the thought of that, Nicole clenched her fists tightly. When she opened her eyes again, the look on her face was that of a dead man.
Since he has chosen death, he can’t blame me for ending his life!
And thus, Nicole took out her phone and called her assistant, Whitney Campbell.
“Miss Nicole, I thought you had forgotten about me once you arrived in Goldwick!” Whitney whined with a smile.
Listening to the pretentious, whiny tone in Whitney’s voice, Nicole put up a stern look on her face. Then, she said, “Stop any work that you have at the moment and return to Goldwick on the first flight.”
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