Tiffany pursed her ruddy lips, feeling helpless. She put away the design draft, stood up, and nodded. “Okay, we’ll go back and discuss it again. Sorry for bothering you two.”
When they entered the elevator, Tiffany turned to look at Natalie. “What happened? Did you offend that woman?”
Natalie didn’t know what to say. The feud between her and the Quinn family was complicated. “Well, that was a long time ago,” she said, letting out a weary sigh.
Tiffany rubbed her temples and nodded. She looked effortlessly beautiful when she arched her eyebrows. “I didn’t expect you to offend someone. After all, considering your kind nature, I didn’t think you were capable of rubbing people the wrong way.”
A smile stretched across Natalie’s lips. “Ms. Fisher, since they don’t want mine, why don’t we use someone else’s design?”
“Yeah. That’s the only solution. We have no other choice.” Tiffany rubbed her sore shoulder and said, “We are so unlucky to have met such a vindictive client who couldn’t draw a line between their professional and personal life. Well, you go back to the company first. I’ll go to meet another client.”
Natalie nodded, thinking about how hard Tiffany worked every day.
The elevator door opened, and the two walked out, one after the other.
However, before Natalie left the building, she saw Cassie walking toward her with an evil smile on her face.
Natalie’s face turned cold.
“Are you angry? I haven’t barred you from the entire industry yet.” Cassie scoffed. “The success or failure of a woman depends on whether she has found the right man or not. As you can see, Jason is a handsome guy. But he is also the CEO of this company. A lowly woman like you only deserves a poor illegitimate child. You have to obey others all your life and aren’t destined to make any achievements.”
Natalie smiled and looked at Cassie. She was amused to hear her childish remarks. “Bar me from the industry? We’ll see when that happens. By the way, is something wrong with your previous boyfriend? Is that why you’ve shifted to a new guy?”
Cassie looked at her beautiful painted fingernails and gently blew at them. “Well, his company isn’t doing well. I guess it will go bankrupt soon. That’s why I dumped him. You see, only a perfect man deserves to be with me.”
“Uh-oh! I think your current boyfriend should be more careful. You’ve had a history of boyfriends. Your first boyfriend’s family went bankrupt, and you dumped him. Your second boyfriend had a serious ailment, and you dumped him. Your third boyfriend’s parents were arrested, and you dumped him. It seems to me that you’re bad luck — anyone who dates you falls into deep shit.” Natalie smiled before pushing Cassie away and walking out.
“You mean to say I’m a bane?” Cassie shouted, regardless of being in a public place.
“Yes.” Natalie didn’t have the time to argue with her. Ignoring the woman’s screams, she walked out of the building, hailed a taxi, and left.
In the evening, the setting sun painted the sky red.
Natalie was standing on the balcony with a mug of coffee in her hand. She hadn’t moved ever since she returned home.
Sebastian opened the glass door to the balcony and walked to her side. “What’s up? Is everything all right?” He rested his hand on the railing and stared into the distance.
Natalie turned to look at him, her face softening with appreciation as if he were a beautiful oil painting. “It’s just some work stuff.”
Seeing that she didn’t want to say anything more, Sebastian shook his head and smiled. “Well, it looks like you still regard me as an outsider. You don’t want to share anything with me.”
“No. I…”
After a moment’s hesitation, Natalie finally told Sebastian about how and why Cassie had rejected her design draft.
Sebastian listened to it carefully and looked into the distance. His brows knitted together as if he had decided what to do.
“She won’t be arrogant for long. Don’t worry.”
“Well… Thank you.” Natalie ran the tip of her finger along the rim of her mug before taking a sip of coffee. Her lips were upturned ever so slightly. She thought that Sebastian had only said it to give her some comfort, though, so she decided not to take his words seriously.
In any case, she was in a terrible situation. Cassie definitely had more in store for her in the future, but for now, Natalie just wanted to focus on keeping her job.
When they had returned from Color Company last time, Tiffany had proceeded to choose another designer’s drafts for submission.
The next day, Tiffany called for a meeting and made the announcement. “Color Company has approved the drafts of another designer. Good job everyone. You’ve been working hard, so coffee and desserts are on me. Order whatever you like. Also, another conference will be held tomorrow, and a representative from Color Company will be coming to discuss the detailed plans for this project. You are all required to attend. Make sure you come on time.”
“Whoever makes the decision over at Color Company must have awful taste,” a colleague whispered to Natalie once the meeting was dismissed. “I think your designs are so much better.”
But Natalie had more or less expected this outcome. That didn’t mean that she was glad to see her hard work go to waste. Even so, she hid her disappointment and mustered a smile. “Maybe they just don’t like my style.”
“How unfortunate,” the other woman sighed. “I really thought you would catch a big break this time.”
The meeting with the people from Color Company commenced as scheduled.
Naturally, Cassie came to the Larson Group in person on behalf of the company.
“Are you satisfied with the designs this time?” Tiffany asked calmly, her eyes fixed on Cassie.
“Yes, I’m very pleased with it. That this designer is surely going to make a name in the industry. I want to meet her, by the way. I intend to further our cooperation in the future.”
Cassie perused through the portfolio, picking up sheets to study the drafts. As she did this, the massive diamond ring on her finger glinted in the sunlight.
