,Coolest Girl in Town
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 he saw Elise’s
design first, he would have thought that she plagiarized Coner’s. Moreover, it wasn’t simply that
Brendan saw Elise’s design first; it was that he trusted Alexander’s judgment and believed her to be the
kind of person who would never do such a thing. It was an inexplicable sort of trust, but it gave him so
much unshakeable faith in Elise that when he finally met Coner, he 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 he did not seem to recognize Coner, Ashlyn hurried to introduce, “This is the
designer, Coner, who is also my schoolmate from overseas. Coincidentally, her latest design happens
to be a formal style of dress that I quite like. I’m hoping to recommend her to you so that not only may
she work here, she can also undertake the entirety of my dress design by herself.” As Brendan
listened, he rhythmically tapped his fingers on the desk, looking back and forth between Ashlyn and
Coner. For a long time, he was silent, leaving Ashlyn with no way to guess his state of mind.
“Is that okay with you, Brendan?” she prompted. Coming back to his senses, he responded, “Of course,
but I need a copy of her CV. If there are no issues, we can hire her.” Overjoyed, Coner whipped out her
resume. “Here’s my CV, Mr. Griffith. Please have a look.” Then, she handed her 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 her design, Brendan flipped her resume shut and couldn’t help sneering. “What
a coincidence!” he taunted. “I feel like I’ve seen your design somewhere before.” L
ooking 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 her designer. How about
this? You can be Miss Lawson’s private designer. I think that’s a pretty good solution.” As soon as he
said that, Ashlyn felt her smile disappear.
After all, given their years of friendship, she had assumed she would be able to convince him to hire
someone simply by putting a word in. It never occurred to her that he would refuse. “Coner does
excellent work, Brendan. She won many international awards while she was abroad. Talent like hers is
hard to come by, and I’m recommending her to you only because I’m impressed by her designs,”
Ashlyn pleaded earnestly as she tried to appeal to his feelings. Nevertheless, Brendan did not fall for it.
All of a sudden, he remembered that Ashlyn had come by the studio on the previous day as well.
For her to drop by the studio with Coner today seemed fortuitous, unless there was something going on
between them that he wasn’t privy to. In the past, he would never have second-guessed Ashlyn.
However, now that she had revealed her dark side to him through the things she did, any goodwill he
had for her 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 he suspects
me? But how can he have connected the two situations? This won’t do! I have to keep my cool. And so,
Ashlyn smiled and asked him 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 her name
through the mud like that!” Her indignation sounded so righteous that Brendan almost believed her for a
second.
However, he 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, she put
down her pencil and went to his office with her design in hand. The moment she opened the door, she
saw Ashlyn. Despite being somewhat taken aback, she 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 she turned her 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 her derision, Elise held her 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 her an encouraging look. Feeling her courage return to her, the former
continued, “Every girl dreams of the perfect wedding dress that will showcase her unique charm at her
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 she took the
diagram back for a second glance and noticed that the left and right sides were, indeed, uncoordinated.
It was an issue she 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.
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