Chapter 3

The next morning at work, I was rocking dark circles and totally spaced out.

I couldn't get what James was like last night out of my head.

"Hey, Olivia. Must be nice to have such a productive night." Vivian, my desk neighbor, teased with her usual snarky tone.

Vivian was our design department's resident social butterfly, always throwing her weight around just because she'd been here longer than me.

I ignored her and booted up my computer to start working.

"Oh, please. Don't act all high and mighty," she gave me an eye roll. "Anyway, the Maplewood Group proposal deadline is this afternoon. Did you finish your part? Don't hold the whole team back."

Maplewood Group was a major client for our company, and this project was super important.

Part of the conceptual design was my responsibility.

"It's done," I said calmly.

"You'd better have." Vivian crossed her arms, looking down her nose at me. "Just a heads-up. Mr. Warren's running this project, and he can't stand newbies who slow him down."

Nodding silently, I kept silent. Hold it together. You're a seasoned wage slave now. There's no use stooping to the level of idiots.

Later that afternoon, in the conference room.

Mr. Warren sat at the head of the table with his expression thunderous.

"Olivia, care to explain what this is?" He slammed a document down on the table.

I leaned in for a better look. That was my design draft, but someone had covered it in messy red marks, with "Creative Plagiarism!" scrawled across the top in huge letters.

I shot up from my seat. "Mr. Warren, this isn't the version I submitted. My original one wasn't like this at all."

"Olivia, everyone saw it. The main elements in your designs are exactly the same as that famous designer Alan's work. Are you seriously going to deny it?" Vivian said.

I took a glance at her. She looked so pleased with herself, her eyes full of smugness.

She totally did this! No doubt she's the one who messed with my draft.

"I didn't plagiarize!" I protested, my eyes burning with frustration. "If you don't believe me, I can show you my creative process."

"Enough." Mr. Warren snapped, cutting me off. "Stop embarrassing yourself. Do you have any idea how important the project with Maplewood Group is?

You're new here, and how can you deal with the fallout if something really goes wrong? Now, get out of here!"

I stood still, numb and cold.

I could feel all the hurt and anger course through my whole body.

Right then, the conference room door swung open.

A woman in a professional suit walked in. That was Secretary Davis from the CEO's office.

"Mr. Warren, sorry to interrupt," Secretary Davis said with a mild smile, yet her tone was firm.

"The CEO just sent an email to claim that Ms. Lane is now fully in charge of the project with Maplewood Group, as he's especially impressed with her initial draft capturing that Eastern vibe, and everyone is to give her their full support."

After Ms. Davis announced that, the whole room went dead silent.

Mr. Warren's jaw dropped so wide that you could've driven a truck through it.

And as for Vivian, she paled instantly.

I was completely dumbfounded.

Wait, the CEO? Which one? Isn't our CEO supposed to be off vacationing overseas? Initial draft? Wasn't that the first version they trashed?

"Ms. Lane, please come with me. The CEO wants to see you." Ms. Davis walked over to me with a gentle smile.

I followed her out, still in a daze, leaving behind a room full of people frozen in shock.