Chapter 3

Three days later, I sent my design draft to Abbie. To my surprise, she replied almost immediately—and her message was bursting with compliments.

"This is absolutely perfect! It's exactly the vibe we've been searching for! Ms. Jade, would you consider being our exclusive designer?" she said.

Exclusive designer? That was not my thing. I liked my freedom. I turned down her offer with a polite message, telling her I'd only accept single-project commissions for now.

Abbie sent another email. "If we put your name on our product promotions, would you be willing to lower your fees a bit?"

I could see right through her. She was trying to use my reputation to boost her own status at the Aguirre Group. She probably bragged to Joseph about landing a famous designer, only to realize my rates were way out of her budget.

"No need. I prefer to keep a low profile," I replied, shutting her down without hesitation.

By the end of March, just as I was starting to get used to life by the sea, something unexpected happened.

A pure white cat with one blue eye and one green eye somehow made its way onto my balcony and sprawled across my workbench for a nap.

I was about to chase it away when I spotted a fancy name tag on its collar. "Pippin, Owner. Nathan Phillips. If found, please contact..." Along with it was a phone number.

After hesitating for a moment, I dialed the number. A deep, magnetic male voice answered, "Hello?"

"Hi, this is Victoria Howard. I think your cat ended up at my place," I said.

"I'm so sorry about this. I just moved in recently and Pippin probably isn't used to the new environment yet. Could I trouble you to keep an eye on him for a little while? I'm in the middle of a meeting, but I can come by and pick him up in about two hours," Nathan said, his voice tinged with genuine apology.

"No problem," I replied. After I hung up, I watched as the graceful white cat showed zero sign of being unsettled. Instead, he wandered through my apartment with the poise of a little aristocrat surveying her new domain.

Two hours later, the doorbell rang. I opened the door to find a tall, well-dressed man standing there. He looked to be in his mid-thirties, with sharp, defined features and a polite smile on his face.

"Hi, I'm Nathan Phillips. I'm here to pick up Pippin," he said.

"Come on in. He's in the living room," I said, stepping aside to let him in.

As soon as Nathan walked in, he immediately noticed the design sketches scattered across my worktable. His eyes lit up. "Are you a designer? These sketches are seriously professional."

I nodded. "Yeah, jewelry design."

He perked up, clearly invested in the topic. "No way, I'm in the business too—actually, I'm the GM at Celestine Gems."

Celestine Gems was a top luxury brand in the industry, practically neck-and-neck with the Aguirre Jewels as their fiercest rival.

Nathan's eyes lingered on my sketches again, his brow furrowing. "This style... I feel like I've seen it somewhere before..." he murmured, curiosity flickering in his tone.

That made me nervous, so I quickly changed the subject. "Your cat is really beautiful. His name is Pippin, right?"

"Yeah, I actually brought him all the way from abroad. He's a pretty unique breed," Nathan replied with a relaxed smile, crouching down to give Pippin some gentle pats now that he'd woken up. "Thanks for taking care of him. How about I make it up to you with dinner this weekend, if you're not busy?"

I paused for a second, then nodded. After splitting with Joseph, I'd basically become a recluse. Maybe it was about time I stepped back into the world.

After Nathan left, I sat out on the balcony, watching the sunset paint the ocean in golden waves. Suddenly, my phone rang—it was Abbie.

"Ms. Jade, our boss is completely taken with your designs and wants to up the order. If you're up for it, we could even talk about signing a long-term contract," Abbie said, her voice buzzing with excitement.

I paused for a second. "Let's talk about that once this payment goes through," I replied.

After hanging up, I couldn't help but laugh. Turns out Joseph really did fall for my designs—funny thing was, he had no clue they came from his so-called 'good-for-nothing' ex-wife.

And the best part? Abbie didn't breathe a word about her new status; she kept calling herself the chief design director. Now I was even more curious about what was really going on between her and Joseph behind closed doors.

The first weekend in April 2023 came around fast. Nathan messaged ahead to ask what I liked to eat—I just told him I'm not picky.

At six on the dot, he showed up and took me to a discreetly fancy restaurant by the ocean.

"This place is a friend's—it's super chill, and the food's pretty great," he said, pulling out my chair for me. The whole gentleman vibe felt a little weird to me. When I was with Joseph, he rarely did thoughtful stuff like this—except maybe way back when he was still trying to impress me.

After we ordered, Nathan made no effort to hide how intrigued he was about my designs. "Your sketches from last time totally caught me off guard. The way you work those lines… it actually reminds me a lot of this super popular international designer, Jade."

I took a casual sip of water, acting like it was no big deal. "Is that so? I don't really pay much attention to that kind of thing."