A Call That Changed Her Entire Life

"The designer of this brooch is clearly the well-deserved champion of this competition!"

The four judges, after coming to an agreement, all looked at Victor with eager eyes, expecting to hear an answer from the talent who had not said anything to conclude their discussion.

"First prize for this designer?" they asked cautiously. Victor, however, remained undisturbed as he moved on to the next paper with his long and elegant fingers. When the paper slowly showed itself, everyone was caught in astonishment.

The design drawn on the next paper was exactly the same as the one they had just highly commended!

A shroud of silence descended upon all the judges.

Meanwhile, the contestants did not know what was going on with the judges. They waited for the judges' verdict with nervous anticipation, Emily included.

At last the winners of the competition were announced. The third prize was awarded to Chou and the second prize, to Kary. No one was surprised by the result since the two designers were highly appreciated by the judges. However, who was going to be awarded with the first prize? Everyone waited anxiously for the result.

Finally, when the last drawing was slowly unveiled on the screen, everyone in the audience reacted with "oohs" and "ahhs".

The moment Emily saw the drawing on the screen, her heart skipped a beat. She felt like her heart was about to leap out of her throat!

Obviously! It was her drawing!

Emily sneaked a peek at Victor who was sitting among the other judges of the competition. It wasn't until this moment that Emily had the full courage to look directly at Victor.

Victor had noticed that Emily was staring at him. Much to Emily's surprise, he glanced back at Emily with calm eyes. Emily saw something oddly inexplicable in his eyes; something she could not understand.

Out of politeness, Emily quickly took her eyes off of Victor. She was overwhelmed with happiness and excitement, despite the fact that she did not understand what the oddity in Victor's eyes was about.

After a long and anticipated wait, not only did she get the chance to stand before her respected artist, she even found herself in his eyes! This was one of the most memorable moments of her life. How proud she was of herself!

After a much delay, the final hour had finally arrived. "It is, indeed, a very creative and imaginative piece of work. The ingenuity of its designer is quite evidently visible. However, we are sorry to say that..."

word "however", suddenly, she had a bad

minute as she heard the next words—"This work, is

crowd burst into an uproar instantly,

dumbstruck and appalled. Plagiarism?

was a lady's voice, full

Emily. It was Rose. She stared at the screen, round-eyed, with

did not copy from anyone!" In a show of protest, Rose cried angrily,

act

not know the truth naturally took Rose as the original

be

the unrest, one of the judges couldn't help but stand up. He looked distressed by the situation. "In this competition, " he announced, "as you can see on the screen, we found

the design, they would

in a heated discussion filled the place. Who could be the plagiarist? Rose or Emily? Surely, if this plagiarist was discovered, her career

move by Rose, but she never really did anything without calculating the odds. She was the first to present her defense. "Honorable Judge, Emily and I, we are friends, and we have had some discussions about our designs in the past... but I never thought that things would turn out this

the design for this brooch. Its irregular shape was my very own idea, and the

at Rose, stressing each syllable, "Rose,

numerous plans to belittle her. She even copied

spark of guilty conscience flashed in Rose's eyes, but she continued, "Come on. Everyone makes mistakes. I

with rage when she heard Rose's words. What a shameless lady Rose

their piercing gazes at Emily. They sized her

about to protest Rose's false claims. At that time, a man's voice suddenly caught everyone's attention, they turned around to find out who was speaking.

competition, I've had some discussions with her about the design of the brooch. I can guarantee that she is innocent! I hope that the judges here would

was speaking on behalf of Rose when they turned to the voice. It was Anderson, a renowned master of jewelry design; a man whose voice was influential in the

the master standing behind Rose, Emily looked rather suspicious as she did not have anyone to speak for her.

looked at her with spite and disgust.