Chapter 215,Coolest Girl in Town
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.
