Chapter 43 Why Did She Frame Me?
Chris froze for a moment. Since this involved the Blue Ocean Design Contest, he didn't dare take it lightly, so he checked the message while heading out.
They were being accused of plagiarizing a work by Y, Linda's student. This mysterious Y had been quite famous in the design circle a few years ago, with several good design works, but then stopped appearing publicly.
Many people thought she couldn't create new works anymore.
Chris couldn't immediately figure out what connection there could be between Cynthia and Y, or how they could have gotten into plagiarism trouble.
"Has the organizer responded? Have they rejected our submission?"
Matthew checked his email and answered, "Not yet! Mr. Cooper, I'll call the design and PR departments back for a meeting right now to work out a solution as soon as possible!"
The topic wasn't too hot yet, just a small group of people discussing it.
But with the fallout from Cooper Corporation's recent photo scandal still fresh, as soon as people saw more drama involving the Coopers, the news would blow up fast.
If they didn't handle this tonight, Cooper Corporation's stock price could take another hit!
Moreover, once plagiarism was confirmed, Cooper Corporation could forget about ever entering the design industry.
This would seriously affect the company's transformation, and the board wouldn't allow him to bring in such huge losses!
Chris hurriedly left Hillside Villa.
Joanna didn't bother about why Chris suddenly left. After searching other rooms in the villa without success, she reluctantly left.
On the way, she sent Linda a message: [My drafts were taken. I'm afraid just relying on the style of previous works won't be enough to prove Cynthia plagiarized.]
Linda didn't reply, probably busy with the design contest.
Joanna was still immersed in disappointed feelings. She wanted to chat with someone, and the first person she thought of was Angelo, but she was afraid of disturbing him.
In the end, she went back to her apartment alone.
When Chris arrived at Cooper Corporation, Cynthia and others had all been called in.
Seeing the plagiarism risk, everyone immediately searched online for Y's past work, looking for contrasting examples.
Cynthia was extremely nervous, unable to sit still, pacing back and forth in the office.
She couldn't figure it out no matter how hard she tried. She had only taken a few draft sketches from Joanna's studio—how could that be connected to Y?
Joanna clearly had no design talent at all. When did she meet Y, and how did she get hold of her design drafts?
"Cynthia, you explain!" The first thing Chris did when he got to the meeting room was ask Cynthia the question. Deep down, he didn't believe that Cynthia, with her abilities, would plagiarize!
Cynthia nervously stood up, biting her lower lip. "I... I don't know how the work I worked so hard to design could be in Y's style? And I have the drafts. Before designing, I must have seen her previous work, so I subconsciously referenced it a bit. But that can't be considered plagiarism, right?"
There was no evidence yet, so she couldn't lose her composure first.
Chris, of course, knew how hard Cynthia had worked those days. She hadn't slept for several nights!
Chris's expression softened a bit. "Don't be afraid. As long as you're sure you didn't plagiarize, we will definitely find a way to protect you. PR team, get on this right away and keep the rumors from blowing up online. We can't let this mess with our stock price."
From the moment they received the news, the PR department had already been working hard to suppress the topic.
But every time they took something down, new posts popped up just as quickly.
They'd already paid the platform a hefty fee, but even if the main topic was blocked, people just started talking about it under other hashtags.
It was getting nearly impossible to contain!
Matthew's phone suddenly rang. After opening it with a serious expression, his voice rose a bit. "Mr. Cooper! The organizers think our work has plagiarism risks and are asking us to provide the design concept and process!"
Generally, the design concept and process were only needed in the final judging stage.
This was just the preliminary selection stage, and they might continue to adjust and optimize work details later, so asking for the design concept now clearly meant they suspected the work wasn't theirs!
Although Chris's face looked bad, he still breathed a sigh of relief. "Cynthia designed the work. The concept and process won't be difficult for her."
Cynthia's expression was a bit stiff. "Right... won't be difficult for me."
Her mind was all over the place, and with the organizers demanding everything within six hours, the whole design team was scrambling to help her put together the design concept.
When she got the drafts, she had only refined part of them. So when it came to explaining her design, she basically had to wing it.
Cynthia bit the bullet and wrote a fake design concept.
As for the design process, she took out the initial drafts and the colors and fabrics she had tried and refined later.
These things together made Chris trust her a bit more.
But unexpectedly, after submitting the materials, the organizers quickly called.
"Sorry, Mr. Cooper. After reviewing your work and comparing it to Y's previous pieces, we noticed the styles are very similar, and the design concept isn't clearly explained. We're concerned this might be a case of plagiarism. We're still looking into it. If you can't give us a satisfactory explanation before we make a decision, your submission will be disqualified." With that, they hung up.
Everyone in the office looked unhappy.
Chris looked down at the design concept Cynthia wrote and frowned. "Cynthia, you chose the fabric for its skin-friendly comfort, the color for pursuing high-end elegance, but why didn't you write about the butterfly element design? And the style details of the design aren't mentioned here either..."
He closed the file and asked seriously, "Is this work really yours?"
He'd seen those drafts himself. The sketches were rough, scribbled down during a rush of inspiration—not polished, but they had a distinct energy. Compared to Cynthia's designs, the difference in style was obvious. The drafts felt lively and dynamic, while Cynthia's versions seemed flat and uninspired.
Although Chris didn't understand design very well, he could still tell the quality of work.
Facing his questioning and the low discussions of other design department colleagues, Cynthia's nervous emotions finally lost control.
With red eyes and a somewhat hoarse voice, she said, "I'm sorry, Chris. The truth is... Joanna gave the draft to me. I was stuck, totally blocked creatively, and when she found out, she joked that she could come up with something better than me without even trying. I got upset, so I went to her studio to look around, and I just couldn't help but be drawn to this sketch."
"I... I had no idea this draft was actually Y's work. I was just inspired by it, and it fit the contest's new theme so well that I added some details and submitted it. I figured since Joanna is your wife, if the design won, it'd be good for the company either way. I don't know... I really don't get it... Why would she frame me?"