Chapter 49 Stood Up for Her Again
When Chris heard this, he got angry. "Joanna! Did you even hear a word I said yesterday? Cynthia's been through enough already. Why do you have to make things worse for her? You need to do what I told you—no excuses. If you don't, there's nothing left to talk about with the divorce. You're the one who cheated, so this is all on you!"
Joanna frowned and repeated, "I told you, I won't plagiarize my own work. The organizers won't believe it. If you go with me right now to process the divorce, I can ask Linda for a favor and give Cynthia another chance to enter the competition."
This was the solution she'd come up with after lying awake for a long time following yesterday's phone call.
Joanna was actually angry about the plagiarism. No designer would be happy about someone else taking their work to compete for awards.
Luckily, this competition was organized by her teacher, Linda, so it didn't turn into a bigger mess. Otherwise, it would have been hard for her to protect her rights.
To successfully get divorced, Joanna was willing to sacrifice a bit of face and ask Linda to give Cynthia another chance to compete.
But take the blame herself? That was completely impossible!
She had just submitted her own work. How could she admit that the plagiarized work from Cooper Corporation was hers?
Cynthia looked at her in shock. "Joanna, I know you don't want to admit your mistakes, but there's no need to brag! Linda is a big shot in the design industry. How could someone like you, who doesn't even have any work, possibly have connections with her?"
Cynthia's words calmed Chris's briefly wavering heart.
Right, Joanna was a housewife. Even though she'd found a job as a doctor using some medical skills she'd learned before, how could she possibly know senior figures in the design industry? And she was bragging about getting the organizers to give Cynthia another chance to compete. Did she think she was Linda's student, Y? Ridiculous!
Chris lost his patience. "I don't want to hear this useless talk. I'm holding a press conference at the company tomorrow, and you have to come!"
Joanna knew these two didn't believe her, so there was nothing she could do. "Believe whatever you want. I'm done. Do whatever you like!"
With that, Joanna left.
Chris wanted to chase after her, but Cynthia stopped him. "It's okay, Chris. We just exposed Joanna's lies, so she must be embarrassed. Let her think it through. If she really wants a divorce, she'll definitely come tomorrow."
In other words, if Joanna didn't show up tomorrow, then she didn't really want a divorce.
Chris didn't know whether to be angry or happy. His emotions were complicated right now.
Turning his head, he saw the condoms on the table and felt a bit awkward.
As a boss, and of the opposite sex, should he avoid the situation after discovering such things at his employee's home?
While Chris was thinking about what excuse to use to leave, Cynthia had already thrown herself into his arms. "Chris, I'm so happy you stood up for me again. I don't know how to repay you..."
Cynthia pulled Chris's hand to her waist, her hint obvious.
Chris's body stiffened for a moment, and his mind involuntarily flashed back to Joanna's seductive state when she was drugged.
Her eyes hazy, her face flushed, her voice so pleasant...
His Adam's apple bobbed as he pushed Cynthia away. "Then you should go back to the company and properly fulfill your responsibilities as design director. Alright, I still need to go to a meeting to prepare a PR plan for the press conference. I'm leaving."
He'd come to Heaven Heights because he was worried Joanna wouldn't go beg Cynthia, so he planned to convince Cynthia and also ask her not to make things too difficult for Joanna.
Joanna had such a temper, and this had been going on for so long. His patience was running out. He'd wanted to just drag her back and lock her up several times already!
Back home, Joanna remembered she'd forgotten to show Chris the test report.
But in that situation, he probably wouldn't have believed it anyway.
Chris only trusted whatever fit his own ideas. To him, she wasn't worth believing or respecting.
Joanna smiled bitterly, put away the test report, and ran herself a bath.
Joanna didn't go to the press conference the next day. Chris got angry but could only have the PR team handle the reporters.
His evasive attitude angered the reporters, but Cynthia took the initiative to admit the mistake. "I'm the design director. Even though this happened because someone switched our work, I've thought a lot about what went wrong. We didn't double-check like we should have. I hope everyone can move on from Cooper Corporation. The contest organizers just decided this entry wasn't a good fit to continue. We'll come back with something even better next time!"
Her taking responsibility earned her a lot of goodwill from many people in the company, especially the design department.
Who would have thought that at a time like this, it would be Cynthia who stepped up, and she said they could design new works?
Did Cynthia know anyone on the organizing committee?
The reporters quickly asked this question too.
Cynthia just smiled. "You'll see."
The reporters kept asking questions with the attitude of digging deeper, but Cynthia didn't answer much more. The plagiarism scandal was quickly brought under control.
Over these two days, the Blue Ocean Design Contest had also finished judging and announced the winner, and the physical customization was currently underway.
Joanna saw her own work during the livestream. Linda personally told her it was the winning piece.
She felt a bit helpless. She'd only meant to prove the work was hers, but Linda had still put her work among the submitted entries.
The livestream didn't announce the rankings, only displayed the selected works, with the awards ceremony to be held on the first of next month.
After dealing with the reporters, Cynthia returned to her office and saw the livestream.
As the plagiarist, she of course recognized Y's work at a glance and bit her lower lip in embarrassment.
But soon, that embarrassment turned into defiance.
Matthew happened to come find Chris to report on the work situation. "Mr. Cooper, we probably don't have time to redesign a new work. It's also because we trusted Miss Dern too much initially and didn't prepare a second design proposal."
Chris was still angry about why Joanna hadn't come. He'd sent her several messages, and she hadn't replied.
Cynthia took the initiative to say, "Chris, my mentor might be able to help us ask for a favor. He can get invitations to the awards ceremony. Once we get in, we can meet the organizers and submit a new work."
Chris didn't expect such good news. He was thrilled. "Great, Cynthia, then I'll have to trouble you to work hard with the design department to rush out a new piece!"
Cynthia smiled with pursed lips. "And we can also see if Joanna was really bragging. I saw that Y's work was selected as well. Maybe after we meet Y, Joanna won't dare to pretend to be anyone else anymore. Last time, it was Dr. J; this time, it's Y. I really don't know if she's going to claim all the talented people are actually her."
She shook her head helplessly.