Chapter 33: Public Humiliation by Sienna
Evelyn walked out of the suffocating office, her expression blank. She knew well that this humiliation was merely an appetizer.
Sure enough, just as she returned to her workstation in the design department, a figure, accompanied by a waft of perfume, blocked her path. It was Sienna.
She wore a finely tailored white business suit, her makeup was flawless, and she was smiling, as if she had come to inspect her own territory.
“Evelyn, you didn’t expect me back in the company so soon, did you? I have your ‘care’ to thank for that.”
“Damian sent me here, saying I should assist him with liaising with the design department. We are colleagues now. Please guide me.”
Before Evelyn could respond, Sienna turned as if by accident, her arm “just happening” to knock into a stack of archive boxes piled up almost as high as a person.
Crash! The boxes tumbled to the ground.
Countless files, blueprints, and reports exploded like snowflakes, covering the entire aisle. These were all the Omni Group project archives from the last ten years that Evelyn had spent an entire morning moving from the archive room and meticulously sorting.
“Oops!” Sienna covered her mouth dramatically, her eyes shining with smugness. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it. However... since these things are your responsibility, I’ll have to ask you to clean them up.”
She lowered her head and, in a condescending tone, gave the order in front of everyone.
“I’m giving you ten minutes to re-file all the documents by year and project category. If you fail to finish, your entire monthly performance bonus will be deducted. After all, this is the first task the CEO specially authorized me to supervise. I can't have any slip-ups, can I?”
Silence fell over the design department. Everyone stopped their work, their eyes fixed on Evelyn, as if trying to see through her.
Evelyn looked at the chaos on the floor. The old burn scar on the back of her hand, caused by Sienna’s stiletto, seemed to begin aching faintly again.
She didn't look at Sienna, nor did she pay attention to the surrounding stares. She simply squatted down in silence and began picking up the files one by one. Her movements were not quick, but they were highly systematic. Her fingertips swept over the old sheets of paper, sorting them back into their order from memory.
Sienna stood beside her, arms crossed, watching like she was enjoying a fascinating play. The curve of her mouth grew wider.
Time passed minute by minute. Just as Evelyn was cleaning up the bottom layer, her fingertips touched an exceptionally different document. It was a yellowed, folded sheet of paper, tucked inside a thick project report. The edges were brittle.
She pulled it out subtly, and, under the guise of organizing, quickly scanned it. The title was “Supplementary Agreement Regarding Initial Concept Copyright Ownership of the ‘Tears of the Stars’ Project.” The agreement content was vague, only mentioning that in the initial phase of the project, there was a copyright dispute with an “unknown designer” whose name was blacked out. The Group ultimately paid a compensation fee to buy out all the creative rights.
Evelyn’s heart leaped fiercely.
She quietly pressed the agreement to the very bottom, using her body to block Sienna’s view. She quickly pulled out her phone and snapped a few clear pictures of the agreement's content. Having done all this, she slipped the agreement back into its original place, acting as if nothing had happened.
Ten minutes later, the last file box was neatly stacked by her. Sienna curled her lip, obviously disappointed that she hadn't witnessed Evelyn breaking down.
In the afternoon, Design Department Head Laura sauntered over and slammed a thick stack of assignment briefs onto Evelyn's desk with a loud thud.
“Evelyn, Miss Sienna is new, and many things are unfamiliar to her. As the CEO’s wife, you should certainly shoulder a little more responsibility for the company, shouldn't you?” Laura’s voice was sharp and mean, a classic bully’s tone.
“This is the preliminary design assignment for this year’s ‘Autumn/Winter Haute Couture Series.’ You will be responsible for it alone. Within three days, I expect to see five complete proposals.”
Evelyn opened the assignment brief. It contained only a few lines of text. Aside from the series name, there were absolutely no reference materials regarding brand style, target audience, or current trends. In the design process, this was an utterly impossible task to complete. This should have been a job that took a team several weeks to finish.
“Director Laura, are there no brand style references?” Evelyn asked calmly.
“References?” Laura laughed as if she had heard the biggest joke. “Haven't you been the CEO’s wife for eight years? Have you forgotten Omni’s style? If you lack even this basic ability, I suggest you just go home and cook!”
Her words drew a round of stifled snickers from the surrounding staff.
Evelyn said nothing more, simply accepting the assignment in silence.
Over the next two days, she barely slept. She pulled up all of Omni Group's publicly available runway materials, brand interviews, and market reports, trying to piece together the brand's tone, which was both familiar and strange to her, from the smallest clues.
On the afternoon of the third day, dragging her exhausted body, she handed five complete design proposals to Laura. Without even letting her into the office, Laura casually flipped through a few pages right in front of the entire design department, then let out a scoff.
“Evelyn, I truly overestimated you.” She held up the drafts and waved them dismissively. “What is this you’ve drawn? Curtain fabric? These outdated cuts and tacky colors... A housewife’s aesthetic truly cannot keep up with trends!”
Before the words finished, she violently threw the stack of sketches, which contained all of Evelyn's hard work, onto the floor. Still not satisfied, she raised her foot, encased in a ten-centimeter stiletto, and ground it hard onto the drafts twice.
“Take them back! Redo them! Keep working until I am satisfied!”
A dirty shoe print instantly appeared on the white paper. Evelyn looked at the mess on the floor, clenching her fists until her nails dug deep into her palms.
Late at night, everyone had left the office. Only Evelyn's workstation light was still on. She knelt on the floor, meticulously wiping the smudged drafts, trying to smooth out the creases.
Just then, a hushed conversation drifted from beneath the crack of the door of Laura's office next door.
“Miss Sienna, don’t worry... I’ve already rejected her proposal and thoroughly humiliated her... Yes, yes, she must be working overtime to revise it now...”
Evelyn’s movements halted. She quietly moved closer to the door, and the voices inside became clearer.
“She does have a few creative highlights, especially that design involving fragmented starry diamonds... Don’t worry, I’ve already noted it down. By the time of the final presentation for ‘Tears of the Stars,’ I will incorporate this core concept into your proposal, ensuring nobody suspects a thing... The credit will all be yours then...”
A cold malice seeped out through the door crack, chilling Evelyn to the bone. So that was it. The humiliation was fake; the real goal was to steal her creativity.
She didn't rush in angrily. Instead, she quietly retreated to her seat, calmly took out her phone, and pressed the record button. She hid the phone behind a potted plant near Laura’s office, then returned to her seat and spread out a new sheet of drawing paper.
Evelyn didn't revise the rejected proposals. Instead, she started sketching new lines. In the most hidden seams of the hemline, cuff, or collar of every new proposal, she added a tiny, almost imperceptible hidden pattern with an extremely fine pen stroke: a blooming iris.
This was her exclusive design mark from her university days, a secret known only to her and her mentor, Professor Hays. No third person knew of it.
This small iris would be her most powerful evidence. Waiting to deliver a fatal blow to those thieves at the crucial moment.