SWNOVELS Chapter 7
Chapter 7 Not Anymore
Everyone was shocked.
Very few people know where Tiara went after she disappeared from the industry, let alone her relationship with Darren.
At the moment, the reporters were the most excited.
They figured that today’s contest was just another plain piece of news at first, yet they were stimulated by the words “plagiarism” and “betrayal“. They realized that tonight might be the trending topic.
Tiara watched Darren walk up to her. He said in a sad tone as if she had let him down, “You work for Wave Perfume. When did you become a social climber and go to another company? You didn’t even bother to tell me. What’s more, you … stole from Wave Perfume?”
His voice wasn’t exactly loud, yet he was
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very close to the microphone, and therefore everyone present heard his words clearly.
“She’s a traitor. No wonder she’s a plagiarizer, too,” someone came back to their senses and said.
“She was unworthy of the name back then. I remember that when she won the rookie contest, the press was all over her, and what now?” someone else sneered.
“Stealing company secrets is against the law. We should call the police!”
“It turns out that she doesn’t have a nose or
conscience at all. To be fair, she is pretty, but she’s a thief!”
They were all pointing fingers at Tiara, and Darren tried hard to suppress his complacency. He didn’t know what had happened, yet at least he saved the day.
He turned to look at Javon with a victorious attitude, pretending to be magnanimous while saying, “Well, I think Newborn Perfume has been tricked by someone with an agenda. It’s
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not your fault. It’s just a misunderstanding. However, everyone knows that all work belongs to creators, so obviously, ‘First Love‘ belongs to Wave Perfume.”
“Mr. Fred, you said earlier that…” someone interrupted him abruptly.
Tiara smiled calmly all this time. She tilted her body slightly to look at Darren and asked naturally, “I work for Wave Perfume?”
She was so calm that Darren inexplicably felt panicked.
Yet so many people were watching him. He collected himself and said, “Not anymore. I’m sorry this happened today.
་་
Tiara laughed as if she had heard something funny, and then she continued, “Not
anymore? Did I ever work for Wave Perfume?”
“I…”
Before Darren could continue, she interrupted him again, “Mr. Fred, I don’t think I ever
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signed a contract with Wave Perfume. Is there some sort of written agreement? Or have you ever paid me a salary? Do you have any proof?”
“Proof? Everyone in Wave Perfume can prove it. You work for Wave Perfume. What else proof do you need?”
“So, you have none?”
Her simple words choked Darren.
He was so confident that Tiara loved him deeply and never signed any contract with her, and the more important reason was that he didn’t want her to go against him by virtue of the contract someday in the future.
And she was right. He had never paid her a salary. When he was in a good mood, he would transfer her some money, and the amount of each transfer was different, ranging from tens of dollars to hundreds of dollars. He figured that she never cared about money anyway. Meanwhile, he thought that since the rent was deducted from his account every month, and she barely had any
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expenses, it could be said that he was supporting her, so he didn’t need to pay her
any salary at all.
Yet now, Tiara used it against him and hopped to another company righteously. He became the unjustifiable one and would have nothing to back him up in court.
“Whether we have proof or not, we don’t have to show it to you here,” Leticia, who had been standing under the stage, could no longer remain calm and said bluntly.
She lifted her chin and looked complacently at Tiara. “This is not the place for you to grandstand. We used to be friends, and for the sake of that, we will let you off the hook today. But now, please leave.”
Leticia’s words seemed to have reminded Darren of something. He stepped forward, reached out his hand, grabbed Tiara’s cuff imperceptibly, and stared at her without blinking. “Tiara, put the misunderstanding aside, let’s go back before anything.”
He warned her with his eyes, telling her that
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if she wanted their relationship to continue, she had to listen to him.
Yet today’s Tiara was already a different
person.
“Mr. Fred, since you and Ms. Trevelyan have already seen yourselves as the victims of plagiarism, how can you not safeguard your rights? Today’s contest is all about fairness.”
Tiara took a step back, broke free from his hand, turned around, and looked at the host with a smile. “Newborn Perfume has already given the data and sample of ‘First Love‘ to the organizing committee. I believe there will be a just result.”
“Wait!” Darren raised his hand and looked up. “Ms. Fowler, you used to work for Wave Perfume, so you may have access to all the data and samples we have. What if the data submitted by the two companies is exactly the same?”
He was in fact very uneasy.
After all, Tiara gave him the data and the
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sample, and he knew that the data submitted by the two companies would definitely be the
same.
He thought, “Now that I can’t stop her, I have to give her up. I have to beat her to it and convince everyone that she is the traitor who betrays me and Wave Perfume. It’s the only way I can save the day.”
Then someone whispered something to the host. The host then straightened up and looked at Darren. “You don’t have to worry about that, Mr. Fred. The judges already have their results, and although the data and sample data of the two companies are very similar, they are not exactly the same. In fact, there are some differences.”
“Really?” Darren was very surprised.
Meanwhile, Leticia was a bit nervous. She thought, “Different? How could it be?”
Also, although the people around her were focused on the stage, they all subconsciously distanced themselves from her, and she could vaguely smell the weird smell as well, so she
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was kind of embarrassed to do obvious
actions
“The judges have already made up their minds about ‘First Love‘. The winner ist Newborn Perfume,”
The host announced straightforwardly.
Hearing that. Darren was shocked. His face turned deadly pale at once.
“No way!” he blurted out. “That’s impossible! Our company has been developing for so long. We’ve invested so much effort and money. How come they get to win? ‘First Love‘ belongs to Wave Perfume. We have proof!
“You can’t suppress small companies like us, simply because Newborn Perfume has Cosmos Group as its backer. This is unfair to the rising stars of the industry! Although Wave Perfume is a small company, and its strength cannot be compared with Newborn Perfume, we have always been devoting ourselves to the perfume industry. What the organizing committee does today lets Wave
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Perfume down. What’s more, you also let all the small and medium–sized companies that are trying just as hard as we are and getting crushed down!”
Darren’s speech moved a lot of people
present.
In the overall environment, the industry giants were only a handful. Many small companies. kept participating in all kinds of competitions. and shows so as to make more and more people know them, expand the market, and gradually grow step by step.
Yet all their efforts might be in vain if they were suppressed.
“He’s right! Since the two entries are similar, why should Newborn Perfume win?”
“Obviously, they are accomplices! They plot this together! Mr. Fred, you should call the police!”
Tiara raised her eyebrows and looked at Darren. He was standing there so righteously that made others believe him subconsciously.
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“Mr. Fred, you keep talking about proof. Alright then. I’ll show you proof.” Tiara tilted her body and took two bottles from Newborn Perfume’s staff.