My One-month Marriage With Mr. Hawkins

In that moment, as everyone was watching him, Ernest raised the plate with the number 10 on it.
10 points??
When the audience saw the number that he held up, it was as if they exploded.
Nobody dared to believe their eyes, the whole contest Ernest had only given out 7 points to the other designs, none of them
could match with what Mr. Hawkins expected, but why did he suddenly give out 10 points?
This made no sense.
The other judges were just as surprised, and doubted if Ernest maybe made a mistake.
Then he asked, "Mr. Hawkins, why did you give her 10 points?"
Ernest sat there elegantly, his temperament high up.
The pressed his lips together, and spoke for the first time throughout the entire contest, "Because, I like her..."
The audience were all shocked.
What just happened?
All the judges were just as shocked, none of them could bring out a word.
Mr. Hawkins gave out such a high grade, wasn't he bending the law for his personal gain? And, could it be that they gave out too
low grades?
Florence, who was standing backstage watching all this, was frozen, she looked at Ernest surprised, her face was hot and her
heart racing.
The room became quiet, as if time was paused.
Ernest though turned a blind eye, pressed his lips again, and said in a normal voice, "...her way of being so flexible."
He liked her flexibility?
Only then, the audience understood what he meant.

The judges all sighed, glad that the situation turned out this way.
Florence though was still stiff as before, she couldn't even move, her heart was still racing, even though Ernest already said that
he liked her flexibility.
And as if Ernest could feel that Florence was staring at him, he looked towards her.
From afar, their eyes met.
Florence's heart now skipped a beat, she suddenly felt very anxious, turned to hide.
But her face was still as hot as if there was a fire burning.
Isabel's assistant saw that Isabel didn't look too well, and tried to comfort her, "Don't worry, she has the same points as you now,
you are both on first, but she doesn't have the audience as her back up, she doesn't have a name, the audience won't take on
her design, she will never overcome you."
"What I wanted was for her to get kicked out!"
Not only being a little behind her.
Isabel looked even worse now, she waited for the end results with a very bad mood.
The points given by public were out, Isabel 17, Florence 17!
The two of them had the exact same amount, and were not both on first place.
Compared to Isabel, who was a known designer, Florence was a black swan that suddenly appeared, her work was amazing and
received a lot of great feedback.
Even though they were both first place, but she was even more dazzling.
Isabel looked at the numbers on the big screen, and her face went pale, she couldn't believe her eyes.
"How can this be? How can she have the same points as I do!"
Isabel couldn't help but to yell, she finally started to feel the crisis of the situation.

Two years ago she found out how talented Florence was, so she tried her best to push her down, she wanted to kick her out of
the contest, to give her no chance.
But instead, Florence was now on the same level as herself!
After the contest was over, the models and designers all walked off the stage together, and only the the contest ended officially.
Cooper was waiting for her at the exit of the stage.
Florence and Evelyn came towards him together, but Cooper only looked at Florence, he laughed as he said, "Congratulations,
you are the best!"
To have the win of this contest as her foundation, the next contest will surely be even better.
Florence was in a good mood and she said happily, "Only because you helped me all these days, thank you."
"My pleasure." Cooper smiled even broader.
Evelyn was standing on the side, still wearing the dress that just won the big price, she looked really beautiful, but was ignored
by the two of them.
She looked at Cooper and felt pain in her heart, she was not reconciled and endlessly jealous.
"Cooper..." Her voice was gentle, tactful, but it had a hint of helplessness.
In that moment, Evelyn not only looked pretty, but also pitiful.
It seemed that only then, Cooper noticed Evelyn, his sharp eyes looked her from up to down, his gaze was cold.
Then, he turned to say to Florence, "Florence, I have already packed most of the things, you can go and wait for me at the front,
I will have a short chat with her and then catch up with you."
"Alright."
After what happened that night, Florence hated Evelyn even more, she didn't want to spend one more minute if possible.
But she didn't care what this used-to-be couple wanted to talk about.
Florence agreed and went outside.

Evelyn had some hope in her eyes when she saw that Cooper stayed voluntarily to speak with her, her red lips formed into a
smile which she thought was pretty.
"Cooper, how was my show today? You used to love watching me on stage, you said that I was the prettiest when I was up
there."
The two of them used to have the same dream, Cooper would be the designer and Evelyn would wear his creations on her
stage.
But now...
Cooper took a step towards her, he reached out a hand and grabbed Evelyn's dress.
His fingers wrapped around the place where the red wine was spilled on.
Though Florence had taken care of it and it was already dry, but the closer he got to her, he could smell the wine on it.
"Did you do this on purpose?" He asked her word by word.
Evelyn froze, there was guilt in her eyes, then, she blinked it away and answered, "Cooper, what are you talking about? I don't
understand."
"Evelyn, do you think I am still as dumb as I used to be? Do you think you can just lie to me whenever you want and I would still
be convinced how innocent you are?"
Cooper laughed coldly, the way he looked at Evelyn was freezing, "I am warning you, never ever do anything to Florence,
otherwise I won't let it go this easily. And don't think I would let you go because of our memories. The person you are today, I
would never lay a soft hand on you."
His cold words were like knives on Evelyn's heart.
Her face turned pale immediately, the tears gathered in her eyes.
"Cooper, it wasn't me, how can you be like this..."
Cooper didn't even want to look at her anymore, he turned around and left.

His tall figure looked so cold, there was no friendly feelings left.
When a man became heartless, there was no limit to it.
Evelyn felt her body go soft, she could barely stand and almost lost her balance.
She came back from abroad, and she thought that only if she wooed him enough and played the soft card, Cooper would come
back to her because of how much he loved her.
But after Florence appeared in his life, it all changed.
Just because of Florence!
Evelyn's eyes were filled with hate, "Do you really like her that much?"
Cooper's feet stopped, did he?
On his face, a soft and gentle expression showed, he pressed his lips together, but didn't answer, then he left.
He didn't answer, but for Evelyn that meant that he agreed, and it made her heart break.
They had been together for so many years, she knew him better than anyone else, if he said that he liked her, then maybe it
wasn't too serious, but he said nothing at all, that meant that he really did like her, from the bottom of his heart.
"Cooper, don't you know that Florence is Ernest's fiance..."
Evelyn's eyes turned red as she talked to herself.