In the presence of happy people, pain was always insignificant. Especially when the pain was only felt by one person, Susan, it became infinitely magnified.
When she was just informed that her participation in the competition had been cancelled, she truly panicked. By the time she regained her composure and caught up with what was happening, Jane was already on stage receiving her award. Susan pursed her lips and furrowed her brows as she glared at the woman on stage with resentment in her eyes. If nothing unexpected had happened, that trophy should have been hers…
“Leo, you schemed against me!”
Jane and Patrick were walking out of the design competition venue together as a couple around six o’clock in the evening when Susan suddenly burst out from nowhere.
She stared at Jane fiercely and said, “Leo… oh no, Jane, why did you frame me? Why? Today’s prize and this trophy in your hand clearly belonged to me!”
Susan’s voice became increasingly uncontrollable while her delicate face twisted into a grimace. Many passers-by stopped to watch as Patrick frowned tightly and instinctively stepped back half a step to shield Jane behind him.
Jane frowned helplessly but also looked somewhat disgusted at Susan’s behavior; she didn’t expect this woman’s obsession to have reached such an extent.
She tugged on Patrick’s sleeve to signal him not to interfere too much before taking a step forward herself while squinting slightly at Susan, “It should be clear that it was you who framed me instead of vice versa, Susan. We are all designers here; if you can compete with me fairly once more, then maybe I could still respect you as my opponent but now your actions are contemptible.”
“Intentionally plagiarizing other people’s work is actually punishable by law in France.”
As soon as those words left Jane’s mouth, Patrick immediately understood what he needed to do next; he pulled out his phone without hesitation and dialed 911, reporting everything that had happened.
With that, she signaled to Patrick to call the police, mouthing the word “Freda” to him.
Patrick immediately understood, nodded, and quickly took out his phone to dial the police. In fluent French, he described the situation outside the award venue and detailed Susan’s plagiarism and Freda’s theft of the design drawings.
Susan’s face turned pale. Having lived in France for many years, she knew exactly what Patrick was saying, but by the time she wanted to intervene, it was already too late. After ending the call, Patrick coldly pocketed his phone.
About half an hour later, a police car arrived. Two officers got out, apprehended Susan, and escorted her back to the car. That night, Susan’s reputation was thoroughly shattered.
On the other side, Freda watched the live broadcast of the award ceremony on the hotel room TV and was terrified. She was restless and couldn’t believe that Jane had turned things around on her.
She tightly gripped her phone, wanting to call Susan but hesitating.
Suddenly, there was an urgent knocking at the door.
Freda’s heart skipped a beat as she became uneasy. She cautiously looked towards the direction of the door and slowly walked over, asking, “Who’s outside?”
She turned the doorknob gently and it opened with a click. To Freda’s surprise, two police officers entered. One of them showed his badge and said, “Miss Ann, someone reported you for theft and kidnapping. After investigation, we found it to be true. We are now arresting you according to law.”
Freda was shocked and instinctively tried to back away but handcuffs clicked onto her wrists before she could escape. She had no choice but to lower her head in defeat as she followed them out of the room into their car.
Everything seemed settled. Jane’s proposal had been seen by many on live television while online discussions were rampant about it all. Yet Patrick didn’t seem bothered by any of this as he enjoyed several days in France with Jane without any distractions or complications; they spent each day either going out on dates or staying home together enjoying their time together.
Upon returning home to Guavo though, they went straight back to Patrick’s old house where Mike still lived.
Patrick held onto Jane tightly like he feared she would run away from him again as they entered with smiles plastered across their faces saying, “Grandpa! We’re back!”
Mike always talked about these two young people every day so when he saw them return, he couldn’t help but feel both surprised and happy exclaiming, “You two finally came back! I’ve missed you so much!”
“After the competition, Jane said she wanted to come back to see you. I felt she was too tired, so I thought of taking her to play in France for a few more days. Moreover, when we return, we plan to quickly organize the engagement ceremony. I proposed to Jane at the award ceremony, and she agreed.”
Mike looked somewhat surprised at Jane, with a smile on his face. “Jane, you finally agreed to marry this little rascal? Oh, that’s great, then I can rest assured -”
Jane blushed slightly then nodded affirmatively replying, “Yes grandpa I have agreed to marry Patrick; we even bought rings already so don’t worry.”
Her middle finger on the right hand was adorned with a diamond ring that Patrick had taken her to buy at a jewelry store the day after the awards ceremony. It was a custom-made, one-of-a-kind piece.
As the three chatted, Beatrice and Melissa arrived at the old mansion. Upon entering, they saw Jane and Patrick sitting next to Mike. Melissa’s face immediately soured while Beatrice remained composed.
“Mike, Melissa and I came to see you,” said Beatrice with a smile.
Patrick heard their voices and looked up at the two women before him. His smile slowly faded as he asked in an ominous tone, “What are you doing here? You’re not welcome here. Please leave.”
Jane furrowed her brows slightly and whispered, “Patrick.” She didn’t want him to confront Beatrice or Melissa head-on; it wouldn’t look good if things got heated.
“Patrick,” said Melissa nonchalantly as she ignored his hostility. “We just came to visit Grandpa; we won’t cause any trouble.” She placed some supplements she had brought on the table before turning back towards Patrick with a smile.
“Grandpa,” she continued in an overly polite manner. “These are supplements my aunt and I bought for you; please accept them.”
Mike pursed his lips but made no comment other than saying flatly, “You have good intentions.”
“I watched your competition and awards ceremony when I returned home,” added Melissa haughtily as she stood up straighter beside Jane. Her attitude became more arrogant by the second: who did Jane think she was? How could this woman win over Patrick’s heart?
Melissa knew that Jane had won first place in a design competition but also witnessed Patrick proposing to her during that same event, something that made her incredibly jealous almost driving her insane!