Cristelle was grateful as she took the gift, “Thank you so much, Izzy. But I’m just borrowing this for the competition. I’ll give it back.”
“It doesn’t matter, really,” Izzy smiled, “Just go back home. You said you still had some business to handle at home, right?”
Juliette whirled her chair and slid toward Izzy, “Hey, Izzy. Why are you treating her so nicely? She just came here. You don’t even know anything about her personality.”
Izzy smiled, “Why? You’re jealous because I treated her so nicely?”
Juliette huffed, “Why should I? Unlike someone, I need to work my butt off to get what I want. You can’t get lucky like that by being jealous.”
Other colleagues laughed, “You can also leave if you want to, Juliette.”
Juliette also wanted to leave, but she hadn’t yet finished today’s job.
****
Cristelle tried to make the babies fall asleep after dinner. Cody pushed her away, “It’s okay, Mom. I’ll tell Candace stories. Just go back to work.”
Cristelle insisted on reading them some stories before sleep. Candace learned from her brother and tried to push Cristelle away. The girl pointed at Cody and then herself, trying to let Cristelle know that she and her brother would be fine.
Cristelle smiled, but the way her babies acted broke her heart. They understood how exhausted she was, and they were trying everything they could to reduce the burden on her shoulders.
Cristelle felt sad, yet the babies also gave her endless motivation to work harder. She took in a deep breath before nodding at her babies, “Okay, sweeties. Mommy’s going back to work. I believe you guys can take care of yourselves.”
Cristelle started to work when the babies went to bed.
She didn’t finish her work until the middle of the night. The babies had fallen asleep, and she needed to be really quiet as she went to bed.
The next morning, Cody prepared her breakfast again.
“Mom, just go, do whatever you want, and you don’t need to worry about us. We’re very fine with Lady Social-worker.”
Cristelle leaned forward and gave the boy a kiss, “Thank you, sweetie. I love you so much.”
“I love you too, Mommy.”
Designing was actually more than drawing drafts. Inspiration couldn’t take you as far as you imagined. There was still a lot of trivial work to do.
Cristelle had been drawing her drafts since the day she signed in for the competition. She seldom got any sleep after work and had been working on it repeatedly.
Even the babies felt how urgent she was. They were more behaved than ever.
And then, with a lot of effort, Cristelle’s first draft finally came out. It was not perfect yet, but it was the best she could do.
“Cristelle, you’re still working? Come on, girl. Take a break and have some food. I just called Chinese food delivery. Why don’t you join me?” Izzy lay a couple of paper boxes on her desk, “Really, you need to take a break now. You’ve been working all day…”
“Thank you so much, Izzy,” Cristelle blushed as she hurriedly cleared the table for her.
Izzy was such a nice colleague. Cristelle felt she owed this nice woman a lot. Maybe she should buy Izzy a meal after the competition.
“We’ll have a two-day break quite soon. Are you planning to go out with anyone?”
Izzy asked as she ate her chicken wings.
Cristelle shrugged, “I don’t have any plans, to be honest. I just want to sleep long at home using our break.”
Izzy’s mouth fell open, “You’re kidding me. You’re so pretty. There must be guys asking you out.”
Cristelle smiled and shook her head. Izzy handed her a cup of tea, “Come on, try this.”
Cristelle took a sip. The scent of the black was sweet and heady. She felt a bit sleepy after drinking that, “This tea tastes good.”
“I know, right?” Izzy smiled.
After having the food, Cristelle suddenly felt so drowsy. So she decided to take a nap as she buried her face in her arms against her table. She fell asleep faster than she could ever imagine.
“Cristelle? Cristelle…” Izzy made sure that Cristelle had fallen entirely asleep before she went to collect those drafts she had made. After flickering through those drafts, she finally saw Cristelle’s first draft.
Izzy’s eyes burnt in jealousy as she realized how perfect Cristelle’s draft was. She hated this so much. She worked so hard. Why did this whore have to show up and take away everything?
No! She couldn’t let her win!
Izzy looked at the draft closely and remembered every detail. She put the draft down and shook Cristelle’s body a bit. But Cristelle was still sleeping. With a cold smirk, Izzy grabbed the tea cup and emptied its contents into the sink.
Everything happened in the office where the surveillance cameras couldn’t get anyone. Izzy hadn’t gone to the cafeteria since Cristelle started to have her lunch in the office. She had been planning for this for so long, and now she finally got the chance.
Outside of the office door, Juliette’s eyes widened in surprise. She was shocked that that friendly and kind Izzy she knew was capable of something as horrible as this.
She didn’t know what to do anymore. Juliette did hate Cristelle, but she had never wanted to steal Cristelle’s idea or sabotage her like this.
Juliette hated this so much. She didn’t get to see Linford in the canteen today, so she decided to come back and take a break. She had never expected to see something as messed-up as this.
Juliette shook her head and walked away. After she left, Izzy happened to walk out of the office.
Izzy walked down the hall as if nothing had ever happened, thinking her plan was flawless.
The elevator chimed as Linford walked out of its sliding doors. He went directly to Cristelle’s office. When he pushed open the door of the FD office, however, he was surprised that the place was almost empty. Cristelle was sleeping, her face and arms pressing against her desk. She must be so tired.