Had it been torn before the incident? The two girls exchanged a look. One of them raised her voice sharply after half a second of hesitation.
“Nonsense! Hana and I have been guarding this painting carefully. It was in perfect condition, and your friend ruined it!”
Hana also pointed at Layla and said, “Yes, she was the one who had walked around blindly. No, she was running around blindly and bumped into us!”
“Yes, everyone here saw how she collided with us!”
The people around them did not say anything, but from their expressions, it seemed as if many of them really did see them collided together.
The two girls looked at Nina and said, almost in unison, “There was no problem with the painting before this. Miss MarshMarsh, you have to investigate it clearly!”
Nina remained silent. She would never be part of such a quarrel. Her eyes fell on Elena, and she seemed to have been reminded of something else.
Elena allowed Nina to size her up as she leveled her eyes at Hana. “Did you clash face-to-face?”
“That’s right! She ran into us and smashed the scroll of painting.”
“Yes! She knocked the scroll to the ground, and then the edge was torn.”
“What did you do then?” Elena asked again.
“Why should I tell you? What are you plotting?” Hana threw her a disgusted look.
“Why can’t you tell me? Are you trying to hide something?” Elena smiled and looked at Layla. “What about you?”
“I was heading to the hall to reserve a good seat. Miss Marsh’s lecture was about to start,” Layla explained openly.
When she heard that, Hana did not want anyone to accuse her of hiding the truth, so she immediately explained, “The lecture was about to start, so we were rushing to the venue to set it up.”
“So, this painting was supposed to be displayed in the conference hall, am I right?”
“Correct!”
“However, the lecture was about to start. Why did you set it up so late? Shouldn’t you be there earlier and carefully put the painting in place?”
When they heard what Elena had said, Nina and Assistant Han looked at the two girls at the same time.
Assistant Han was a little puzzled. “That’s right. Didn’t I tell you both to be there earlier?”
After a few moments, Hana panicked and mumbled under her breath, “Yes… It was Eloise… Eloise had diarrhea, so we were running late…”
The girl named Eloise hurriedly said, “Yes! I had an upset tummy, and I had to go to the toilet a few times, so we lost track of time.”
“Since you were running late by then, you would have to rush to the conference hall as soon as possible.”
“Yes, we were indeed rushing to the conference hall…” Hana had a weird feeling that something was not quite right after she spoke.
Elena gave her the answer. “Since you were hurrying to the conference hall, how could you bump into Layla, who was also rushing to the very same location?”
“This…” Hana looked stunned, and she started to stutter.
“Yes… Because… Because Eloise’s stomach was hurting again, so we…”
Elena ignored her and looked straight at Nina. “Miss MarshMarsh, is this the work attitude of your employees?”
“It would not have mattered if one person was delayed because they were ill. However, there were two of them. If Eloise had diarrhea, Hana could still set up the venue. Why would both of them be delayed because of one person’s problem?”
Nina did not say anything, but Assistant Han’s face sank. He muttered unpleasantly, “We screened through tens of thousands of people in our hiring. They are all highly capable.”
“So, would a capable person make such a silly mistake?”
“I remembered something!” Layla suddenly grabbed Elena’s sleeve and said, “They weren’t even rushing toward the hall. They were standing in the lobby before they ran into me.”
“Are you saying that they stood in the lobby, and neither of them rushed to the hall, nor did they try to locate the nearest washroom?”
Elena curved her thin lips into a broad smile. It was what she had guessed.
“Yes! They were standing in the lobby. When I was about to get in, they suddenly walked toward me and bumped into me!”
Even Layla caught the point!
“You must have torn the scroll and did not know how to explain it to Miss Marsh. That was why you deliberately bump into me and then frame me for destroying the painting!”
Layla pointed at Hana and Eloise, and her finger shook with anger!
“How could you be so evil? You… You are too much!”
“I didn’t. It was… not like that, Miss Marsh. That was not how it happened!”
“Well, if you won’t admit it, then we should let the police handle the investigation.”
Elena took out her mobile phone and started to punch the numbers in pretense.
“This lobby has plenty of surveillance cameras. We would know the truth when we take a look at the videos.”
“No!” Police report! Definitely not! If they had done that, they would not be able to survive in the industry anymore. It was not about wanting to keep their jobs in the industry. If they were to have any criminal record, it would be difficult for them to get a good job in the future.
Eloise walked up to Nina and said, fretfully, “Miss Marsh, actually, this painting…”
“Eloise, don’t let them scare you. Just call the police. That bloody girl had bumped into us. Would the police blame us for something that we have not done?”
Hana’s face darkened as she glared at Eloise. “We did nothing wrong. Why should we be afraid?”
“There are probably cameras at the places where you had rested just now. Anyway, if we were to make a police report, then we might as well let the police check all the cameras.””No! Don’t call the police, please! Miss Marsh, it was Hana. Hana tore the painting. It had nothing to do with the girl!”
Eloise was a timid person. Elena’s words shook her so much that she blurted the truth.
“Eloise, what are you talking about? You were the one who broke it! Don’t sully my name!” Hana quickly said.
Eloise was angry and anxious, and tears started to trickle down her cheeks. “What nonsense are you talking about? It was you!”
She stomped her feet in anger. How could Hana do that to her?
“You were saying that Miss Marsh’s paintings were not good at all. You claimed that you could paint better than her. You were angry, so you tossed Miss Marsh’s paintings around and accidentally tore the edges!”
“You’re so dead, girl! How dare you! I won’t let you off so easily!”
“I didn’t falsely accuse you. That was what happened!”
Elena pulled Layla aside and looked at Nina. “Can we go now?”
Nina waved her hand. Elena pulled Layla and turned to walk away.
“Don’t you want to see what happens next?” Layla turned her head around, again and again, to check the situation.
“It’s their problem now. Why would you want to be there? Do you want them to blame you again?”
Elena rolled her eyes at Layla. That girl had been framed for so many times, and yet she still had not learned her lesson. She should, at least, try to be extra cautious. If Elena had not been there, Layla would have died a million times over.
“Now that we have a conflict with their studio, what do you think would happen to us in future competitions?”
Layla sighed. She wondered why she was always so unlucky. It was unfortunate that she was always chosen as the unlucky scapegoat.
“Nina is one of the judges in the final. It’s going to be difficult for us to win this time.”
“Let’s worry about it when we get to the final.” Elena was not bothered about that.
A ringtone notified her of an incoming phone message. She picked it up and saw Michael’s text.
[Grandmother is seriously ill, come home to me now.]