Filed to story: Mia Bowen and Timothy Barrett Novel
Maya nodded. “Okay. I’ll be right behind you after going to the restroom.”
Once Timothy was gone, the smile on Maya’s face disappeared. She gave Mia a haughty look. “This competition’s a perfect example of what you’re facing, Mia. You were only lucky to get into the finals, just like how you were lucky enough to marry Timothy.
“But if you insist on barging into a world and social circle that’s beyond you, you’ll only end up getting eliminated, just like how you’ve been eliminated tonight.”
Shelly joined in on her mockery. “This competition was organized by Maya’s family, you know. Look at how she’s been put in charge of this whole thing at such a young age! You put in so much effort for this competition to end up being eliminated. Oh, my heart just goes out to you.
“After all, to a peasant like you, a competition like this is the only way for you to stand out among the crowd. Things are completely different for wealthy people like us—we have plenty of opportunities laid out for us.”
Only then did Mia understand why she’d been eliminated. There had to be some underhanded dealings going on. But as Shelly had mentioned, the competition was organized by Maya’s family¨Cthe Lane family from Nord City.
Someone like her, who had no background, wouldn’t stand a chance against them.
Mia returned to the main hall, looking distraught. Liam came over to her. “Where did you go, Mia? I’ve been looking for you forever.”
“I was in the restroom. Let’s go, Liam.” She’d already been eliminated, so there was no point lingering. She would only be subject to mockery.
“Why should we? I think there’s something wrong with this competition, so I lodged a complaint and requested that the organizers look into the placing.”
Liam had just spoken to Dominic over the phone. They’d already rigged the competition to ensure Mia would win. Why had she ended up being eliminated? Something had to have gone wrong!
Mia didn’t expect Liam to do the thing she wanted but didn’t do. When she thought of Maya, she smiled bitterly and said, “Let’s just forget it, Liam. Nothing’s gonna work.”
As long as Maya was around, there was no way she’d win anything.
Liam looked serious. “No, I won’t forget it. Let’s wait until the results are out before leaving.”
Seeing how insistent Liam was, Mia changed her mind about leaving. She looked at the panel of judges¨Cthey were gathered together and discussing something. Timothy was in his seat and looking at someone’s designs. They looked like hers, actually.
At this moment, Maya approached them. She said something as she stood beside Timothy. They leaned close to each other and looked intimate.
Mia felt like she’d been burned. She quickly retracted her gaze.
Meanwhile, Timothy looked up and glanced in her direction. When he saw Liam standing beside her and seemingly comforting her, his gaze turned icy.
Maya noticed who he was looking at. She suddenly said, “Tim, I’m gonna announce a special prize for Mia.”
Timothy looked up. “A special prize for her?”
“Yeah. My brother called me earlier and called for a re¨Cjudging. I’m guessing it’s because of Liam, but there’s really no need for the judges to go through the judging again. It’s not like there’ll be a change in the results. That’s why I’ve decided to set up a special prize for Mia. I don’t really have a choice.”
After saying that, Maya sneaked a glance at Timothy’s expression. Deep inside, she felt angry. She didn’t understand why Dominic wanted her to do this, but she felt it had something to do with Liam. Then again, at least it would ensure Timothy wouldn’t get back together with Mia.
Timothy frowned and put the designs he held on the table. “Which ones are Mia’s designs?”
“The judging’s supposed to be done anonymously, Tim. I’m guessing that her designs were pretty bad for her to be eliminated.” Maya calmly collected the designs on the table. “Thanks for your hard work, everyone. Let’s leave things at this. I’ll announce the results later.”
She held the designs as she went to the office that had been set up backstage. After going through the designs and checking the names, she found that Mia’s designs were the ones that had scored the highest.
Maya coldly ripped the designs to shreds when she saw Mia’s name. She’d originally thought that Mia would place among the lower contestants, so it was a surprise that she’d scored the highest.
For a second, she couldn’t help feeling glad that she’d decided to have the judges judge the designs without knowing who the designer was so that she could humiliate Mia. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to pull this off!
Still, it didn’t matter. No one knew these designs belonged to Mia. Everyone would think the first¨Cplace winner had designed them.
As Maya walked out of the office, she ran into the chief coordinator for the competition. They said, “Ms. Lane, Mr. Lane has instructed me to handle the rest of the competition.”
“Sure, but I have to announce the final results.”
“No, you don’t need to do anything. I’ll handle it, so you can take a break.”
Seeing that the chief coordinator was so insistent, Maya nodded with a smile. She
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this incident?
She left the backstage feeling confused. Then, she made a beeline for the judges¡® seats. “Tim, let’s sit over there.”
Timothy stood up but couldn’t stop his gaze from traveling to Mia. Had she asked the man with her to allow her to win the competition because of what he’d said to her outside the restroom? a
This thought only exacerbated Timothy’s bad mood.
Maya stood where she was as one of the judges said, “Ms. Lane, I heard Zoe’s one of the contestants, too. Could I know which designs are hers?”
Maya’s expression shifted at that. Then, she relaxed at the thought of her flawless plan. No one would know the truth. She smiled faintly and said, “I don’t think it’s hard to guess.”
She would die before saying that the designs belonged to Mia!
“I don’t even need to guess¨Cit must be our first¨Cplace winner, Wilhelmina Jones. Her designs are the ones Mr. Barrett was holding earlier. It matches up with Zoe’s style, and it scored the highest. It has to be her.”
Timothy looked at the designs again. Indeed, the judge was right. Yet Zoe had rejected his olive branch twice. He pulled out his phone to message Heath. “Go talk to the first¨Cplace winner again.”
Since she was here in person, he could try to talk to her and poach her.
Wilhelmina was surrounded by people. Many of the representatives from different companies had given her their business cards; they were busy singing her praises now.
Mia glanced at them before retracting her gaze. She watched as Maya and Timothy came in her direction before taking their seats in the first row. Shelly quickly asked, “Why aren’t you doing the honors, Maya?”
Maya looked a little awkward. “My brother didn’t want me to push myself, so he had someone else take over for me.”
Shelly sighed. “Man, I’m so jealous that you have a brother who dotes on you so much.”
Maya smiled happily. “He really does. He’s always worrying that I push myself too hard and that others will bully me.”
After expressing her envy again, Shelly turned to look at Mia. “What are you still doing here? Don’t tell me you think you’ll have a chance at winning something. Anyone with the slightest brains would’ve already left.”
Mia didn’t respond to that. She noticed Timothy was looking at her with a hint of appraisal. She asked, “Why should I leave when the ceremony isn’t over yet?”
Shelly snorted. “I suppose that makes sense. It’s a rare occasion for you to be able to attend high¨Cend functions like this. Remember to take a few more photos so you can share them on your Instagram, or else you won’t have any chances in the future.
“You’re nothing now that you’ve left the Barrett family. Isn’t that so, Timothy?”
Timothy frowned. “No one will think you’re a mute if you keep your mouth shut, Shelly.”
Shelly wanted to say something after being humiliated, but Maya stopped her and surreptitiously shook her head. Maya had to keep Shelly in check¨Cshe truly was a fool of a teammate!
Soon, the chief coordinator of the competition walked on stage. “I apologize, but there’s been a slight error in the placing. Allow me to announce the new results- the first¨Cplace winner should be Ms. Mia Bowen.”
Mia was dumbfounded when she heard this. Why was she suddenly in first place?
This change left the crowd in whispers. Maya was also caught off guard by the chief coordinator’s sudden announcement. Hadn’t she left instructions to announce a special prize for Mia? Why was she suddenly the first¨Cplace winner?
The original first¨Cplace winner, Wilhelmina, stood up indignantly. “What gives? This isn’t fair!”
Shelly looked at Maya. “What’s going on, Maya? How can Mia possibly be in first place?”
Maya didn’t look too pleased. “I don’t know.”¡®
What the hell was wrong with the chief coordinator? Maya called the chief coordinator, but it went unanswered. As she watched the chief coordinator on stage, an ominous feeling washed over her.
The chief coordinator said calmly, “There was a mistake in the calculation of the final scores. Ms. Mia Bowen should be in first place; she shouldn’t have been eliminated.”
Wilhelmina still refused to accept this. “What makes you think your announcement is final? We want to see the actual scores for each design!”
Maya shot to her feet when she heard that. She looked at Wilhelmina and said, There’s absolutely no issue with our scoring. Something else must’ve gone wrong in the process.”
There was no way she could allow the designs to be revealed. Wouldn’t her lies be exposed?
But in the next second, the screen behind the chief coordinator lit up to show the designs and their respective scores. “Look closely at these designs, everyone. They’ve been arranged in order, and the names of the designers are clearly stated.
“Could the finalists please check and see whether the names have been correctly indicated for the designs?”
Wilhelmina said doubtfully, “No, they’re wrong. My name’s in first place, but those aren’t my designs. My designs are the ones in second place.”
The chief coordinator nodded. “And that’s where the problem arose. The judging was done anonymously, which made room for such an error to happen. We apologize for this.”
After the names were matched to the designs, Mia ended up in first place while Wilhelmina was moved to second place.
Mia didn’t expect things to turn out like this. Still, she couldn’t help feeling that the so¨Ccalled mistake had been arranged by certain people. She glanced at Maya and Shelly.
Maya gnashed her teeth angrily at her tricks being exposed. Had the chief coordinator lost their mind? How dare they disobey her instructions?
“Now, let us welcome our first¨Cplace winner, Ms. Mia Bowen, on stage to receive her prize.”
Mia slowly stood up. She could feel several gazes landing on her.
Shelly looked at Maya in disbelief. “Has there been some sort of mistake, Maya? How can Mia win first place? Wasn’t everyone saying that Wilhelmina’s actually Zoe?”
Earlier, Wilhelmina hadn’t denied that she was Zoe¨Ceveryone had taken it as her admission that she was. But now, if the first¨Cplace winner was Mia, didn’t that mean Mia was Zoe?
Shelly was on the verge of a breakdown. How could this be? Mia was a peasant from the slums who knew nothing. How could she be Zoe, the renowned designer?
Maya was close to losing control of her expression. She glanced at Timothy anxiously. As expected, he was looking at Mia.