CHAPTER 6

CRYSTAL

Jack's eyes widened and he quickly checked on me. “Are you okay?” he asked,concern etched on his face.

I nodded. “Yea, I'm fine. Just startled a little.” I said, rubbing my neck.

Jack was about to get out of the car when the driver approached us. “Jaden?” Jack said,after we saw who the driver was.

“I apologize for the crash.” He said. “I have been unable to reach Drake and somehow got to locate him but before I could pick him up he was drunk driving and the next thing that happened was this.”Jaden said with concern etched in his voice.

‘Mr Zenor?What's he doing here?’ I said, internally.

“It's okay. I hope he is fine.” Jack said, forgetting the dent on his own car and was concerned about Drake.

Shoving his hands in his pocket. “ He would be fine. I apologize again. Send the bills for repair,I will cover it.”Jaden said.

“No, it's okay. Just take care of him.” Jack said,then got back into the car. Mr Zenor also went back to his car. I guess he didn't know I was in the car.

The ride home was quiet and filled with Jack's constant question if I was alright, which I gave a positive response to. As we rode, internally,I was grateful for the interruption,I wasn't ready for whatever was happening between us and I was happy to have the moment ruined. I see Jack as just a friend and nothing more.

“About what I said few minutes ago –”Jack said but I interjected immediately, not wanting to hear the rest.

“It's okay, Jack. I will pretend not to have heard what you said earlier.” I said as the vehicle came to a stop in front of the hotel.

“Good night.” I said then stepped out of the vehicle.

“Good night.” Jack replied,his expression neutral as he drove into the distance.

*****

I woke up to the soft glow of morning light peeking through my curtains,the warmth gently illuminating my face. The silent peaceful morning was short lived by my phone ringtone. I groggily reached for my phone,my voice hoarse from sleep.

“Hello.”I said, gravelly.

Her urgent voice snapped me awake. “Have you seen the news?” she asked.

“You woke me up from sleep. What's going on?” I said, yawning.

“You are being accused of plagiarism and it's all over the net. The painting you won the Aether Award for…someone is claiming it's theirs.”she said.

My mind foggy,I struggled to process the news. “What? That's impossible.I know my work. I guess there is some sort of mistake somewhere.” I replied, trying to stay composed but my calm demeanor was failing as anxiety set in.

Ella's words were laced with concern. “Crystal,this is a very serious issue. I have been getting calls, people wanting to know if this was true. We need to figure out how to handle this. Meet me at the lounge. Now.”

I shoved the duvet off my body and stood up from the bed. I quickly got dressed and went to meet Ella at the lounge. I was quick to locate her from where I stood because the place was not crowded in the early hours of the day.

I pulled out the chair opposite Ella and sat. “What's really going on? How did this happen? You know me,Ella. I would never do such a thing.” I said, getting overwhelmed with worry.

“ I know you didn't do it but this is getting lots of attention online and negative comments are dropping each second and of course,some of your fans are supporting you so I advise you to stay away from the media till we get this solved.” Ella said.

I removed my shaky hands from the table,trying to calm myself down. My mind swirled with thoughts of the plagiarism accusation and how it could affect my reputation. The warmth of my palm on my lap was a small comfort,but it didn't ease the knot building up in my stomach

Ella's brow furrowed in concern.“I hate to inform you of this but the planners of the Aether Award have decided to remove you from being the best artist of the year. I know this is a huge setback and I want you to brace yourself so that we can focus on clearing your name.”

I exhaled slowly. “Thank you,Ella. So what do we do about this?”

“I already contacted a good lawyer and he had started working on it. The investigation entails some verification process that will determine if it was plagiarized.”she replied.

“Okay. Thank you dear.” I said.

“It would be under control. I need to be on my way now so that I can follow the lawyer up.” Ella said, grabbing her bag and standing up to leave.

“Yea.” I said,my voice barely a whisper.

Ella turned slightly to look at me. “ One more thing,stay away from the media, please. I need you to be sane during this period and assure you that everything will be okay.” She said,her hands covering my unsteady palms on the table. Ella

Series of thoughts evaded my mind as I walked back to my room. ‘ Did I by mistake copy someone else's art details when I needed inspiration to paint. What have I done to myself?”

I was so lost in thought that I almost slammed into a person in the hallway,I apologized and kept walking without listening to the person's response. I dropped on my bed like a pack of wood, thinking about my predicament and I took out my phone, clicking on the media icon. I know Ella warned me of this but I just can't help it.

I scrolled through the posts and saw a series of posts about plagiarization. I clicked on a particular one with the headline: Scotland artist won the best Artist of the year with a plagiarized painting.

My hands hovered on the comment section as I remembered Ella's warning not to check what was going on online but my curiosity piqued. ‘What are people saying about me now?’

I clicked on the comment section and began to scroll through ;

“This is ridiculous! She's clearly stolen someone's else's work.”

“Is the audacity she has in winning the Aether Award with a plagiarized work for me?”

“This could be a misunderstanding, let's wait for more information.”

“If she is not even original,why should we care about her art?”

“This is a slap in the face to all the hardworking artists out there.”

My eyes widened in shock as I kept scrolling. “This is ridiculous,I would never plagiarize someone else's work.” I said,my voice trembled. I felt the need to respond to the comments but couldn't because deep down I know the problem won't get solved that way.

My hands trembled as I continued to scroll through the comments,my heart racing with anxiety,my breath catching in my throat as I wondered how this played out.

As I stood frozen in anxiety,a loud crash echoed from the bathroom making my body sending my anxiety flaring into overdrive. My heart racing like a jackrabbit as I strained to process what happened.