Isabelle reached for the ring and held it in her fingers, amazed at how beautiful it looked. Beautiful, and expensive. The band was platinum, with a princess cut diamond sitting prettily at the top.It looked like something that Isabelle would have chosen for herself. Simple yet stunning. That was if she could stand the price tag, of course.When she had told Jacob to get her a normal ring, she had assumed he would get a simple wedding band. Definitely not one that looked like it had cost a fortune. What if she lost it?“It’s not a real diamond,” Jacob told her, as if he could read her mind. “But it’s beautiful, isn’t it?”“It is,” she agreed, studying the stone closely. It looked real. But then again, you can’t sell fake diamond rings if you couldn’t make them look real, right? Jacob seemed to have a real knack for finding counterfeit items that could pass as real.Jacob looked on as Isabelle examined the ring, hoping she wouldn’t catch on to his lie. After all, she was a jewellery d
Grace handed her the plan she had submitted for her to go through again. Isabelle went back to her desk and reviewed everything, comparing it with the customer’s requirements.When she was done, she found that she had done everything as requested. When she had been preparing the plan before making her submission, this was something she had paid extra attention to.She had known that no matter how good her design was, it would not get chosen if it wasn’t what the client was looking for.She was also sure that the director had paid attention to that while deciding which design to go with. By her own evaluation, she couldn’t tell what part of the design was not in line with the client’s requirements, so she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to work on.After checking her draft for the umpteenth time, she gave up on trying to identify possible areas of improvement and went back to Grace’s office.“Has the client provided new guidelines?” she asked Grace, thinking that maybe that could be
Hearing Naomi’s absolute words, Grace felt helpless. If the client was against using Isabelle’s design, what else could she do?When she had first received the rejection notice, she had thought it was something to do with the design, even though no clear commentary had been made on what Green Leaf found unsatisfactory.But now, after meeting the person who was in charge, she realised the design wasn’t the problem. The designer was.The CEO excused himself, and Naomi left with him. There was clearly no space for further negotiations.It was either that the Larson Group presented a draft from a different designer, or the collaboration was off. The customer always came first, so Grace would have to go back and send them the second-best design from the submissions.“We should get back,” she told Isabelle. “Let’s talk about it at the company.”She couldn’t imagine how disappointed Isabelle was to have her design rejected for some trivial reason. She had worked so hard on it, and even thoug
Isabelle appreciated Jacob’s support, but didn’t take his words seriously. It wasn’t like there was anything he could do to teach Naomi a lesson. As long as Naomi was dating Green Leaf’s CEO, she could do whatever she wanted at the company.While Isabelle was disappointed to have lost her chance at the project, she was happy she still had a job. Keeping her job at the Larson Group was more important than taking part in a one-off project.So, she wasn’t going to do anything that could offend Naomi, and in extension Green Leaf’s CEO. Naomi had threatened to bar her from the industry, and while Isabelle was confident that her adoptive sister had no means to do that, she wasn’t sure about her CEO boyfriend. If Naomi lodged a complaint against her at the Larson Group and the company chose to side with their client…She wasn't going to risk it.Besides, after they had gotten back to the office after the unsavoury meeting with Naomi and her boyfriend, Grace had submitted a draft from another
Naomi’s smile fell a little as she replied awkwardly, “I don’t have a position at the company.”“So you are not in any official capacity to take part in this project,” Jason clarified.“My boyfriend put me in charge,” she replied haughtily.“Your relationship with the Green Leaf Company is private, and as far as I’m concerned, you have no right to determine which design is used in this project. You also have no right to come here and make malicious comments about our staff. I request you to leave the meeting immediately.”As the conference room broke out in murmurs, Naomi shot to her feet and faced Jason. “How dare you talk to me like that?” She pointed an angry finger at him. “You–you have no idea who you are talking to! I’ll ask Arnold to terminate this collaboration right away!”Jason took a step back, amused at the woman’s vehemence. She really had no idea who she was playing with, was she? She must be really dumb to think that her precious Green Leaf CEO could threaten the Larson
Arnold paled at the chairman’s question. He hadn’t expected that he would know about his girlfriend’s involvement.The only reason he had involved Naomi in the decision-making process at the company was to please her. He never would have expected that it would come back to bite him in the ass like this.He couldn’t even deny it. Not after all the attention Naomi had brought to herself and her relationship with him. If Jason Del Mundo had told the chairman about her and he dared deny it, he would land in even more trouble.“It’s true, sir,” he replied, sounding as remorseful as he could.“I’m so disappointed in you,” the chairman spat. “Is that why you rejected the draft the Larson Group submitted to you in the beginning? I checked those drafts, and they were perfect for our project. I was waiting to hear that the project was underway, only to hear that the drafts had been replaced. The first draft was far better than the second one that you approved. Do you think this company is a jok
The next day, Grace called Isabelle to her office. When the director told her that her design had been re-adopted by the Green Leaf Company, she couldn’t believe it.Yesterday, when Naomi left, she threatened that she would ask her boyfriend to cancel the collaboration with the Larson Group.Isabelle had thought that the CEO of Green Leaf would do as his girlfriend requested. She knew how much Naomi would like to have her way after the way Jason had humiliated her before the entire department.“I’m so happy to hear that,” she thanked Grace. “I didn’t think the project would be going on anymore.”“Mr Del Mundo talked to the chairman of the group of companies Green Leaf belongs to, and he handled the matter. The chairman demoted Green Leaf’s CEO for the mishandling of the project and for involving his girlfriend. So he is no longer involved in the decision making, and most importantly, neither is she.”“That’s great,” Isabelle said, surprised at how everything had been handled. From the
“What?” Jason asked, stunned by Isabelle’s question. What on earth did she mean? “What are you talking about?”When he had gotten Isabelle’s message asking to see him, he had thought she had a concern to share about work. After all, since she joined the company, trouble seemed to always be following her. This was the first time she had asked to see him, though, and he was afraid something else had happened.He never would have expected her to ask him whether he had a crush on her. What had he done to give her that idea?Her smooth brow creased as she fidgeted with her hands on her lap. “I mean…I thought…you’ve been helping me a lot since I started here, and–”“You are wrong,” he cut her off. “I do not have any kind of personal interest in you. Like I said, I’m only doing my job here. Please leave my office.”Her eyes widened. “Sir, I–”“Did you have anything else to say?”“No.”“That’ll be all, then. I have a meeting to get to, so please leave.”She nodded, still looking spooked, and