The Rebirth of a Scorned Heiress

“Congratulations on your big win!” Celina cheered as she walked into Lily’s studio to see her buried knee-deep in paper-printed orders. “Oh my, did I come at the wrong time?”

“You came at the right time; I need a distraction from all these,” Lily replied with a smile as she gestured to the papers scattered around the office.

“How was your trip to London? Did you enjoy the break?” She asked, and Celina rolled her eyes before letting out a frustrated sigh.

“For the most part, I did enjoy the trip, but it’s all work. The shoot for the magazine was so stressful since I had to film in several locations, and I just got a new assistant as my previous one got married. It’s still taking time to get used to the new face.” Celina replied.

“I watched your competition though, and I must say, I wish I met you earlier before you established your clothing line. At least I would have been able to get you to work for LAM,” she teased, and Lily chuckled.

“Well, I guess I am glad we didn’t meet earlier. I’m not sure I would have been this impressive if we did.” Lily joked.

“That would give me fun memories to tease you about, though. I mean, it would be something like, I remember those nights she could not decide which fabrics to choose for the design,” Celina teased.

“It makes me even more happy we didn’t meet earlier. No embarrassing memories for you to tease me with.” Lily said happily.

“I’m hungry; do you have something around here to eat?” Celina asked as she looked around the office space in search of anything to munch on.

“We’ve not gone shopping since we got back,” Lily replied with a shake of her head.

“The semi-finals and finals probably did a lot more marketing than we were expecting. Over fifty people booked for our fall costume set. Must I add, I don’t have anything planned for costumes.” she grumbled while arranging the orders according to their themes.

“You still have enough time anyway, and you have extra hands now. You can bring Avon in; I’m sure he’ll be happy to help with the sewing. He’s been on about it anyway, plus he’s trying to get away from his older brother, so it can be the perfect excuse,” Celina shrugged.

“I’ll consider it.” Lily nodded. “There’s a really good place around the corner; they serve the best steak sandwich. Would you like to try it?” She offered, and Celina cheered.

“You bet!” She giggled and picked up her purse. “I’ve been living solely on vegetables all through my stay in London. I can use some beef and cheese.”

As the two ate, they discussed their plans and mostly Celina’s last trip. Celina’s phone went off during their conversation, and she excused herself to answer it.

When she returned, Celina gave Lily an apologetic smile. “My cousin is joining us; is that okay?” She asked, and Lily hesitated before nodding.

“Sure, but would he be okay with the atmosphere here? I’m surprised you haven’t complained; it’s a bit too loud,” Lily asked, and Celina rolled her eyes.

“He’s cool with most food. He travels a lot for business, and there are places where he doesn’t have the luxury of being picky about food. He got used to it,” she explained. “You’ve met him twice now.”

“Really?” Lily asked, pretending not to remember who the person was. “Are you talking about the one from the restaurant?”

Celina nodded. “Yes, he’s quite charming, isn’t he?” She gave Lily a knowing look. “I noticed you two seemed to hit it off when we had lunch last time. Your eyes lingered on him on several occasions,” she teased knowingly.

Lily blushed slightly. “He’s a nice guy, but I’m not sure it would work out. He’s in a completely different world. I mean literally.”

Before Celina could respond, Mark joined their table, having overheard their conversation.

“Stop trying to set me up with your friends,” he said with a smile. “No offence, Lily; you are indeed beautiful. I just don’t want Celina to bore you with the matchmaking process.”

Lily nodded. “It’s not a problem. I probably would do something like that if I had a cousin to be proud of like you.”

Mark gave a small laugh as he took the seat opposite them.

“I hope you don’t mind me joining you guys tonight; I need Celina to help me run some things later,” he explained with an apologetic smile, and Lily waved it off.

“It’s okay. I get to see the handsome face close up one more time; I can ascend with no regrets,” she joked while casually carrying on the conversation.

“Congratulations on your win. You did pretty well,” he voiced after placing his order.From NôvelDrama.Org.

Lily felt her heart flutter as her eyes met his; she hurriedly looked away while trying to hide the blush on her face.

“Haha, thank you,” she replied awkwardly, making sure not to meet his eyes one more time.

“I was just lucky because I was a bit emotional during the event. You know the ex-best friend scandal and all. It was like the perfect trigger for inspiration,” she explained.

“Emotions are important for creativity. Your work is usually positively or negatively impacted by your emotions. And I’m glad it’s a good kind of trigger,” Mark replied with a nod.

The corner of his lips curled into an amused smile, and he found it cute that she was actively trying to avoid meeting his eyes.

For him, situations where he would be stared at by people are more common than he would like, but that’s what he gets for being a young, handsome and successful man.

As his eyes lingered on her, he could feel a sense of familiarity with the way she held her glass of wine.

“Are you alright?” Celina asked with a teasing smile.

“You kind of look funny with your mouth half hanging open while staring at her,” she teased in a whisper, earning her a glare from Lily.

As he was about to reply, he got a call, and Celina excused herself from the table.

The longer he listened to the other person on the phone, the darker his face became.

“How did they break through the firewall? Did someone let them in from the inside?” He gritted out and paused while listening to the other person’s explanation.

“Check all the activities. It’s almost time for the device to launch, and we can’t afford any mishaps at this moment. I’ll talk to them about it and see if some changes could be made in a short time,” he replied.

“Find the person behind the leak, bank account records, a phone call, anything that might look suspicious,” he instructed.

Lily, who had overheard the whole conversation between the two, frowned and subconsciously began to doodle with her finger.

“There’s a virus that’s triggered when some kinds of mistakes are made while retyping the code. They are common mistakes, so I set traps among those mistakes.”

“As long as they make the mistakes the codes are still safe unless they studied the full guidebook I sent along with them.”

“What?” Mark asked. It was after she saw the surprised look on Mark’s face that she realised she had just outed herself as Sinful.