Chapter 43

Mia lowered her eyes to conceal her true emotions at Shelly’s words. She’d already

signed the divorce papers; who Timothy wanted to cheer on and be with was none

of her business.

Later, no matter what else Shelly said, Mia ignored her. Soon, Maya walked on stage

to announce the commencement of the ceremony. “As we all know, there have been

some changes to the rules for this year’s competition.

“There will only be ten winners, which means one of the 11 finalists will leave with

nothing. For the sake of fairness, the designers‘ names will be concealed when the

judging is conducted. The announcement of the winners will also be different–we’ll

start from the tenth place.”

Mia looked at the panel of judges. Timothy was among them. Obviously, he was one

of the judges.

If she were being completely honest, she was quite nervous. At this moment, she

received a WhatsApp message from Liam. “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine.”

”

Half an hour later, the judging ended. On stage, Maya announced the results. “In

tenth place, we have … In ninth place…”

Soon, they were down to the top three. Mia frowned. There were four finalists left.

The one who wasn’t among the top three would be the one eliminated.

Shelly turned to glance at her. “Don’t tell me you’re dreaming about being in the top

three, Mia. The competition’s tough this year, and that Zoe is also one of the

competitors. You shouldn’t even think about placing with your lousy skills.”

Mia faltered. She was Zoe, though. Should she thank Shelly for her compliment?

Maya soon announced the third and second place. Mia wasn’t among them. She

noticed Timothy glancing at her, but he’d already turned away when she turned to

look.

Mia looked down and waited for Maya to announce the winner. Maya saw Timothy and Mia’s

interaction. Her eyes darkened slightly at the sight before she smiled and

said, “And in first place is Wilhelmina Jones.”

Two seats away from Mia, a young lady shot to her feet and ran on stage excitedly to accept her

award. Mia sat in her seat, clenching her fists awkwardly. For a split second, she’d thought she was in

first place.

But after Maya announced the winner, Mia felt like she’d been slapped. She couldn’t even breathe

normally. She thought she could at least place in the competition, but she ended up getting eliminated.

Shelly snorted. “Did you see that, Mia? I told you you should’ve given up hope long ago, yet you

refused to believe me. People like you aren’t worthy of winning first place, so stop dreaming. Go back

to the slums that you came from or go screw bolts in a plant or something.”

Mia stood up to head to the restroom. She washed her face to calm herself down. At that moment, her

phone rang. It was a call from Liam.

Mia glanced at it but didn’t answer. She didn’t want anyone to comfort her right now. She just wanted

some peace and quiet.

After washing her face, Mia exited the restroom. She saw someone leaning against the wall–he was

unbelievably handsome.

She didn’t expect to run into Timothy here. Mia lowered her head and turned to leave, but he grabbed

her wrist as she walked past him. “Is this the result you wanted?”

Mia looked up. “I don’t understand what you mean.‘

Timothy said, “I mean that your new backer doesn’t seem to be capable of much. He couldn’t even help

you win a competition.”

“Let go of me. I don’t want to talk to you.” Mia was in a bad mood. She didn’t want to explain who Liam

was.

Timothy didn’t release her. “What? Angry already? It’s not too late for you to come to your senses. If

you wanna find another wealthy backer, I could introduce a few people to you.”