Chapter 70

70 70. The Traitor

It was supposed to be the most romantic way to get a woman’s heart. But Samuel messed it up by mentioning something that he should not do. He had no idea, of course. He thought that it was okay to call her Paula Anderson out of office.

“Anderson? Is the last name of Robert,” the man in front of Paula said, piercing his eyes at her. “I heard that he has a daughter. So, is that you?”

“Ken-”

“So, you are not Eva Morgan?”

Paula gulped. She didn’t know how to answer Ken’s question. She was caught red-handed, deceiving a lot of people in the company.

“Ken, can we talk outside?” Paula asked. A flash of regret crossed her face, it was so vivid, Ken could see it.

However, Ken was not alone as well. Paula checked his table and found someone was with him. Someone that he should avoid meeting at all costs.

Ken came with Akane! When Paula realized it, her guilt disappeared suddenly, turning into anger. She threw a dangerous glare at Ken.

“What are you doing with her?” Paula questioned him in a serious tone. “So, is that you?”

.....

“No-”

“Are you the traitor?” Paula fixed her stare at him. “How dare you!”

“Eva, I mean, Paula! You misunderstood me! I am not that low!” Ken tried to explain. The situation turned upside down. It was Ken who desperately tried to explain to Paula.

However, Paula could not accept his reasoning. She needed to make a quick decision for the sake of the company.

“I am sorry, Ken! You are correct. I am the owner’s daughter. I came to the Tokyo branch because I have to investigate information leakage. And because, today, I caught you having dinner with Akane, you don’t have to come to the office tomorrow,” Paula concluded, she glared at helpless Ken firmly. She sighed bitterly and continued, “I am so disappointed in you. You are so bright and passionate. I even plan to give you a promotion if the problem is solved. However-”

Paula couldn’t continue her sentence. She glared at Akane who walked closer in her direction, smiling cunningly. Her hand stroked Ken’s shoulder, trying to soothe his anger.

“As I said, baby, it was no use to work with them. Now, you can see their true face,” Akane said, facing Paula with her grudge.

Paula turned her gaze at Akane, sneering in disgust. “It’s rich coming from you! You better call yourself a thief rather than an entrepreneur!”

Seeing such a scene, Samuel came down the stage to check what happened. “Is there a problem?” He asked in confusion.

Paula turned at Samuel and smiled cynically. “The problem is you, Sam! Never show your face before me ever again!”

Paula took her handbag and walked out of the restaurant. Samuel turned to Akane and Ken, then turned to chase Paula.

Paula exited the building and walked quickly to the highway to find a taxi. She waved to an unoccupied passing taxi.

“Paula! Wait!” Samuel called, panting after her. He didn’t expect Paula to be able to walk so fast despite her pregnancy.

“What again?” Paula asked, feeling annoyed. The taxi driver had pressed the button to open the door automatically. Paula was about to get into the taxi.

“I don’t know what your problem is. Why are you angry? Who were those people?” Samuel asked, demanding an immediate explanation.

“Sam! I already told you that I’m not Paula here. But you started repeating that a few hours after I told you not to.” Paula quickly got into the taxi without looking back. However, Samuel got in the taxi as well and asked for more explanation.

“Paula, I’m sorry! What can I do to atone for my mistake?” Samuel begged, regretfully.

“Go, Sam!” Paula snapped, irritably. “Stop pestering me again!”

“Paula, please!”

“Sam, please! Get out!”

With a deep feeling of regret, Samuel finally got out of the taxi and let Paula go home alone. The romantic thing he planned failed miserably. It even turned into a terrible disaster for Paula.

***

The next day, Paula left for the office not too excited. Even though the traitor had been found and he had been kicked out of the office, the uncomfortable feeling in her heart could not go away.

As usual, that morning Paula went to Miyuki to tell her what she experienced yesterday. Embarrassing and ridiculous. However, she had to tell Miyuki as it was.

Fortunately, Miyuki understood her condition. The girl just chuckled and commented on Paula that it’s really hard to be beautiful.

“To be more precise, it’s really hard when you meet a stupid man who can’t use his brain when it comes to love,” Paula retorted in annoyance. “This is the first time I’ve met a man as crazy as him. Even my husband isn’t that stupid.”

Miyuki listened to Paula’s tirade in amazement. She then remembered that the name on Paula’s document was Montgomery, not Anderson. He then glanced at Paula’s fingers and found that she was indeed wearing a ring.

“This is the first time you’ve said anything about your husband,” Miyuki said with a smile.

Paula took a sip of her coffee and said, “Yeah, we’re getting a divorce. So there’s no point in saying anything about him.”

Miyuki smiled and nodded. Then she encouraged Paula to hang in there.

They separated and went into their rooms. Before long, Freya appeared with a face full of surprise.

“I must say this to you with great regret. Ken had sent a letter of resignation without two weeks’ notice to Kato. Turns out, the traitor was him.”

Everyone was stunned by Freya’s words. They couldn’t believe that the villain who leaked the design was Ken himself.

“I can’t believe it. He was the saddest one when Akane launched her winter design.”

“Right, he drank until he was so bad.”

“Did he do it?”

Misa and Himawari whispered near Paula. However, Paula did not pay attention to the chat. Miyuki’s investigation also pointed to Ken.

“Never mind! We have an even bigger problem. We’re understaffed because Ken, the main idea popper isn’t here. So what do you think?” Freya asked everyone.

“I guess we haven’t discussed everything with Kato yet,” Paula said. “If it’s true that Ken was the one who leaked the secret, how about the current design?”

“That is true. That means we have to re-plan it, right?” asked Misa. “Damn! I am tired of all this.”

“Yes. I’m too lazy to redesign. How about we just use Freya’s design yesterday?” Himawari asked with a sullen face.

Paula felt the negativity had spread. “This is a matter of product success in the market. We can’t be careless.”

“Okay, then, let’s just make each a new design and we’ll put it together again. What do you think?” Freya suggested.

“Right. We will discuss it first and then we will give the plan that we have agreed upon to Kato. It will lighten everyone’s burden,” Paula supported Freya’s proposal.

Finally, Freya closed the discussion. Everyone immediately carried out Freya’s instructions. Meanwhile, Paula, who had no ideas, of course immediately contacted the real Eva Morgan. She asked Eva to provide her with some ideas which she would give during the discussion later.

“Hmm, I saw it somewhere,” Freya said, narrowing her eyes as Paula presented her design.

Paul laughed. If Freya had ever been in contact with Eva’s designs or exhibitions, she must have memorized the characteristics of Eva’s designs, which tend to be classic.

“Maybe you saw it when I entered the competition,” Paula said, chuckling. She wanted to end the disguise because she couldn’t stand lying anymore. However, she still couldn’t because she had to confirm a few things.

Misa and Himawari also presented some suggestions. Unlike before, they didn’t feel enthusiastic about doing their job because of Ken. They thought that only Ken and Freya would always compete about their creativity. This time, Misa suggested the touch of snowflakes in each metal. Meanwhile, Himawari proposed a unique Black Winter.

Freya was pleased with the team’s enthusiasm. She then agreed on the Black Winter theme which presented the use of black pearl which would be combined with a snowflake motif in metal.

As for Paula, now she was dizzy with everything that had been prepared beforehand. There was no way she could tell her father that the company was losing money because of the traitors that she couldn’t handle.

Office hours are up. Paula then packed her things and immediately left the room. However, just as she was about to leave the office, the front desk girl called her and handed her a bouquet of red roses.

Of course, Paula was surprised. Who would have thought she would receive a bouquet in Eva Morgan’s name? She thanked the front desk girl and looked at the flowers.

“Who brought it here?” Paula asked, frowning.

“The delivery boy,” the front desk girl answered in a friendly manner.

Paula’s brows furrowed. “Is it Samuel?”