The waiter served the dishes on the table, and left with the tray. The two women sat in the private room.Olivia served Lena some food and said with feigned casualness, “Did you hear? Melanie wants to hold a perfume exhibition in Willowfort.”“Is that so?”Lena’s hair stood on end at the mention of Melanie.Seeing the pure hatred in Lena’s eyes, Olivia feel reassured. She said with deliberate melancholy, “Yes, she is. She embarrassed my father’s company and claimed his credit, and came up with a perfume with the same name. Now, she even wants to hold a perfume exhibition. She really doesn’t know when to stop! She’s bent on making my dad’s life a living hell…”Olivia was on the verge of tears as she spoke, which made Lena frown. She reached out to hold Olivia’s hand, and said, “Melanie’s evil. She’s been that way since she was young. I know that best.”The thought of how Melanie plotted against them and humiliated them during that dinner with all the bigwigs of the industry made
Melanie felt uneasy. That night, she called her mother.Eliza was pretty close to Damon’s wife, Cynthia, and she knew some people in Damon’s company quite well. After updating her mother about the situation, Melanie requested Eliza’s help to secretly find out about Lena and her family’s situation in Willowfort.The next morning, Melanie received news from her mother just moments after she woke up. Her mother found out that Lena pleased Damon very much. His soft-hearted nature made him pity her plight right now. He allowed her to work in his company, going so far as to assign her the position of a department head.She also heard that Lena would be working at the office today. Melanie had a feeling that her meeting with Damon today would be fraught with challenges.Melanie prepared her materials, and hailed a taxi to Thousand Acre Exhibitions’ office building. On her way there, she gave Damon a call. “Damon, are you at your office right now? I’m coming over. I want to discuss an ex
“Fine.”Melanie kept her laptop, and stood up. Since Lena insisted on behaving this way, there was no point for her to continue with this.Before she left, she said coldly, “I’ll say this one last time. Even if you don’t believe the popularity of the perfumes I concocted, you should at least trust Morgan Group, right? Morgan Group is a full sponsor for this exhibition. If Damon’s company can be in charge of the exhibition, they’ll be able to add Morgan Group as one of its partners in its future promotional and marketing materials. That would make Thousand Acre Exhibitions’ value self-evident, wouldn’t it?”“Nothing and no one can persuade me!” Lena snarled.Lena had long heard about this from Olivia, but she was bent on rejecting Melanie. Even Morgan Group was not enough to entice her!“In that case, I have nothing more to say.”Melanie smiled as she grabbed her bag. She walked past Lena and out the door.The sight of Melanie leaving defeated made Lena gleeful. She immediately p
“Damon, you have to think this through!”Lena refused to give up, and even went over to hold Damon’s arm pleadingly.He shook her off irritably. “I should think things through, indeed. I was hesitant about that project your father proposed for me to jointly invest in. I’ve thought it through now. Tell him on my behalf that I definitely won’t throw my hard-earned money down the drain like that!”“Damon…”Lena continued putting up an act amidst her fear, tears streaming down her face. “Damon, Melanie has Jones Enterprise backing her up! My father and I have no one else to turn to. She might sound more believable than I do, but you can’t just trust her entirely and not trust me at all…”“Tsk, tsk.”Damon looked at Lena in disbelief, finally seeing for himself the extent of Lena’s pretense. “The Jones family has such a talented actress in its midst! If I hadn’t heard for myself your conversation in the meeting room, I would have been completely fooled by your acting chops! Pack
Melanie and the two policemen exchanged glances before smiling helplessly.This lady wasn’t only blind, but also mentally disoriented. No wonder she got lost.Melanie handed her identity card to the policemen, who checked and verified her identity before allowing her to leave the police station. Before she left, the blind lady clung onto Melanie’s arm, refusing to let go. The tears brimming in her eyes were genuine. Melanie almost couldn’t bear to leave. “Madam,” Melanie tried to comfort her, “I need to leave right now. I’ll leave my phone number with you, and you can contact me anytime.”“Give me your number, I’ll memorize it,” the lady said, finally calming down.Melanie recited her phone number to the old lady, who committed it to memory before finally allowing Melanie to go.After the interlude, Melanie focused all her attention on the perfume exhibition.Mr. Smith was actively involved as well. They worked with employees of Morgan Group and Thousand Acre Exhibitions to d
“Is that so?”His words caused an uproar in the exhibition hall. “I took a whiff of that ‘Siberian Butterflies’ just now, and it did smell very good. In fact, it was unexpectedly fragrant. Did she really add something that she wasn’t supposed to?”The reporters waited in anticipation as they zoomed in to Melanie’s face, not sparing any subtle changes in her expression.Melanie remained composed as she retorted, “I must ask. President White, how do you know the ingredients of my perfume?”“You mentioned it in your industry association report!” John insisted.“But I didn’t mention tonka beans in my report. How can you be so sure that I hid the addition of a particular ingredient from the public, and that it was specifically tonka beans?” Melanie asked.Everyone else could sense the absurdity of the situation, and all looked toward John for his answer.Melanie continued asking calmly, “President White and I are in the same industry. I probably won’t tell you something that’s cons
The policemen left with the two perfume bottles and the verification certificates. Some reporters continued aiming their cameras at Melanie, while some others surrounded John and bombarded him with direct and incisive questions.Melanie said, “The focus of today’s event is the perfume launched by Jones Enterprise. I trust everyone is here for it. Now that we’re over and done with that little interlude, let’s turn our focus back on the exhibition itself.”She extricated herself from the circle of reporters, not forgetting to say to John before leaving, “President White, if you want to increase your own public exposure, please pick another event to do so. I give you five minutes. If you don’t leave, I’ll have security send you out.”John turned red with embarrassment. Why would he not want to leave?He didn’t want to stay either, but the reporters were all surrounding him. If he fled with his tail between his legs, his reputation would go down the drain for sure.Melanie headed back
When the skies turned dark in the evening, Melanie looked around the exhibition and noticed that the number of guests who were here purely to visit the exhibition had dwindled. Only partners of Jones Enterprise or Morgan Group were left. She instructed her assistant to continue extending hospitality to them, while she headed backstage to look for Jeffrey.“President Morgan?” She pushed the door of the lounge open, and asked, “It’s about time. Shall we take a group photo?”“Don’t find me a nuisance now?”Jeffrey looked up, a tinge of pride mixed with displeasure in the depths of his eyes.Melanie gave him a toothy smile as she squeezed through the door opening. “Well, well. Is President Morgan angry?”Jeffrey immediately stood up, and straightened the hem of his shirt. “I wouldn’t dare. I’m completely at your beck and call.”Melanie burst out laughing, unable to hold in her amusement. “Are you sure? Come on, then. I’ll escort you there, President Morgan. This way, please…”The