Read My Mind, Pay the Price

However, when I looked at Sophie, she suddenly touched her ear and cried out, "Oh my, what's this? There's something round in my earring. I'm sure it wasn't there when I bought it."

The judges immediately came forward to inspect it. "It's a miniature camera!" they gasped.

The very next second, something occurred to Caleb. He stormed onto the stage and violently ripped off my glasses. Pain shot through my temple as my skin split open, and warm blood trickled down my cheek.

"Oh, now I get it! I gifted you a pair of high-tech glasses because your eyesight is bad. I never imagined you'd use them to cheat!"

Ivy leaned in and whispered, "Holy shit. Did she use that to steal your work?"

I shook my head, as I wasn't sure. "Probably not."

I hadn't worn glasses in the final round of the competition in my previous life. Yet, she still submitted a design that was identical to mine.

The audience instantly caught on and started hurling coffee and water bottles at me, leaving me drenched and disheveled. Yet, my gaze never left the man standing in the corner.

I wiped my face, picked up the microphone, and said, "Let's move on to the final round. Love. Hand-drawn."

This time, I sat on the stage and closed my eyes.

The only man I had ever loved was Caleb. When we had first gotten together, I had scraped my knee by accident. It had barely broken the skin, yet he had panicked, scooped me up, and rushed me to the hospital.

He had even threatened the doctors with those overbearing CEO lines. "If she ends up with a scar, I'll make everyone in this hospital pay!" I had laughed so hard at the time.

Later, when he had proposed to me, he had set off fireworks across the entire city and yelled into the sky, "God, you have to let Clara and me stay together for all eternity!"

Lost in those memories, I hadn't even noticed that tears were already streaming down my face. When I opened my eyes again, time was up. As I had expected, Sophie and I both turned in a blank page.

Sophie lifted the microphone and explained, "I've never been in love before. To me, love is like a mysterious door, full of endless possibilities. So, I turned in a blank sheet.

"Love doesn't have a shape or form. When you love someone, you love everything about them."

I rose to my feet with a derisive smile playing on my lips. My doubts were already answered.

I took the microphone and announced, "I admit that I plagiarized Sophie. I will withdraw from the finals and step down from my position as chief designer of Fairchild Group."

Now, it was the Gardners' turn to panic.

Caleb shot daggers at me. "Since you're giving up, our engagement is off!"

My father slapped me hard across the face. "Plagiarizing your own sister wasn't enough for you? Now, you're even giving up your engagement with the Fairchild family. Are you trying to ruin our family?"

I responded apathetically, "Oh, but I'm not just calling off my engagement to him. I'm also cutting ties with you as well."

Ivy tugged at my sleeve and fretted, "Have you lost your mind? Are you seriously going to let them get away with this?"

I smiled because I finally understood why Sophie had always known what I was thinking before I did. She hadn't used a hidden camera or any kind of AI algorithm. She definitely couldn't read minds either.