As expected, Clarissa called Jane about terminating the contract not long after that. Even if Jane had proposed more favorable terms, Clarissa was determined to quit.
At the end of the conversation, no other words were said.
Clarissa put down the phone and sighed softly.
Meanwhile, Ellie popped a grape into her mouth after a round of video games.
“Why do you worry so much? You’re still so young. Aren’t you relieved that you’ve terminated your contract?”
“Well, It just feels wrong to leave after working there for so long. Besides, I haven’t even thought of my next workplace when Ms. White asked.”
“Why don’t you set up your own studio instead?”
“But I find it troublesome to promote and sell the copyrights myself.”
Ellie thought for a while and suggested, “You can easily find yourself a manager to take care of it while you are responsible for writing.”
Clarissa smiled but was stuffed with grapes by Ellie. “Don’t eat it yet; let me take a picture.”
She came for Ellie’s new product photoshoot today, but that girl took a candid shot of her biting a grape instead.
Clarissa leaned over to take a look. “What is this? I look horrible.”
Ellie replied, “What do you know? You look cute and kinda sexy like this. Well, I’m using it anyway.”
“Really?” After staring at the picture that Ellie sent her, she still couldn’t understand why her friend said that.
After the photoshoot session, Ellie complained, “You haven’t told me where you moved to! I couldn’t find you when I went there.”
Although Clarissa felt awkward when she recalled that matter, she had already come up with an excuse.
“Actually, I’m staying at Tyson Corporation’s apartment.”
“What?” Ellie was shocked.
Clarissa blushed. “I met Uncle Matthew when I was working at Tyson Corporation. He took care of me since you’re my friend and even let me move into the apartment. Also, I wanted to avoid my mom, so I moved there.”
“Oh, I see. Why are you shy about it? Uncle Matt is so nice to you.”
“I just felt like I’m causing him too much trouble, and it’s so embarrassing.”
“What’s the big deal? You can treat him like your family because of me, so don’t worry about it.”
The word “family” made Clarissa blush fiercely, but Ellie didn’t think much about her expression and continued taking a few more pictures of the bashful, natural beauty.
During the meal, Clarissa’s phone rang. She tried to answer it calmy in front of Ellie instead of the balcony to avoid suspicion.
On the other end, Matthew had just reached Zen Highlands after work. He tugged at his tie, unbuttoned his collar with his slender fingers, and casually asked, “Are you and Ellie done with work?”
Clarissa had told him about coming to Ellie’s place.
She responded cautiously, “Yes, I’m eating.”
When he heard her careful tone, he knew that she was afraid of Ellie finding out about him.
He sat down with his lips curled up slightly and asked naughtily, “Are you scared?”
Clarissa wanted to roll her eyes. Idiot! Isn’t it obvious enough?
However, she just lowered her head, poked at her food and whispered, “You know I am.”
His deep chuckle caused her ears to redden and her heart to flutter.
“What are you afraid of? She’ll find out sooner or later.”
“Well, not now.”
Matthew knew she didn’t want to go public with their relationship, so he didn’t push her. Besides, they just started dating, and it was still too early for that.
“All right, not now. But Clare, I haven’t eaten yet.”
When Clarissa heard this, she thought: Is he trying to act cute?
Wanting to say something, she swallowed her words when she met Ellie’s gaze, so she only responded briefly. “All right, enjoy your meal. Bye!”
She couldn’t wait to hang up the phone for fear that Matthew would say anything more.
As soon as she put down the phone, she panicked when Ellie stared at her with a million questions written on her face.
“Wh-why are you looking at me like that?”
Ellie sneered, “Who was it?”
“…A friend.”
“What friend? Male or female? Well, it must be a man since you’re acting so weird. Is it the same man who called last time at the balcony? Are you dating him? Is he your boyfriend?”
Her string of questions left Clarissa at a loss for words.
“Don’t lie to me. I won’t forgive you for hiding something like that from me!”
She helplessly nodded. “Yes, he’s my boyfriend.”
“Really! Who is it? Is it Ryler, your childhood playmate?”
She denied, “No, I’ve never even considered him.”
Ellie looked at her curiously. “Oh? Then he must be a very extraordinary man. Quick, tell me what he’s like!”
Clarissa hesitated and was at a loss for words.
“Why? Is it a shameful thing?”
“No, I just don’t know how to word it. We just started dating, and we’re not official yet, so I’m afraid I can’t let you meet him still.”
Ellie raised her eyebrows and twitched the corners of her mouth. “Well, can’t you tell me about him if I can’t meet him?”
Clarissa tried to be cautious with her words not to make Ellie overthink. “He’s older than me, very overbearing, well-off, and impressive.”
“Only these?”
Clarissa smiled awkwardly. “I really don’t know how to describe him.”
“What is his personality like? Does he treat you well? If he’s like what you said, I can help you investigate if he has a secret girlfriend or he just wants a sham marriage.”
“Um…I’m sure he is not married. However, I didn’t know his personality that well at first, but can’t I like him just because he’s handsome?”
Ellie nodded approvingly. “Of course! He has to be good-looking!”
“Well, that’s all for now. I’ll introduce him to you later, all right?”
Ellie felt that Clarissa was acting peculiar when she only smiled and went silent, so the girl frowned. “Are you hiding something from me?”
“Kind of, but I can’t tell you now. Don’t be angry with me, alright?”
“I won’t force you if you don’t want to. I just want you to be more careful so that you won’t be taken advantage of.”
Clarissa grinned. “Nah, he’s much wealthier than I am, so it should be the other way round.”
“Wow, you sounded so proud of him. He must be impressive.”
“Yeah, he is.”
Ellie was amazed by Clarissa’s happy expression.
Given her good looks, she has been pursued by countless guys since college, but I’ve never seen her this excited before—how can I not be surprised? I’m even more curious about her boyfriend now.
…
Clarissa had always believed that people were good by nature, and she had never really met evil ones all these years except the Garretts. However, she had never expected Twilight Company to betray her.
The company actually had the nerve to hand the draft of her new writings over to Elsa instead.
She didn’t know about this until one of her loyal readers told her that Elsa’s new novel was identical to hers.
She only posted a few pages of her new writings online but didn’t update them because of publishing reasons. However, she did send some of them to her most loyal readers. She even sent Jane most of her drafts and ideas.
People were unpredictable indeed. When she found out about it, Elsa’s new novel had already been highly publicized by the company, and her contents and ideas were richer than hers. If Clarissa wanted to sue for copyright infringement, she wouldn’t get anywhere without evidence.
She knew that Twilight Company intentionally did this to her, and anger couldn’t describe her emotions right now. She only felt pained as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest.
As expected, Jane denied that she had ever obtained Clarissa’s drafts.
The betrayal was the most painful part for her.
She didn’t know if she could use her online posts as evidence. Nonetheless, since the company had strongly promoted Elsa, they could make up various excuses, such as Clarissa’s work was just a point of reference. They could even make slight changes to Elsa’s novel. In an era in which plagiarism was especially difficult to define, Twilight Company had really made her suffer by being unable to do anything about it.
In addition to plagiarism, Jane even informed Clarissa to participate in the author interview held by the company as the employees’ attendance was compulsory. However, the news was released without her consent. They even announced their collaboration with Justin Yates Studio without revealing the person behind this partnership. Still, Clarissa had a feeling that it was because of her book titled Princess.
They fully exploited her and even disregarded their former relations.
From the moment she had begun her career until gaining popularity and fans, she collaborated with Twilight Company well and had never been in such a situation. She couldn’t suppress her grievances and burst into tears.
