The Rebirth of a Scorned Heiress

“Hi, I am Bethel,” the designer from Team Six introduced as he walked up to Lily.

“Hello, I’m Lily. It’s nice to meet you Bethel” she greeted politely.

“Nice to meet you too! I couldn’t help coming to say hi. You look familiar and then, you are a good designer who has gotten a judge’s recognition on the first day” he voiced with a subtle accusation behind his tone.

Lily frowned as she noticed the hostility and ridicule in his voice and decided to play along, her smile got brighter. “You are probably referring to the online scandal a few days back? Yeah, that scandal shot my population out of the roof, I mean with that I don’t need much publicity for the next few months,” she replied with a chuckle, making Bethel who had come to make her feel self-conscious, awkward.

“I’m surprised Lam allowed you to represent them with that scandal record, people who associated with Lam have always been with a clean record, that’s why it has been able to maintain its fame and reputation for so many years, having you there now might affect their image” he pushed forward, trying to make her nice girl facade disappear. His eyes held ridicule as he looked her over.

Among all the people representing the companies, she was the only one who was cheaply dressed, making them think she was someone with no substance. None of them had taken her seriously, not about seeing her as a competitor but they were all slapped in the face after today’s segment.

She does not only have substance, she has enough to get Fred’s recognition on the first day!

“Oh! You must have been too busy to read the rest of the gossip” Lily bit back. “I know we get busy, especially with the tension of the ongoing event. But you could have at least made someone in the know tell you about it. My name was cleared and the other protagonist apologized to me. So, I’m as clean as the rest of the Lam representatives” she explained with a sharp but polite smile.

Seeing it was going nowhere with his attempt, he turned to live, “Don’t get too cocky, it’s only the first day, you might have gotten lucky the first time but it doesn’t work all the time. Watch your back” he warned and walked away.

Lily smiled and continued on her way without minding the weird look she was getting. As she exited the studio, she saw her teammates waiting with anticipated looks in their eyes.

They ran up to her and pulled her away from the door to ask about the outcome of the segment. “How was it?” Celina asked impatiently.

“I thought it was a live broadcast?” Lily replied with a raised brow and they shook their heads.

“It was supposed to be a live broadcast but something went wrong with the technical team and they decided to record the first stage” Ian explained.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

“Oh, okay then” Lily replied, purposely brushing off the main topic to put them on edge.

“So how was it? Stop creating suspense! Damnit!” Avon cursed and Lily chuckled.

“Why don’t you wait and watch it?” She asked and got a glare from her teammates.

“You expect me to wait till Saturday night when it will be broadcasted?” Avon asked with narrowed eyes. “Who will sew the clothes!”

“Okay, fine we passed and we can move on!” She announced and they cheered.

“Yes! How many marks? I heard three teams were disqualified during this round, were the judges that strict?”

“No, they didn’t get the hint properly so they had the wrong design. We got a perfect score for this segment” she explained and the team cheered once again.

“You’ve set a goddamn high bar!” As they were celebrating, Evie walked around them with her team.

“So what if the judges like your design? The audience will still be the judge at the end” she snickered, her voice filled with arrogance and contempt.

Celina and Avon’s face contoured into a frown and they immediately got on her. “You are only jealous your team is lacking. Do you think the audience won’t like what the judges like? In your dreams! I can already see the money coming in for our team!” Celina countered.

“Don’t get too cocky, it’s just the first stage. We don’t know what might happen overnight” Evie retorted and walked away, leaving both Avon and Celina annoyed and ready to vent.

“You don’t have to pay attention to her” Lily chipped in and Avon let out a huff.

“You don’t get it, that girl is always trying to prove she’s better than everyone!” He argued.

“Then you ignore her. You paying attention to her or her words is bringing yourself to her level, and even till now, I don’t see a reason why you guys dislike her too much” Lily reasoned and Celina sighed.

“I’m not trying to force down my bad blood with her on you or anything of the sort, but you’ve both been on the end of her pretentious attitude and we have a reason to react to her that way. But you are right, paying attention to her would only mean we are bringing ourselves down to her level!” She agreed.

“So now that we have passed the first stage, we need to prepare for the runway on Sunday” Light spoke up, bringing their attention back to the main topic.

“We need to find our guide and they will lead us to the fabric store provided by the show, before then let’s get lunch!” Avon suggested.

As the group walked into the cafeteria in their lodge, Lily heard her name being called from behind. “Lily? What are you doing here?” Mrs Smith asked with a curious look in her eyes, while Merissa stood with a scowl on her face.

“How are you here? How did you get here?” Merissa echoed as Lily turned back to look at them.

“I got here the same way you did, how else do you think I got here?” Lily asked with a sarcastic tone making the mother and daughter’s faces contour in anger.

“You!” Merrisa snapped but quickly reigned in her words as she noticed the rest of Team Four standing behind Lily. Mrs Smith schooled her expression and put on a smile.

“Oh sorry, my words must have come out wrongly, I was merely surprised to see here. What are you doing in Paris? And are these people your friends?” She asked with a familiar and friendly tone.

Lily rolled her eyes at their display. “I’m here for the fashion show and I’m guessing that’s why you are here too. And please stop acting familiar with me, I hate for another scandal to happen and for people to think your family sponsored me to Paris!” She declared.

“Oh! I thought you looked familiar! You are the other person from the gossip post!” Avon exclaimed as his face lit up in realisation.

Hearing his words, Merissa flushed in embarrassment and her eyes darted towards Light, who had caught her attention since she saw the group. She looked his way and quickly tried to defend herself.

“The gossip was just a ruse! It was not done by me and I already clarified that!” She argued and Avon snickered.

“Yeah! Right, we know your type. Anyways, since you want to know, Lily is here as a representative of Lam Fashion. Beat that if you can!”