Cherry's face had not changed much. She had the plastic surgery performed under the name "Cherry,"
and not "Kristine."
Initially, she was anxious to use the name "Cherry." But Kim told her that after her transformation, any
medical history relating to plastic surgery would be cleared.
At that time, she really had no other option but to put her faith in him, trusting his advices. Over the
years, the resemblance between her and Cherry drew much attention from people, who started to
become suspicious. They tried to find evidence that she was Cherry, but they could find nothing.
As time passed, she started to slowly become convinced that it would be impossible for them to find
any evidence.
Yet now, it seemed that something had been found.
"Miss Kristine, oh no, let me correct myself, Miss Cherry. Shouldn't you be incarcerated for the crime of
murder? Why are you here? And why have you called yourself 'Kristine'?"
Hearing this particular question, the buzzing crowd stopped their chatter immediately.
The reporters had the intention to purely questioning her on her relationship with Alan and Luke. They
did not anticipate such a bombshell being dropped at this occasion.
In an instant, all color drained from Cherry's face. She turned and faced the person who had uttered
this weighty question. It was a plain, bland-looking paparazzo.
What on earth was happening? How was it even possible that this secret was somehow discovered?
"Miss. Cherry, if you didn't want other people to find out, you shouldn't have done it in the first place.
However, you went ahead with it and, well, people talk. Here - this is evidence of your plastic surgery
and that you are in fact Cherry." The man smirked and stared at her, silently awaiting her response.
Cherry looked down at the documents he had brought with him as proof of this claim. She looked at her
signature on the plastic surgery consent forms, and then the pictures of her when she was released
from the prison.
All at once, her legs turned to jelly and she could no longer support her own body. She almost fell to the
ground.
How did this happen? How?!
What went wrong with the plan? How did they manage to source this information?
"Bullshit! You are making such fallacious claims! When I first started my career, you thought I was
Cherry, and conducted in-depth research, isn't it? And what did you find, huh? I have nothing to do with
Cherry. I share a surname with this Cherry person, it is Ye as well, but that is it! I am Kristine, not
Cherry. I don't know what you're trying to do by saying this. You can't frame me!" Cherry shouted at the
crowd and reached out to snatch the evidence out of the paparazzo's hand.
But he was too quick for her! He turned quickly, avoiding her grasp. Cherry fell to the ground. Her
sunglasses slid off her face and her hair was disheveled. She was still wearing a mask but one could
clearly make her out - and she was a hot mess.
"Listen, if you don't believe me, come over here and have a look at the documentation I have. Then, we
can all question Miss Cherry regarding the veracity of her denial a moment ago," the paparazzo
addressed the crowd and handed the forms and pictures to the others to see for themselves.
The paparazzi's eyes widened as they read the documents.
They had never thought that Kristine was Cherry in actuality.
What a bombshell...
"Miss Cherry, how did you get released from prison? And how did you become Kristine?" "Will you
share your story?"
"Miss Cherry, what tactics did you employ to keep up this facade?"
"Miss. Cherry, don't you feel an iota of guilt for deceiving your fans, and the general public, so
blatantly?"
It was sensational news that Kristine was actually Cherry. The news would cause not just waves, but a
tsunami, in the entertainment world. Now, all that was left for the reporters was to get a comment from
Cherry.
The assistant, who had been following behind Cherry, watched the scene play out in utter disbelief.
She had never even entertained a thought that Cherry might be Kristine so she was also in a state of
complete shock.
It was clear that Cherry had been dealt a knock-out blow and would not be able to pull herself up again.
The assistant took a step back, sighing in defeat. She called Cherry's agent.
Cherry had been all the rage in the entertainment world since her debut. She was marked as the
female actress with the most potential, and had already won the Best Actress award. Her future was as
bright as shooting star. Yet now, it seemed her flame had been extinguished. She would be nothing in
the industry after this scandal broke.
Engulfed by the crowd, Cherry sat on the ground in foetal position, covering her head with her arms.
She didn't dare to raise a head and let them see her expression. She kept quiet, regardless of the
comments and questions that she was being bombarded with.
Her tears fell heavily and endlessly on the ground before her. Distressed, she thought, "Oh, my God! I
am really done for this time!
Now that my true identity has been disclosed, who knows what fate awaits me? Will I be arrested and
put back in that hell hole? Must I spend the rest of my days in that torturous place?
No! I refuse - I refuse. But who can save me now? Who?'
Just at this moment, Anne stepped out of the court house. The sun was beating down and blinded her.
Suddenly, a strong, manly hand shaded her face from above.
In the warm sun, she had titled her face upward and the corners of her mouth were slightly upturned.
One could really appreciate her true beauty in this lighting. Her fair, porcelain skin seemed to sparkle.
She was as beautiful as a goddess.
She didn't need to look to see to whom the hand belonged to.
"Kevin, no matter what, losing this case is simply not an option. I will not allow our company's
reputation to suffer a blow. I can't let my designers down; they trust me so much," Anne said seriously,
now holding his hand.
Kevin smiled. "Don't fret over this. I have enlisted the services of a few intellectual property specialists.
We should hear from them quite soon."
She nodded as he continued, "Now, we just need to uncover the true villain behind this all."
Anne's eyes became increasingly colder as she thought of it all. She was a good, kind woman. She
treated her employees with respect and was careful not to offend anyone, as a rule of thumb. She
never thought that someone in her own team would betray her.
How could she let this traitor go?
She lowered her gaze. Suddenly, a sudden flash was caught in her peripheral vision. He looked up.
Her face lost all color when she saw what was before her.
"Kevin, it's Kim!" She stared straight ahead, and made this exclamation in a voice quivering with fear.
Kevin was quick to shield her behind his back. In the east, there was a man in a black trench coat
walking forward with slow, measured steps. Although he had his head lowered so that he could avoid
being recognized, he could clearly see that this figure was none other than the infamous Kim.
"Max! Noah!" Kevin called in a gruff, cold tone.
Noah and Max nodded. They immediately took out their guns and charged at the man.
Kevin scanned their surroundings, afraid that more people were lurking around. He could not see
anyone else.
A moment later, Noah and Max returned, with the man in their grasp. But when the man lifted his head,
Kevin and Anne shook their heads.
The man was not Kim, as they had thought, but a complete stranger.
"We are so sorry. Please accept our humble apologies. We mistook you for someone else," said Anne.
The stranger shook his head, turned around and bolted away.
This man's figure was a spitting image of Kim's.
Noah scratched the back of his head, clearly feeling awkward to broach some question. He doubted
the veracity of Anne's previous sighting of Kim, since she had been wrong this time. He asked, "Ms.
Anne, could it have been that you had also just seen a doppelganger on the last occasion that you said
you spotted Kim?"
Before this incident, everyone believed Anne and Kevin when they asserted that he was alive. Now,
seeing that Anne had made such a mistake, they were now skeptical.
There were billions of people in the world. Many were bound to look alike. Some people even shared
similar DNA sequences, let alone silhouettes.
"If I had been mistaken, what about the shooting and killing that happened on the street? Plus, what
about the thief he killed who had robbed me of my handbag?" she asked.
Noah opened his mouth to respond but he didn't know what to say.
Indeed, he had completely forgotten that the man had killed someone on the street, in public sight. And
none of the surveillance cameras caught the face of this man. Perhaps, such deception and ability to
ensure slipping under the radar, was something that only Kim was capable of.
"Well, let's just return to our offices before we do anything else," Kevin said, feeling particularly
helpless.
The others nodded in agreement and they set off for the company together. By this time, the runway
fashion show was over. Rose and her husband had hung around and waited for them. Seeing that
Anne was safe and sound, they rushed to greet her gleefully.
"What's the latest?" The bevy of designers looked anxious from their spots behind Rose when she
broached this topic.
Anne looked at the crowd, looking at each person in turn. Her eyes were deep. She walked past Rose,
and took a slow bow before the group.
The designers were wholly surprised. Before they had time to comfort her, and pull her to her feet, she
addressed them, "We have put in so much hard work and effort into these designs. But because of my
poor management skills, other people got hold of them and claimed them as their own."
"Boss, you really are not to blame. No one could have guessed there were spies among us."
"Boss, don't blame yourself. Yes, we have lost this set of designs but we will be very cautious in the
future. This will never happen again." "Those companies who stole the designs and planned to
handsomely profit on the hard work of someone else are doomed to fail."
"Boss, they are just jealous of us. They know they can't come up with more unique designs. We will let
them know that we cannot be walked all over."
The designers gathered and made these comments, speaking over each other, and full of anger - not
with Anne, but with the thief behind it all.
They couldn't take such plagiarism and theft of intellectual property.
"No!" Anne blurted out. She knew they were trying to comfort her but she felt like she was not worthy.
Their work was appropriated against their will. How could she do nothing to repay their trust and
kindness to her?
"We are good people. We do not attack for no reason, and we only retaliate when someone has
attacked us first. When someone has the disrespect and nerve to push at us first, they can rest assured
we will not taking it lying down. We will strike back! If we accept this defeat this time around, we will be
marked as thieves for the rest of our lives.
I will not stand for this. And I believe that you all should not have to tolerate it either. Now that this
matter has been taken to the court, we will have to do our best to present our case so that the court
may make a just and fair ruling.
I want every person in this fashion industry to know that our employees will never be persecuted!"
As she finished her address, the fire in her eyes was tangible. Her anger had caused her blood to boil
and red veins were appearing in the whites of her eyes.
The designers nodded firmly at her speech. They looked at Anne with admiration, and felt a deep
sense of gratitude for her genuine concern about them.
"Don't lose sleep over this. We are the original, rightful designers, and justice must favor us. This
matter will be resolved soon," Kevin stepped forward, offering these words of comfort from the bottom
of his heart.
It was common knowledge that Kevin was exceptionally influential in the city. So, everyone nodded in
agreement with his words.
Since they had been targeted and oppressed, they must fight for what was rightfully their own!
Anne decided to close the business for a short period. She wanted to give all of her employees a
holiday, with the company paying for all travel and other expenses. She sent them off on their trip and
promised that the plagiarism issue would be resolved once they had returned.
After hearing this, everyone was thrilled with her great act of generosity. The dark storm clouds which
had been looming over their lives had been lifted, and clear blue skies and sunshine could be seen
peeping in.
However, there was one salient issue of paramount importance which had not been addressed.
Anne sat in her office with Kevin, and Rose and her husband.
"Anne, I have looked through every piece of video footage captured by our CCTV cameras. I was very
diligent in my search and can report that I found that only Cindy displayed any signs of suspicious
behavior. Although we don't have footage of her taking the drawings red-handed, it can only be justly
inferred that it was her!" Rose advised, infuriated.
Cindy was Anne's newest assistant. She had just recently replaced Emily. Although she wasn't the
sharpest tool in the shed, she was hardworking and diligent in whatever she took on. Yet - she was the
culprit.
"Cindy handed in her resignation three days ago. She used the excuse that her mother had become
seriously ill. I had thought she was a dutiful, caring daughter so I immediately signed off on her
resignation. I even gave her a bonus, and let her know she would be welcome back at the company
when her mother recovered. I was fooled," said Rose, with a mangled scowl on her face.
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