Caleb pointed right at my nose. "Do you think everyone is as filthy as you are?"

I snorted. "It's pretty impressive of you to date someone that disgusting for three years."

"Clara Gardner!"

The audience caught on and immediately erupted into murmurs. "Hold on, she's right. If she were that kind of person, how could Mr. Fairchild have dated her for three years without noticing? There must be some kind of misunderstanding."

"Yeah. Clara has a point. Perhaps she and her sister hired the same ghost designer. That would explain why their designs overlapped."

As doubts spread, I curled my lips into a faint smile.

Sophie's brows drew together almost imperceptibly before she plastered a gentle smile on my face and took my hand. "Clara, if you're indignant, why don't we compete in front of everyone? I don't want your reputation ruined. I'd feel terrible if that happened."

My father and stepmother both sighed. "After everything your sister's done to you, you're still indulging her. You're just too kind for your own good, Sophie."

Just then, my gaze landed on Caleb's grandmother, Olivia White, whose eyes were full of disappointment, and I made up my mind. "Alright. Let's do three rounds. I'll let you choose the themes, and I'll choose how we compete. How does that sound?"

In this life, no matter what, I was determined to get to the bottom of this.

"That sounds fair, Clara. Let's go with family, friendship, and love."

I snorted. "Alright. First round, family. We'll each use a computer and design in real time."

"Sure. That's fine with me."

In no time, two computers were brought onto the stage, and we sat facing each other. I closed my eyes, visualized my design, and got to work immediately.

I was confident that even if someone was spying on my screen for her, she could only copy what I'd already drawn. She would lag behind me, and her lie would unravel.

Half an hour later, I was halfway done when Sophie rose from her seat with a smile. "I'm done, judges."

My heart sank when her design appeared on the massive screen. It was exactly what I was drawing.

I wasn't even done yet, and she had already completed it. How was that even possible?

"Let me explain the concept behind my design. It features a diamond set inside a soft platinum arc. It is based on a story between my mother and me.

"My mother had a difficult labor when she gave birth to me. The doctor said I refused to come out. My dad’s never been one with words—he joked I was a stubborn little stone to get out. But Mom said I’d grow up to be a diamond, just as tough and unyielding."

Her words stole the air from my lungs. That was my story with my mother. How could she possibly know it?

Having said her piece, she shot me a triumphant look, as if to say, "So what if I plagiarized your work? What can you do about it?"

Just then, my unfinished design was projected onto the screen, and laughter immediately rippled through the audience.

"Damn. Didn't she say she didn't copy her sister's work? Her design is the same as hers, and she hasn't even finished it. Now, this is embarrassing!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Olivia sigh in disappointment.

Ever since my mother passed away, I had never felt the warmth of a family again.

Olivia had treated me like her own granddaughter. To make sure Caleb treated me right, she told me that after I married Caleb, she would transfer all her shares to me, so he'd be working for me, not the other way around. Yet, even she had started to lose faith in me.

There was no way this was happening. My mind raced. Perhaps my father had told Sophie that story.

However, even if she knew the backstory, there was no way she could design the exact same piece as mine. Hence, I decided to test her again. "Fine. I'll count this round as my loss. Let's move on to friendship. This time, we hand-draw it on paper!"

Before, she finished the design before I even did. Perhaps she had used some kind of AI or data modeling to predict my unfinished design. This time, with pen and paper, there was no way she could replicate it perfectly again.

Soon, two easels were set up on the stage, and we stood facing each other.

The same thing happened again. I deliberately drew at snail speed and even made several mistakes.

Halfway through, I stopped drawing and looked up to study Sophie's expression. To my surprise, she stood up again and handed in her work. "I'm done."

Her hand-drawn piece was slightly different from what I had put on paper, yet it matched exactly what I had envisioned in my mind.

"This piece is shaped like a lighthouse, with a dazzling diamond set at the top. It tells a story about my best friend and me. I was once stranded at a harbor in an unfamiliar city. My phone had no signal, and it was raining cats and dogs.

"The light from a distant lighthouse cut through the storm and guided me to shelter. Later, I found out my best friend had stayed up all night at her computer, using satellite tracking to locate me. Then, she contacted the harbor manager and had the lighthouse turned on just for me."

My heart sank. This was something that had happened between my best friend, Ivy Lancaster, and me. It was an incident only the two of us knew about.

My legs felt like Jell-O. For a split second, I wanted to give up.

Everything that happened next was no different from before. My unfinished drawing was projected onto the massive screen, eliciting waves of ridicule.

"Jesus, she can't even copy it right. She messed up in so many places. This is humiliating!"

"Get off the stage!"

I looked at Olivia, who was shaking her head.

Caleb asked her, "See? One test was all it took. I told you she's not worthy of marrying me. She's a fraud! Do you believe the one who saved me back then was Sophie now?"

Three years ago, I had happened upon Caleb as he lost his footing due to hypoglycemia and fell into an enormous body of water. When I pulled him out, he was barely conscious. All he remembered was the emerald pendant around my neck, the one my mother had given me.

Later, he tracked me down based on that memory. We fell in love in a heartbeat and were soon engaged.

Everything had been smooth sailing. We were only a month away from our wedding when I was involved in a severe car accident. I spent two months bedridden in the hospital before I recovered, and not long after I was discharged, I was forced into this competition.

Then, it hit me—Caleb had forced me into this competition to make Olivia give up on me. I was the one who was destined to lose. No matter what I did, he was never going to let me win.

Caleb joined the audience and demanded, "Get off the stage!"

Just then, a sharp slap cracked through the air.

Everyone watched as Caleb clutched his face and stared at a woman in horror.

"Are you a damn parrot? Shut the hell up!"

Then, she ran up to me. "Pull yourself together, Cleo! I'm here. Let's see this through together!"

That woman was my only friend, Ivy. Her arrival reignited my courage.

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.