Chapter 115


    Why didn’t I recognize that I had been talking to the CEO of Chase Creatives? Even after I found out


    her name, I never connected the dots.


    Did the other people know about this already?


    But when my friends from my old department showed me their wedding photos, no one talked about


    the bride being the CEO of ourrgestpetitor. Did they not recognize her as well?


    Their wedding was probably a very private event, and it was not covered on the news; however, there


    is no mistake that the woman standing proudly on the stage right now is Kyle’s wife.


    “Don’t look so troubled. Elizabeth just took over as CEO. It’s like her trial period so it hasn’t even been


    publicly announced yet. Just like me, she’s following in her father’s footsteps,” Ace exined as he


    secretly reached for my hand.


    She’s not that much older than me and she’s already the CEO. If what Ace said is true, then she’s the


    only daughter of the pervious chairman of Chase Creatives. I stared at the woman who smiled


    confidently on the stage: Elizabeth Chase.


    Unlike the emotionally shaken woman that I encountered before, this version of Elizabeth truly lived up


    to her title of CEO. There was nothing that I could do but to control my shock at meeting her again like


    this. Just like my other team members, I strained my eyes and ears to focus on her presentation. This


    is the storyline and the storyboard that we’re going up against.


    “We are proud to present the concept of embracing natural changes and shifts in values rted to the


    dog meat trade as time progresses and newer generations rise up to take the ce of the old…”


    Elizabeth’s voice rang out clearly.


    While providing more details of the key messages and describing each scene in the storyboard,


    Elizabeth flipped through the presentation slides. After a couple of scenes, a sickening knot formed in


    the base of my stomach and arge lump formed at the back of my throat as my mouth dropped


    opened at what I had just heard and seen.


    What is happening?


    Why is her storyboard almost exactly the same as mine? That aside, the storyline exactly matches with


    Ace’s idea.


    To say that her storyboard was exactly the same would be a slight exaggeration but to say that Chase


    Creatives had somehow copied a version of my storyboard was not.


    “We want to show people from various races and age generations and their rtionship with dogs…”


    Elizabeth continued with her presentation.


    Various scenes of people in different age groups and their rtionship with dogs were shed onto the


    screen as illustrations of the concept.


    My body froze in ce as many thoughts ran through my brain. How did they manage toe up with


    a storyboard like this?!


    ‘…the message will be stronger if you portray the scenes as going through the life stages of one person


    rather than different people at each stage in life,’


    That was Ace’s advice and because of that I tweaked my first version of the storyboard from using


    different people at each stage in life to using only one person going through the various life stages


    instead.


    “Interesting…” Ace murmured from close to me.


    I turned to see Ace with his eyes still on the presentation screen on the stage. Had he realized that


    their storyboard is basically the same one as my first version?


    If that is really the case, then everything that we had prepared for will turn out to be the same, all


    except for the scenes that I had edited based on Ace’s rmendation. Just like me, the other team


    members had the same reaction and they had started murmuring to each other. The calm atmosphere


    around us began to turn into one of panic.


    Têxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    “With that, I would like to direct your attention to a mock-up version of themercial that we have


    prepared especially for today,” Elizabeth presented proudly.


    They even have a mock-up shot and ready to be yed for the audience already?!


    Just as that thought ran through my head, the lights dimmed and the mock-upmercial from Chase


    Creatives began ying on therge projector screen.


    No. This cannot be happening!


    “Ace…” I turned to call him name.


    Ace had a thoughtful look on his face, and I knew that he was figuring out what we needed to do. What


    can we possibly do in this situation?


    “Someone leaked our storyline and storyboard. This is a first…” Richard said as his eyes narrowed


    suspiciously at me.


    No. I did no such thing!


    I felt the eyes of many team members on me, and I knew that no one was on my side. It wasn’t that


    surprising. I was the one responsible for the storyboard, so I was the one suspected of the leak. That


    coupled with the fact that I was the newest member to the team and the one that everyone trusted the


    least, made me the prime suspect in this case.


    At that time, I didn’t have time to worry about myself. My mind was too preupied with the problem


    right in front of us. Our presentation starts right after Chase Creatives’s. What are we going to do?


    The concern that was probably in everyone’s mind, but no one was willing to voice out loud was voiced


    first by none other than Ace.


    “Since our presentation starts after theirs, it doesn’t even matter what the truth is. It will simply look like


    we’ve copied their idea instead…” Ace stated before scoffing at the ridiculousness of the idea.


    “Ace…” I whispered his name.


    His eyes shifted to mine in the dark and to my surprise, his hand reached for mine and gave it a


    situation.


    “We’ll make it through. It’s just the first round. We can’t fail here,” Ace said reassuringly before he


    nodded at me and the rest of the team members.


    I had no idea what he had in mind, but the meeting was about to start in less than a few minutes.


    --To be continued…