One night, we barely caught a wink of sleep.


    Jade''s design was brilliant, thoughtful, and eco-friendly to boot. But somewhere along the line, a minor misstep led to a gaping w in the final design. It wasn''t until Ibed through everything from the beginning that I spotted the root of the problem. "Look here. You didn''t make this change, did you? The measurement is off by an inch."


    Jade pushed up her sses, squinting at the screen before mming her hand on the desk.


    "No way. Who messed with my design? No wonder the numbers were all over the ce! Somebody must''ve fiddled with the file when I wasn''t looking. I thought I''d identally deleted the original file!"


    I had suspected as much but hadn''t said anything until then.


    With no time to figure out who messed up, Jade got straight to fixing the data, and I was there to help her out.


    After a few hours of hard work, we finally got all the files in order as dawn broke.


    With a hoarse voice, Jade hugged me tight. "Mnie, I''d be toast without you. You saved my ass out of the mess. You are my savior!"


    "Don''t be silly. We''re best friends." I patted her head, only to have my hand swatted away as she grimaced, her throat too sore to even speak. Running on no sleep and dealing with a headache, I decided to call in sick.


    Lately, it felt like Clyde deliberately kept me from taking on more at thepany. The Design Department had been unusually quiet.Exclusive ? content by N(?)ve/l/Drama.Org.


    Jade seemed worse off than I was, barely able to stand, yet she couldn''t miss the bidding meeting.


    After a brief discussion, she let me, her guardian angel, take her ce. "Since you''ve taken the day off, give me a hand."


    I encouraged her. "With your brains, we''ve got this in the bag."


    She was the lead designer, and no one else was as familiar with the project. She was worried about potential oversights. Her raspy voice, coupled with her powerhouse demeanor, was quite the mismatch. After some thought, I felt confident enough in my understanding of the project to start preparing.


    But arriving at the bidding meeting, I saw Vinson and Clyde with their teams. I instinctively ducked my head, and of course, Jade saw them, too, heaving a heavy sigh.


    As the Patterson Group''s Design Director, stepping in for Jade would cause a stir. I could feel one particrly icy stare from Clyde.


    Jade patted my shoulder, her voice harsh, "I''ll go."


    I nodded. It was Jade''s call to make. When Jade started speaking onstage, the audience was visibly shocked. But she powered through, presenting the entire design n with her gravelly voice.


    Even though the Patterson Group''s design was thorough, it just couldn''tpete with Jade''s lower cost estimates.


    Vinson''s team seemed eager butcked experience, failing to grasp certain aspects. In the end, Jade won the contract with her superior expertise. She came off stage and wrapped me in a tight hug. "Mnie..."


    "If you keep talking to me with that voice, I''ll mute you for good." I pushed her away, popping a throat lozenge into her mouth.


    She clung to my arm, yfully whining. "Mnie, my hero, my champion..."


    Her husky voice made my skin crawl.


    As we were leaving,ughing and joking, Ka, oblivious to the room, followed us out.


    "Mnie, you''re with the Patterson Group. How can you support anotherpany? And as Design Department Director, isn''t this like betraying your own?"


    Her re was full of resentment, backed by a few from Design Department III.


    Perhaps their sour mood was due to not winning the contract as they grumbled.


    "Exactly, we all know how talented you are. Instead of helping us, you assist thepetition?"


    "It''s like you want us to look bad. Maybe Mnie even shared our designs with them."


    "No wonder we lost!"


    As Clyde approached, Ka turned


    to him, ying the victim. "Just


    yesterday, unting your ro


    1.n


    with Clyde, and today, helping anotherpany. That''s too much. Don''t the Patterson Group and Clyde mean anything to you?"


    Clyde stopped in his tracks, looking at me, waiting for a response.


    I was speechless. Design Department wasn''t my responsibility, and we had no ovep in work. It was a sector Clyde established several months back for smaller projects. The


    Patterson Group probably didn''t care much about this project, so Clyde handed it to them.


    And theirck of sess was somehow my fault.


    But I wasn''t in the mood to exin. Instead, Kturned to Ka. "Clyde Your Clyde means nothing to me. But that broken bracelet is a different story. That was worth millions. Don''t forget to pay up."