Revenge Of The Jilted Bride (Ophelia)

Chapter

31

The first round of the competition was just around the corner, and the production team had already sent over the content for the premiere. When Ophelia arrived at the TV station's recording hall, the director's team welcomed her. The moment they saw her, they lit up their

eyes and sighed, "Finally someone normal has come here."

"Hi there, I'm the show's assistant director. Just call me Cici. If you have any questions during the recording, feel free to come to me. You can wait in the lounge for a while. Once all the designers are here, we'll introduce you to your partners," said Cici.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

"Got it. Thanks." Ophelia nodded. Though the production notes said the teams would be randomly assigned, she knew this kind of show always had a script.

She made her way to the waiting area, where two designers were already there-one guy and one girl. The girl had a total badass vibe going on: black heavy-metal style outfit, smoky eye makeup, black lipstick, and short, white hair. The guy, however, had long, straight hair and a womanlike face. He wore a tight V-neck tank top, showing off his chest.

"The two of them clearly weren't on good terms, and they sat as far away from each other as possible. Ophelia found a seat closer to the girl.

As she sat down, the guy, in a slightly nasally voice, asked, "You're also a designer? I thought you were some celebrity. I'm Daniel Hunt, a designer at Manns."

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Daniel finished with a slight tilt of his chin, full of himself. The girl in black scoffed, "If you're that big of a deal, why are you even here for a competition?"

"None of your damn business," Daniel snapped back, his voice sharp and grating. "At least I'm not like you New Realm copycats."

"Who the hell are you calling a copycat?!" the girl retorted.

The next two minutes were a full-on verbal showdown, and the two of them went at it non-stop until someone else walked in, forcing them to dial it down a bit.

Soon, nine out of ten designers had gathered in the lounge, and most were women. They started to chat with people they thought to be easygoing. Though they were billed as unknown designers, they were either working for a big-name company or running their own studio, with plenty of design awards under their belt. The design community was small-most of them knew each other.

With her cool demeanor and stunning looks, Ophelia naturally became the odd one out, as they subtly excluded her from their small groups.

"Hey, I'm Marilyn Moore, but you can call me Mara," a girl said while extending her hand to Ophelia.

Ophelia was caught off guard for a second, staring at the hand reaching out toward her. She looked up and met a pair of beautiful amber eyes. The girl had a doll-like face, with a tiny dimple near her mouth. She seemed about the same age as Ophelia.

Ophelia thought her name sounded familiar but couldn't quite place it. She extended her hand and shook Marilyn's. "Hi, Ophelia."

"Marilyn flashed her a quick smile before moving on to greet the others.

Just as the last designer finally showed up, Ophelia glanced up, and she suddenly froze when she saw that familiar face."

"Sorry, I'm late." The man walked in while adjusting his black-rimmed glasses. His slightly curly hair framed a clean-cut, refined face. 13:56 Sun, Nov 10 BOU

A few designers turned their heads toward the door and exclaimed, "Is that... Mr. Decker?"

"No way, I thought this was an amateur competition. How did they get him to attend this?" someone else said.

"Is he famous?" Marilyn asked, puzzled.

A woman with bright red lipstick gave Marilyn a condescending side-eye and explained, "He's Brock Decker, chief designer for Lewis Group's Fashion Ladies. You've seriously never heard of him? He's a design prodigy. The gowns he designed at the age of twenty were already part of the design curriculum at Dellanex University."

"Oh, it's him? I had no idea he was so young." Marilyn practically glowed with admiration.

Brock smiled and went around the room to shake hands with everyone. His approachable demeanor didn't have a trace of

arrogance.

But when his gaze reached the far corner of the room, his expression froze for a brief moment. His smile on his face vanished. eyes widened, and the

To his relief, at that very moment, the production team walked in. Brock, now surrounded by a crowd of designers, sat in the middle of the group, and no one seemed to notice the flash of shock that had crossed his face.

With all ter designers present, they listened as the production team explained the next steps. But with Brock's arrival, the unspoken understanding spread: no one was really gunning for first place anymore. The best they could hope for now was runner-up. "Now I know why the top two get international competition and training opportunities," someone murmured.

"Isn't it obvious? This whole competition is just a promo for Fashion Ladies by Lewis Group," another girl said with a scoff.

Hearing that, a girl with red hair asked in curiosity, "Why would Fashion Ladies even need promo? Isn't it already an established brand?"

"Haven't you heard a new player on the scene? It's called La Reverie or something. They were almost like a myth, but now, they've opened a studio and a store. They're all about gowns too so no wonder Fashion Ladies is feeling the pressure," another designer whispered.

Now, it was time for everyone to "pretend" they had randomly drawn their numbers and go find their partners. The main point was for the contestants to get to know each other so that they could design outfits that really suited each other.

Ophelia already knew her assigned partner was Samantha Jenkins, a former idol from a girl group. After asking around and finding out which dressing room was Samantha's, she headed over.

Before she even reached the door, she heard Samantha's sharp voice from inside. "Are you kidding me? You expect me to model for some nobody designer? Even if I agreed, you think my fans would?"

"Sami, calm down, okay? She made it to the top 100, so she's got to have some talent. I checked out her designs, and she specializes in gowns. Don't your fans love seeing you in gowns?" Samantha's agent replied.

Samantha retorted, "I don't care how talented she is. I want a new partner right now. I'm not getting eliminated in the first round, you got it? Why didn't you pair me with Brock? He also specializes in gowns and it's a guaranteed win with him."

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Her agent sighed inwardly, 'You're not exactly Brock-level material. Don't you know that?' However, she replied, "Alright, I'll talk to the production team and see what we can do."

Hearing this, Ophelia decided not to knock. Just then, the door swung open, and the agent nearly bumped into Ophelia. The agent immediately said, "Sorry about that. Uh, why don't you head back to the lounge and take some rest?" Ophelia nodded and turned away. As she passed the other dressing rooms, she happened to run into Brock, who was just leaving Taylor Foster's room. Taylor was a popular idol, who had a large fanbase.

13:56 Sun, Nov 10 BOL.

Brock's expression was all cluarm and grace as he explained his design concepts to Taylor, but the moment he spotted Ophelia, his smile became noticeably stiff.

"I just remembered I left something with my assistant. I'll be right back," he said quickly, excusing himself. Then he shot a meaningful look at Ophelia, his polite smile fading as he walked off.

In the stairwell, Brock took off his glasses and wiped the sweat from his forehead, forcing a strained smile at Ophelia. "Ophelia, what a coincidence. I really didn't expect to see you here on this show 'Coincidence? I don't think so, thought Ophelia with a sneer,

Brock could see the faint smile on her face, but her sharp eyes seemed to pierce right through him. This was the expression he feared most from her- and the one he hated the most.