Mia lowered her eyes to conceal her true emotions at Shelly’s words. She’d already


    signed the divorce papers; who Timothy wanted to cheer on and be with was none


    of her business.


    Later, no matter what else Shelly said, Mia ignored her. Soon, Maya walked on stage


    to announce themencement of the ceremony. “As we all know, there have been


    some changes to the rules for this year’spetition.


    “There will only be ten winners, which means one of the 11 finalists will leave with


    nothing. For the sake of fairness, the designers‘ names will be concealed when the


    judging is conducted. The announcement of the winners will also be different–we’ll


    start from the tenth ce.”


    Mia looked at the panel of judges. Timothy was among them. Obviously, he was one


    of the judges.


    If she were beingpletely honest, she was quite nervous. At this moment, she


    received a WhatsApp message from Liam. “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine.”


    ”


    Half an hourter, the judging ended. On stage, Maya announced the results. “In


    tenth ce, we have … In ninth ce…”


    Soon, they were down to the top three. Mia frowned. There were four finalists left.


    The one who wasn’t among the top three would be the one eliminated.


    Shelly turned to nce at her. “Don’t tell me you’re dreaming about being in the top


    three, Mia. Thepetition’s tough this year, and that Zoe is also one of the


    Mia faltered. She was Zoe, though. Should she thank Shelly for herpliment?


    Maya soon announced the third and second ce. Mia wasn’t among them. She


    noticed Timothy ncing at her, but he’d already turned away when she turned to


    look.


    Mia looked down and waited for Maya to announce the winner. Maya saw Timothy and Mia’s


    interaction. Her eyes darkened slightly at the sight before she smiled and


    said, “And in first ce is Wilhelmina Jones.”


    Two seats away from Mia, a youngdy shot to her feet and ran on stage excitedly to ept her


    award. Mia sat in her seat, clenching her fists awkwardly. For a split second, she’d thought she was in


    first ce.


    But after Maya announced the winner, Mia felt like she’d been pped. She couldn’t even breathe


    normally. She thought she could at least ce in thepetition, but she ended up getting eliminated.


    Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    Shelly snorted. “Did you see that, Mia? I told you you should’ve given up hope long ago, yet you


    refused to believe me. People like you aren’t worthy of winning first ce, so stop dreaming. Go back


    to the slums that you came from or go screw bolts in a nt or something.”


    Mia stood up to head to the restroom. She washed her face to calm herself down. At that moment, her


    phone rang. It was a call from Liam.


    Mia nced at it but didn’t answer. She didn’t want anyone tofort her right now. She just wanted


    some peace and quiet.


    After washing her face, Mia exited the restroom. She saw someone leaning against the wall–he was


    unbelievably handsome.


    She didn’t expect to run into Timothy here. Mia lowered her head and turned to leave, but he grabbed


    her wrist as she walked past him. “Is this the result you wanted?”


    Mia looked up. “I don’t understand what you mean.‘


    Timothy said, “I mean that your new backer doesn’t seem to be capable of much. He couldn’t even help


    you win apetition.”


    “Let go of me. I don’t want to talk to you.” Mia was in a bad mood. She didn’t want to exin who Liam


    was.


    Timothy didn’t release her. “What? Angry already? It’s not toote for you toe to your senses. If


    you wanna find another wealthy backer, I could introduce a few people to you.”