Chapter 453 Can I Do Something for the Team Too?
Jasper's words hit Adeline like a bucket of ice water.
She never thought a simple accident would make Jasper question her motives so bluntly.
Adeline smirked and locked eyes with him. "Mr. Foster, if you think I did it on purpose, then sure, I did it on purpose."
She wasn't about to explain herself. He never listened anyway.
Seeing her attitude, Jasper sighed and frowned. "Adeline, I get it, you've been under a lot of stress prepping for the competition. But that's no excuse to mess with Luna."
He sighed again. "Apologize to Luna. And for what happened at noon too."
The burn Adeline gave Luna at noon was still fresh in his mind. No burn this time, but Luna's clothes were ruined. Two incidents in one day? Hard to believe it wasn't on purpose. Adeline should apologize, no doubt.
"I did spill soup on Ms. Jones just now. It was an accident, and I can apologize for that," Adeline said coldly, staring at Jasper. "But the noon incident wasn't my fault, so no apology there."
She turned to Luna. "Ms. Jones, sorry for dirtying your clothes just now. My bad."
With that, Adeline turned to leave.
Jasper frowned and raised his hand to stop her. "You need to apologize for what happened at noon."
Adeline looked at his hand blocking her way and laughed. She crossed her arms and glared at him. "Why should I apologize? Ms. Jones knew I was out for lunch with colleagues, yet she brought coffee to my office. The power went out as soon as she entered, and all the surveillance equipment stopped working. If I hadn't come back in time, who knows which competitor would have my design drafts now! I said I didn't want her coffee, but she insisted, and it spilled. How is any of this my fault?"
Adeline's words made Jasper frown deeply.
"Jasper," Luna bit her lip and quickly grabbed his arm, her voice soft and weak. "Let Miss Wilson have the final say; don't argue with her anymore."
She lowered her head, her voice thick with emotion. "I'm fine. Miss Wilson has been super busy and stressed with the competition, so please, no conflicts with her. I just got a burn; it's nothing."
Her gentle and understanding demeanor made Jasper frown even more.
He looked up and gave Adeline a cold glance. "Luna got burned and didn't hold it against you. Is it so hard for you to apologize?"
Adeline couldn't help but laugh.
She had touched Luna's coffee at noon, and when it spilled, some of it even got on her. She knew the coffee wasn't hot enough to burn anyone. If anything, she had more coffee on her hand than Luna did. But her hand was perfectly fine, not even a red mark. How did Luna burn herself?
Adeline's mocking smile made Jasper frown even more.
The murmurs around them started to rise.
"She's so arrogant; she won't even apologize."
"Ms. Jones's burn is serious. Mr. Foster didn't ask for compensation, just an apology, and she won't even do that!"
"She's just a designer; how can she be so arrogant, not even respecting Mr. Foster's girlfriend."
The voices around made Adeline frown deeply. She sighed and looked coldly at Luna. "People say you got burned. I'd like to know how that lukewarm coffee managed to burn you."
Adeline's words made Luna's face go pale instantly.
Luna bit her lip pitifully. "Ms. Wilson, don't mind them. They're just talking nonsense. I wasn't burned."
After speaking, Luna turned and fled the cafeteria.
Watching Luna's retreating figure, Jasper frowned and glanced at Adeline. "You're becoming more and more cold-hearted."
With that, Jasper turned and walked away.
Adeline stood there, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. Cold-hearted? Not apologizing to Luna made her cold-hearted? Questioning Luna's fake illness made her cold-hearted? Fine, whatever. She didn't need to be gentle and kind in front of Jasper anymore.
"Adeline," Timothy, Anne, and Robert caught up to her. "You okay?"
Adeline shook her head and exhaled deeply. "Let's get back and keep working overtime."
Only three days left until the competition kicked off, and tomorrow they had a meeting with the competition committee and other teams. Time was tight, and she couldn't waste it worrying about Luna and Jasper.
But what Adeline didn't expect was that everything that had just gone down between her, Luna, and Jasper had been recorded by several phones.
The next day.
At ten in the morning, Adeline, as planned, took her team to the meeting organized by the competition committee. The main agenda was to discuss the procedures for the competition two days later.
The host's rep, Jerry Stewart, proudly announced, "This time, we've got a special guest, the student of the once sensational jewelry design genius Moon, Richard Evans, to be our special judge. Mr. Evans is super busy and will only be able to attend on the day of the competition."
Adeline was stunned. Richard? When did Richard become her student?
She remembered that when she was a designer abroad, Richard was just her assistant, learning design from her for a few months. She had only ever publicly acknowledged one student, Lauren. Richard was more like a half-student.
They hadn't seen each other in ages, and she hadn't expected that when they did, Richard would be a judge in her competition.
She wondered what Richard's reaction would be when he saw her in two days.
"Ms. Wilson?" Suddenly, a voice snapped Adeline out of her thoughts.
When she came back to her senses, the meeting had already ended, and each team was packing up to leave.
The voice belonged to Luna.
Luna, dressed in all white, stood cautiously beside her, holding the competition documents Adeline had placed in front of her. "Let me carry these for you," she said, cradling them in her arms.
Adeline frowned and grabbed the corner of the documents. "Give them back to me."
These documents contained detailed arrangements for the competition day and couldn't be disclosed. She had to be wary of Luna.
Facing Adeline's cold attitude, Luna looked humble, her voice tinged with tears. "Ms. Wilson, I don't know why you dislike me so much. I'm just trying to lend a hand. You're always so tired; these documents are quite heavy. Let me help you, okay? You've been keeping me away from anything related to the competition. Now I can't even help you carry documents? Let me do something for the team, okay?"
Luna's words, filled with grievance and tears, immediately drew the attention of everyone in the conference room.
Jerry, who was about to leave, stopped in his tracks. He frowned and looked at Adeline. "Ms. Wilson, what's going on? Is what your subordinate just said true?"
The competition required team collaboration, meaning every member had to be involved in the design process. But Luna's words implied she hadn't been involved in any discussions, which was against the rules.
Adeline frowned. "No, I didn't."
Before she could finish, Luna, who was struggling for the documents, suddenly snatched them away, pretended to stumble, and fell backward to the ground. The hem of her shirt flipped up, revealing burn marks on her stomach.
The room erupted in chaos.
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