Chapter 12: 7.𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲

"Bravo! You hit a jackpot girl" Jasmine clapped her hands in a dramatic way laughing "I never knew my prayers would have such an impact"

She was still laughing, hitting the matters with her fist at a point her eyes even started to water

"What's so funny about it?" I snapped

"Everything! You met a guy who helped you then you met him again and he helped and when you met him the third time he decided to run for hills" she continues to laugh

"What a gentleman he is!" I mocked her words which she said on the day I met asher- shit I mean Liam for the first time

Last night after Liam left Max tried to convince Ian to share his contact details but Ian refused directly. I was overwhelmed by the whole situation from the party even though I didn't drink a drop of alcohol I am having a hangover right now

"Now we can't submit the project in time , we are already being under suspension of copying my career didn't even start yet and I feel like I am already failing" I cried

Hiding my face in a pillow I laid on my bed . I felt weight on the matters , Jasmine snached the pillow "don't" I grunted . She placed her palm on my forehead it's warm "don't stress yourself, we will think of a way" she caressed my hair it reminded me of my mother

"Why don't you all do the project by yourself?"she advised

"Yeah I think that's the only way" I whined, punching the pillow "but I just want to say that the whole thing happened with you could turn into a movie" my glare made Jasmine get off my bed "what's his full name again?" She asked

"Liam Carter Williams " I rolled my eyes . Do people still introduce themselves with their middle name ? The audacity he had to hide his Identity is getting on my nerves . How many names does he have now?

She hopped on her gaming chair and dragged it to her desk and started typing something in her laptop.

His coat hung on the hanger near the door , if he hadn't given it to me yesterday I would have been freezing. How should I return it now? I don't wanna look at that devil face of his . That smirk he gave me last night still mocks me in my head

"Oh my-!" Jasmine made me flinch. She turned her chair around facing me . Her mouth hung open "Do you know who Liam Carter is?"

"Yes! He is an ex-student of- '' I was speaking when she interrupted me saying something in Hindi, her mother tongue and got up from the seat coming towards me . I held up the pillow to defend myself because whenever she speaks in Hindi it means someone is gonna get crushed "you know nothing" she pulled me and made me sit on her chair

She pointed at the screen which had the picture of Liam from graduation "This Liam guy is the son of Emily Carter"

My eyes widened "what?"

"Yes ,last year Emily appeared at his graduation and it was revealed that he is her eldest son" she revealed

How could I miss this? I remember the news from the day . The media was exploding to interview Emily Carter after she made an appearance at her son's graduation. I was just too ignorant to look properly at his face "wait are you sure ?"

"Hundred percent" she said scrolling the webpage "Her kids never show up in public and when suddenly Liam came into limelight it broke out many controversies. And most importantly his name is LIAM CARTER. How could you not notice?" She empathized on his surname

"You know what, I am jumping off the balcony. My poor heart can't take these many shocks at once" I said getting up from the chair. Jasmine held my shoulders and pushed me to sit again

"We don't have a balcony" she said giving me a sarcastic smile

"Then I will jump off the window" I tried to get up again but she was still holding my shoulders. She is definitely stronger than me "You will get stuck in the window . So better remove that stupid thought from your head" Jasmine said "and how could you be this dumb?" She questioned

"There are too many Carters in the world " I tried to hide my ignorance. she gave me a 'are you serious look' and flicked on my forehead "Now i understood why he doesn't wanna help you" she commented

"Why?"

"Because if he does then it will indirectly relate to his mother and it would look like you are taking advantage of their name after all she's Australia's famous designers" her words make sense.

I have no hope now , I threw my body on the bed like I am some garment. I have no energy to deal with all this shit happening. I haven't even completed my project to submit at NYX , the group project is yet to be given and most importantly my exams are around the corner.

The only thing which will make me feel better is shopping for some gorgeous heels .

"Are you applying for some other company?" I asked about changing the topic . After the big disaster Jasmine didn't speak a word about it. She did talk to her parents , I think they understood but Jasmine? She is not coping with it "Nope I can't apply now" she replied

I frowned "why?"

"The companies I have applied for has already hired other interns and for some I didn't meet the requirements"

"But Jasmine, isn't it too early to look for a job? You are just in 1st year with no experience in" I hope my words don't affect her, Jasmine is the type to be cool with everything but when it comes to her family or her dignity she turns furious.

"That's why I wanted to apply to gain some experience but no . Seems like God has some other plans" she sighed I got up from my bed and gave her a hug "Don't stress yourself"

She held my arm nodding, "Why don't you try again after the 1st semester?" I suggested the exams are near and soon we will get some days off until the next semester starts. By that time the companies will start to hire interns again "Yeah I will"

"To brighten up our mood, why don't we read a book?" I asked her . She raised her eyebrow at me , losing herself from my arm "nope I have already read too much. I don't have more time-" she continued her nag

I took one of my books and started reading a spicy scene out loud, hearing this Jasmine stopped her nag and stare at me in disbelief "you have some nerve to read those things out loud" she commented and wore her headset to avoid me . I couldn't help but laugh more.

I hopped back on my bed and continued with my reading. This is my coping mechanism to avoid any crisis. My way is through books but these won't always help me. At some point I have to face reality.

"Show it to me" Jasmine jumped beside me trying to get a glimpse of what I was reading "didn't someone say that she already read too much and-" I mimicked

"Shut up! In return for this you gotta watch my favorite movie with me" she bossed making me roll my eyes "deal?" She asked . Her favorite movie is obviously gonna be an Indian one . I don't mind but I actually enjoy them but I would need subtitles for it .

I held her hand shaking it "deal!"

I skipped two of my morning classes, after having lunch . It was time for a fashion designing lecture. The atmosphere felt really gloomy because everyone present in the room was in a bad mood.

Julian was just sleeping the whole time, max was searching for something on his laptop and Cami was the only one who was trying to listen to the lecture. Alongside she was sketching something too "are you working on this design?" I asked her

She tried to cover her design but it was already too late because I saw it very well. "I am thinking of submitting it to NYX" she replied. She even started working on it and here I am skulking over that guy "what do you think?" She slides the book near me to have me take a better look at it

Camilia is definitely good with arts and design. She literally paid attention to every detail of the dress. For freshers like us it's hard to make sketches unless we are good in arts but Camilia is beyond that, she drew a layered dress with multiple tulles, with a square neck. She is still working on the sleeves and colour but the structure is perfect.

"Do you like it?" She asked hesitatingly . I nodded my head "it's amazing I can't wait for the final result" she smiled at my words. I gave her the book back "is this the final one you will submit?" I questioned

"No, I have a few more but I couldn't decide which one to select. Both for men and women and for different sizes too but I still think they aren't good enough" she remarks

"After seeing your design I bet they all are appealing. Just choose which defines your style and your heart approves "I assured her. Between our conversation the class has already ended, our professor Mrs Grace announced "Your group design project deadline is near, hope you all complete it in time or else you will be failing my class" her eyes darted towards our group. Her glare made my skin stand "and I hope you are participating in the NYX selection too. I will see you in the best class" she announced

Everyone started to evaluate "Who are you all waiting for? Let's go" Julian called.We packed our stuff and were ready to go "I want to talk to you kids" Mrs Grace demanded . We all stood in the line in front of the desk like the children in middle school.

She has a very unwelcoming expression on her face , honestly no one likes her and hopes to never come under her notice but unfortunately now we are first on her hate list.

"Did you reflect on your mistakes?" She questioned. None of us was ready to speak so we all just looked at Max hoping he would say something. Feeling our eyes towards us he frowned and he mouthed 'me?' and we all nodded. He cursed under his breath and stepped forward. "We are working on it" he responded on our behalf

"Really? Then tell me what mistakes you did" her question made us all go silent because we all never got the time to review the designs again and Zuri hasn't checked up on anything.

"We are still reviewing it but we think we need to modify our theme to match the latest trend" Cami said . Mrs Grace's expressions showed that she was convinced "I agree, good thing you understood" she collected her files and left the room. Cami saved us for the day.

"Why did you guys push me forward?" Max urged it's only us present in the room now so his voice is coming out loud "Because Zuri was supposed to guide us now she isn't here so you will inherit her responsibilities" Cami said

"We inherit property not responsibility Ms. Camilia" Max snapped, Cami chuckled "you gotta take some business classes" she mocked him "okay stop you two! We don't have time for this let's start the project" I got in between because if we don't stop them this will go on for a while

"Does anyone have classes?" Cami asked Max and I denied "I have CAD right now" Julian said "you will take it?" Cami asked him "it's the only fun class of course I will take. See you" and he ran off

The three of us decided to review the project again and list out all the mistakes. Like Cami said before we need to modify the designs to match the latest trend. While viewing them again we realized that we did make many mistakes that can be reviewed and molded into something else very easily. It's a piece of cake to copy this. But why didn't Zuri say this to us before?

Julian also joined us soon , and we started from doing some basic structure for the theme and afterwards we will work on the designs. Hope this turns out well.

"Should we try the Victorian era with some modern twist?" Cami suggested

"I think one of my friend's group is doing that" Max said

"And it's too risky playing with the Victorian designs, it will bring lots of criticism" I added , they agreed. Victorian era fashion is a classic if we do anything wrong it will cause a mess and we are already in a bad position right now "we need to play safe. Try something simple yet elegant" Julian suggested

We all were researching the themes when a notification popped up on my screen without paying much attention. I just opened it only to instantly regret it . It was from my older brother

Ethan: Tomorrow lunch at 2. Be present there and no excuses

He is messaging me after 5 months. He didn't even ask if I was doing well, absolutely nothing, just straight to the point. A scoff left my mouth, typical Ethan

"Stella! You okay?" Max jerked me "Yeah I am why?"

He was looking at me with concern or with sympathy. I can't even differentiate at this point "Camilia has been calling you but you weren't responding" my head snapped in her direction Cami and Julian stood side by side looking at me with the same expression "Is there a problem?" She asked

I tried to smile, and stared at the screen for the last time before keeping it back. A lump was forming in my throat "sorry for that what were you saying?" I tried to speak without stuttering. It hurts my throat as I was doing my best to hold myself from breaking.

"I got some ideas for the theme . Take a look" Cami said. I got up from my seat and walked to her . They didn't ask anything and I am glad they didn't.

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

Author's Note

This chapter is also unedited there might be mistakes

Hope you all enjoyed it remember to vote and comment on it

I am thinking to post a family tree / character description so you all don't get confused

Follow my Instagram (authorvenus) for spoilers and updates

-Stay Healthy and have a nice day