A chill crept down Samantha’s spine. She took a deep breath and forced a smile. “Oh, I forgot about that. You have an eye for details, indeed. Take a seat, Josie.”
Josie remained immobile. “Don’t you want to hear how I knew about that?” Josie asked innocently.
Fear slowly snaked around Samantha’s heart. She seemed to be losing to Josie’s calm and steadiness. The corners of her lips twitched, but she remembered that Josie had no evidence.
“How so?”
“Because I’m the designer.”
“Nonsense. You can’t just make a claim like that without any eviden–”
Before she could finish her sentence, Josie turned her laptop around, showing everyone the design.
Instead, Samantha stopped short and started sweating.
When did she fix her laptop? That is impossible!
There were audible gasps in the room.
“Let me have a look. Josie created this a week ago, and Ms. Robson’s is… obviously later than hers.”
Samantha quickly retaliated, “This proves nothing! I’ve been editing the designs. When this was created is no evidence. Not only did she plagiarize my work, but she is also throwing unfounded accusations on me!”
Josie nodded and typed on her keyboard. “It’s true. The dates don’t matter. But Ms. Robson, since you kept making changes to the design, didn’t you notice anything peculiar?”
Samantha turned to her design and looked through it quickly, not knowing what to reply.
Alice also quickly appraised the design and muttered, “I don’t see anything either…”
Josie crossed her hands in front of her chest and walked to Samantha. Then, she pointed at the top right corner.
If one didn’t look close enough, one wouldn’t have noticed that – there was a tiny watermark with the initials ‘J.W.’
It was Josie’s habit to leave a watermark on her work to avoid plagiarism.
Everyone was stunned to see that. It was as clear as day who was the original creator.
Samantha fell into her chair in despair, losing her composure.
“Before submitting my work, I would usually remove the watermark. This time around, you took my work before I could do that. I forgot about it until I got my laptop fixed.”
Josie was worried about her carelessness, but this time around, it helped her out.
“Tsk! I was just wondering how she could become a manager. What a loser.”
The colleagues talked among themselves, shooting disdainful and commiserating looks at Samantha.
Josie emerged as the winner this time around.
“I told you I would find evidence.” Josie pursed her lips firmly. “Do you remember what you told me? ‘I understand you would like to be promoted, but you can’t fake it’ – that’s what you said, and I return the same sentiments to you now.”
Samantha’s face was as pale as a ghost. Even her lips were trembling. She wanted to clear the air but couldn’t utter a word.
The humiliation after being discovered had ruined her image.
When everyone criticized her, a few security guards entered, followed by a formidable-looking man in a suit.
“This is Phil Yves, the human resources department manager.”
“Get her out. A dishonest person has no place here,” he instructed.
