Matthew seemed irritated.
Ellie hurriedly explained, “Uncle Matt, it’s not like that. She’s still in her hometown right now; she’ll thank you properly when she returns to D City. Sigh…do they have to be this cruel to her just because she left? If they parted ways peacefully, Clare would definitely be grateful to them. Now both Clare and Twilight are in trouble. Fantastic. But most importantly, Clare is innocent in all this!”
This is so weird and evil that Twilight Company had asked for the Netizens’ help to make it viral. Does this matter even more than celebrity news?
She was still worried even though they had found out that it was Twilight Company’s fault. However, it became worse because of the assistant’s recklessness at Justin Yates Studio and because of Justin’s influence himself.
“She’s a rather good troublemaker too.”
He sounded as if he was disdainful of the trouble Clarissa caused.
Ellie quickly defended her, “Uncle Matt, Clare is not that kind of person. She hates conflict and avoids them as much as possible. You have no idea how she shuns away from asking others for help and always tries to be independent. I’m the one who reached out to you this time, and I’m the one who begged her for your help previously, so please understand this.”
The man raised his eyebrows while his dark gaze gleamed.
“Always tries to be independent?”
“Yeah. Since she only had her grandmother growing up, she became very independent and strong, which can sometimes be annoying. I just wish that she would be brave enough to ask for help. However, I’m used to it after being friends with her, and I’m always the one who forced her to do things. Otherwise, she would never speak up. I’m her best friend after all.”
He was deep in thought, and Ellie didn’t explain further. “I have to go, Uncle Matt. Please be understanding towards her for my sake. We’ll thank you properly as soon as she returns to D City. Bye!”
After Ellie had left the office, the man still didn’t react.
Then, he took out a cigarette, lit it, and stood in front of the French windows. Squinting his eyes, he puffed out the smoke, which rose into the air and drifted away.
…
A few days later, Clarissa finally went online and saw that the matter had slowly subsided.
In fact, Twilight’s official website was filled with apologetic comments, and Elsa had admitted her plagiarism. But what moved Clarissa the most was Justin’s post.
He expressed his appreciation for @clarissa.quigley and desired to collaborate with her. However, he would only discuss it with her after she had terminated the contract with Twilight to show his support toward her and not the company.
Since he had disabled his comments, many still sent apologies directly to his account.
Nonetheless, their apologies were still too late for Clarissa.
It was then she had only seen Jane’s several calls and texts during that period, so she finally returned the chief editor’s call.
Jane answered shortly afterward and apologized quickly, “Clarissa, I’m sorry, please forgive us. I had no choice as it was Mr. Johnson’s orders. Please forgive me for the sake of our friendship.”
“You should be the one letting me go instead, Jane.”
“Clarissa, we’re sincerely sorry. Would you please ask your lawyer to withdraw the charges? Mr. Johnson is blaming me for everything, but I’m innocent…”
“Charges?” Clarissa was shocked.
“Yes. Please, Clarissa, we didn’t know any better. Please have mercy on us, and we’ll compensate you when you withdraw the charges.”
Clarissa then had an idea of the reason behind why the charges were made.
Although she didn’t know much about Hector, the attorney, he must be exceptional to work at Tyson Corporation. She remembered Ellie telling her that he had never lost any lawsuits and could make Twilight go bankrupt if he wanted to.
“Clarissa? Clarissa? Are you there?” She asked carefully to avoid offending her again.
“Ms. White, I’m still in my hometown, and everything is taken care of by the attorney. I’ll talk to him when I return to D City.”
“What do you mean?”
Clarissa sighed. “I’m not a merciless person. Besides, Twilight has helped me a lot all these years. I’ll play by ear when I return. Don’t worry.”
“Alright, thank you so much, Clarissa, thank you…”
When Clarissa hung up, her grandmother asked, “Are you returning?”
“Yes, Grandma, but I’ll be back after settling this matter.”
“What for?” Catherine became upset. “You can’t leave your boyfriend just because you settled your work matters. Didn’t you say there’s nothing wrong between you two? What do you mean by that? You finally got one, and I like him, so don’t be stubborn! Clary, don’t all the young couples call each other for a long period? Why didn’t you call each other at all? That’s so unusual!”
Since her grandmother became anxious about her boyfriend, she swallowed her words.
“Alright, I won’t come back. I’ll be engaged to him, okay?”
“That’s for the best!”
“…” Clarissa was speechless.
The next day, she packed her things and flew back to D City.
When she got back to her apartment, everything was the same as how she left it.
Without a second thought, she cleaned the whole apartment thoroughly and ordered some takeout.
In the afternoon, she contacted Hector and went to his office.
After the meeting, Clarissa filed to withdraw the lawsuit in the end.
Hector was not surprised and agreed to her request, but he would still ask Twilight and Elsa for compensation and a public apology.
She had no other objections about it. After the deal was done, she left and headed to Ellie’s studio.
Ellie didn’t say much as the matter was resolved.
So Clarissa stayed there for the whole night as she wanted to avoid her boyfriend.
“Clare, you’re free tonight, right?”
Pulled back to her senses by Ellie’s question, Clarissa shook her head. “Yes, I’m free.”
“Good. Let’s go eat and meet up with Mr. Justin.”
“Director Yates?”
“That’s right. I know that you admire him. Besides, both of you can talk about the partnership.”
So they went to Skylight Restaurant. Clarissa originally thought that Ellie had arranged for her to meet Justin, but she felt awkward as soon as she stepped into the private lounge.
Matthew and Justin were talking to each other, and even Jeremy and Yarick were there. Clarissa felt shocked by the scene.
“Mr. Jeremy, are you here to join in the fun?”
There was a flash across Jeremy’s eyes, and he smiled. “Of course!”
Then, he looked at Clarissa and greeted her warmly, “Hi, Ms. Quigley! It’s been a while!”
She smiled weakly with an uneasy look. Before she could speak, Ellie had put an arm around her.
“Don’t be shy, Clare! You know the rest of them anyway. This is Mr. Justin, a good friend of Uncle Matt’s. It was thanks to him that he helped resolve this matter. Justin, didn’t you say that you admire Clare? Talk to her yourself!”
Justin turned to look at her while Matthew elegantly sipped on his drink. However, Clarissa was staring at Matthew before meeting Justin’s gaze, but Justin grinned teasingly at her.
She instantly flushed with embarrassment. Lowering her voice, she spoke, “Nice to meet you, Director Yates.”
“The pleasure is mine, Ms. Quigley.”
Their formal attitude didn’t raise Ellie’s suspicion, and Clarissa didn’t know if Matthew meant it like that or it was normal among them.
Nonetheless, Clarissa was very grateful.
Clarissa glanced at Matthew again and spoke bashfully, “Long time no see, Uncle Matthew.”
As if he didn’t hear it, he glimpsed at her and responded briefly after a moment of silence.
Clarissa held her breath and tightened her fists while her face turned pale.
Matthew’s indifferent attitude was obvious to everyone.
The other men assumed that they were going through a conflict with each other.
However, since Ellie was unaware of their relationship, she asked Clarissa to sit down and complained, “Uncle Matt, don’t ruin the mood! Clare, don’t take it to heart. Let’s eat…”
After hearing Ellie’s words, they smiled and began their meal.
Everyone else was friendly except Matthew.
When they mentioned the matter concerning Clarissa, Justin stated that he was also responsible for it. He didn’t expect such a thing to happen as he had no idea that she would terminate her contract with Twilight Company and had asked someone to contact her.
“You can make your own decisions when you set up your own studio, Ms. Quigley.”
Clarissa appreciatively accepted his advice. She stood up and thanked them formally by giving a toast. “Uncle Matthew and Director Yates, thank you for your help this time. Cheers!”
After the toast, she gulped her drink down, and Justin smiled and drank too. However, everyone’s attention fell on Matthew as he didn’t respond for a long time.
