Unfinished Business with You

Chapter 22

Anna pounded on the table furiously.

Just then, two more people came in from outside. They were designers at her fashion studio and they were all in the same situation.

“Miss Anna, our sketches are gone too.”

“Yeah, so is mine.”

That was when Anna realized the severity of the situation. “Get a technician to come have a look right now.”

From outside, a man replied, “The technician was just with me earlier. He said either someone erased it or we were hacked.”

She was stunned. “Hacked?”

What hacker would want to attack my small studio?

“Is there no way to recover it?” she asked desperately.

“Unfortunately, there isn’t. The technician said it was a skilled hacker. He can’t seem to find a trace.”

Anna flopped in her chair with a ghastly look on her face.

Sarah consoled, “Don’t panic, Miss Anna. Do you guys have any hand-drawn sketches? If you polish it up a bit, you can probably still make it in time for the registration.”

Anna glared at Sarah. “Are you a fool? The contest wants us to submit a digital copy of our designs!” Sarah fell silent. She only wanted to comfort Anna. Anna brushed them off, “Okay, just get out. All of you.”

They started to shuffle out of the room.

Anna sat in her chair completely dumbfounded. Who would hack her tiny studio?

She got up and closed the door to her office then made a phone call.

“Ben, can you come over right now?”

A man gushed from the other end of the phone, “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

“Someone hacked my computer and all my designs are gone,” she said anxiously.

“Don’t fret, sweetheart. I’m out of town right now. Can I go tomorrow? I’ll take a look at it for you tomorrow.”

She frowned. “Can’t you come back now?”

“Sweetheart, I’m in Mastar. I can make it back tomorrow at the earliest. Don’t worry. When have I ever pushed off your things?”

She murmured, “When is your flight? I’ll go and pick you up.”

The voice on the phone suddenly turned dubious. “Do you miss me already?”

“Ugh, did you have to ask?” she grumbled and started to blush.

He laughed. “I’ll let you know after I book the plane tickets. I miss you to death.”

They flirted back and forth for a while before hanging up.

She sat in her chair and spent some time thinking. I can’t just sit here in defeat. What if Ben can’t recover the data either? Won’t I just be wasting my time?

All of a sudden, she sprung up and left the studio, then drove home to the Maxwell Residence.

When she got home, Amy was the only one there.

“Mom!” she yelled as soon as she entered the house.

Amy was quite taken aback to see Anna come home. “Why are you back already?”

“Did you throw away all of Olivia’s things?” Anna asked.

Amy could not understand what was happening. “All of her things are in storage.”

Anna did not have time to explain and went straight into the storage. She searched through it for about half an hour before coming out with a book of design sketches. All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

Amy asked, “What is that?”

“Design sketches. The sketch I prepared for the competition got erased. There are only a few more days left before the registration closes. I’m going to see if I can find anything useful in here,” she said as she flipped through the book.

Those sketches came from the sudden bursts of inspiration Olivia got while she studied design. They were all compiled into one thick book. When Olivia left the house last time, she did not manage to take all these things with her.

Anna stopped flipping abruptly and her gaze fell on the page in front of her. There were four formal wear sketches altogether; each of them was in a different shade—plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum. There was a fusion of traditional Chinese art in the designs and each one was mesmerizing and refreshing to look at.

Originally, Anna wanted to come home to distract herself. She figured those designs from years ago must be out of fashion by now. She did not expect, however, that Olivia would have such contemporary ideas in designs from seven years ago.

“This one. I should be able to use this to enter the contest,” she mused.

Amy was slightly concerned. “I heard that Olivia is back. If she catches you, aren’t you afraid she’ll sue you for copyright infringement?”