A Call That Changed Her Entire Life

'Dream on, ' Emily cursed in her mind, 'Jacob must be full of himself.'
"Earlier, Rose was planning to frame me, but luckily, she failed. I know that she won't give up that easily. I am certain she's
having someone monitor this room. If you step out now, any fool would be able to tell what happened between you and me..."
"What happened between you and me?" Jacob repeated, the corners of his mouth slowly lifting up, "You mean the secret affair
between you and me?"
Jacob had never thought that he would ever have anything to do with a "secret affair". 'Interesting, ' he thought.
"I didn't mean that, " Emily blushed, but asserted, "Anyway, you can't just walk out of here like that!"
Emily didn't want to think what Jack and Rose would do, if they had found out that Jacob was in her room all along. One way or
another, Emily wanted what happened today in her room to be a secret!
Jacob looked at Emily for a while, amused by the troubled look on her face. Suddenly, he ran his hand through her hair and
caressed it as if he was petting a kitten.
"I see, but, I need you to listen to me too. I want you to break up with Jack and stay away from him."
Emily was disconcerted to hear Jacob's words. Judging from his tone, she knew there was a hidden meaning in the words. But
what was it? She failed to figure it out.
She did not catch it even after Jacob had left after making a phone call.
The next day, it was the final round of the jewelry design competition.
Before the final round commenced, all the contestants waited eagerly; talking to each other; trying to feel out their competitors.
At first glance Emily saw Rose sitting there in her luxury dress, which made her look more attractive and striking. And she was
not alone. A man sat next to her. It was Jack, who wore as a prince. A handsome man with a fair lady—what a perfect match in
everyone's eyes.
But Emily only took a glance at the two and looked away. It was the final and she should focus on the competition without any
distraction.

As a consequence, she didn't notice that both Jack and Rose looked annoyed, even though they were upset for completely
different reasons.
Jack was in bad mood because he had waited for hours in the coffee lounge yesterday but Jacob did not show up. All he got was
just a message from Sam saying, "Something emergent came up and Mr. Jacob has to deal with it first, he won't be able to make
it".
He should have ignored Sam and broken into Emily's room yesterday. If so, he would have definitely caught Emily's "paramour"
after carefully searching her room.
Rose was in low spirits too, but for a totally different reason. The person she had paid to monitor Emily's room did not find
anything unusual or substantive. Oddly enough, it was as if the man had disappeared into thin air and never contacted her again.
Rose was hoping get credit for it by telling Jack what the man had uncovered, but her plan was ruined. So she sat there next to
Jack, depressed and disheartened.
The competition was just about to start. More and more people came to take their seats, and the judges also followed suit one
after another.
Emily couldn't calm her nerves down. When she took a random peek at the guest seats, she felt a bit short of breath.
She found a man sitting there with commanding presence, and a sense of indifference and nobility.
So Sam was speaking the truth? Jacob actually did have interest in jewelry? Otherwise, he would not be here.
'Anyway, I don't think he came here to see me, ' Emily cleared her mind of all the strange ideas, 'I am nobody to him; just another
girl he spent the night with.'
Suddenly, she came upon a realization—she had not seen Leo since he was trying to rape her yesterday. Jacob must have
taken care of it for her. Jacob, he seemed to always show up when she was in trouble...
Emily felt grateful to Jacob. However, she wouldn't forgive him for what he did to her yesterday. Every time Emily thought about
what happened yesterday, she would be stricken with a combination of anger and humiliation. Jacob not only took advantage of
her but also abused her.
'Damn it!'

Jacob noticed Emily staring at him from a distance. He abruptly shifted his glance to hers. Emily could clearly see the jocosity in
his eyes.
She suddenly felt a sharp discomfort in her back. She quickly shifted eyes from Jacob's and looked elsewhere.
There were five judges for this jewelry design competition. Leo was replaced by another judge. None of the other judges knew
where Leo was. In fact, no one asked about his whereabouts as if they were all told not to do so.
But some of the contestants felt curious about Leo's absence.
"Where is that judge? What's his name? Leo? He should have been one of them?"
"I heard that he is notoriously lascivious. May be he is too busy dating some beautiful woman and forgot about the competition."
"I have long felt that Leo is very unprofessional. He should have never been made a judge of such a prestigious competition. The
good news is, they have a great replacement for him. Do you know that he got replaced by Victor?"
"Mr. Victor? You mean that Victor?"
Those who heard the name were surprised and began to whisper in excitement.
When Emily heard the contestants talking about Leo, she felt somewhat pressured by the secret she was keeping, but when she
heard the name "Victor", her heart skipped a beat.
She absolutely knew who Victor was.
He won the championship of an international jewelry design competition at the age of 15. In the last ten years, he had won
numerous awards and prizes. Victor's work was vibrant and vivid, as if they had a life of their own. Anyone who looked at his
work would be astonished by its marvel. His creations were priceless; he was certainly a heavyweight champion in the jewelry
circle.
It was once Emily's dream to be Victor's assistant. However, as Victor obtained more and more achievements, Emily could not
catch up with him anymore.
She did not expect Victor to be one of the judges in this competition.
This made Emily even more nervous. She was afraid that she would make too many mistakes in competition. Thankfully, she
had done a good job through out.

All works were handed over to the judges. They scrutinized each of them in a heated discussion amongst themselves.
"I really appreciate Kary's idea in his design. He used colors in an expressive way—highly creative and romantic."
"Look at Chou's design. She was taught by the jewelry master Tiffany. Although you can find Tiffany's influence in her design,
she combines it fluently with her own style. Such an exquisite design..."
"As far as I can see, these contestants are all very talented. They all did a great job. However, I still feel that there is something
missing in their work..."
The judges set out their opinions and tried to persuade each other.
However, Victor kept a poker face in his seat. Despite the heated discussion of the judges, he did not participate.
When the discussion was about to come to an end, a senior judge cleared his throat and asked Victor, "Mr. Victor, what do you
think of these designs?"
Victor raised his head; finally there was a change in his facial expression. It was, however, an expression of impatience on his
face. He slowly opened his mouth and uttered only three words, "nothing but trash".
A deep silence reigned around the judges.
They felt like they had all been humiliated, but because it was Victor who had said so, they could do nothing but smile since they
had to show him respect.
Victor had no interest in these designs. If it were not for Jacob's request, he would not have come here to be a judge for the
competition.
Under the watchful eyes of the other judges, Victor started to leaf through the drawings of contestants in a calm manner. All of a
sudden, he was attracted by a design.
Soon the rest of he judges followed suit.
Drawn on the paper was a design of a gemstone brooch. The gemstone was shaped irregularly, like something no one had ever
imagined. A beautiful daisy bloomed in the center of the brooch. There was a new-born baby curling up and lying on the glittering
central disc of the flower, as if he was sound asleep, but was just about to open his eyes at the next second.
"Amazing, " the judge who spoke to Victor a moment ago was bedazzled by the brooch.

All the other judges nodded in agreement.
They were amazed, not only visually but also mentally, by the design. It gave a full expression to the glory of humanity and
motherhood. When they looked at the paper, they felt like they had touched the purest soul in the world and that they were free
from the dust of the world.