With the bet she’d made with Jonathan, Niamh felt a surge of motivation.
The preliminary theme for the Nova Jewelry Design Awards was “the ocean,”
The first thing that came to mind was the color blue. Both Sophia and Natalie suggested that Niamh design a piece featuring sapphire or blue diamonds.
Niamh could tell they were still enchanted by the Heart of the Ocean from Titanic.
Admittedly, the Heart of the Ocean was a classic. But precisely because that iconic piece already existed, Niamh felt that no matter how hard anyone tried, it would be nearly impossible to surpass it–and there was always the risk of being accused of copying or imitation.
She spent the entire day thinking before finally putting pencil to paper.
Whenever she grew tired of sketching, she’d rest her head on her desk and doze off. Still, the process was going more smoothly than she’d expected.
Meanwhile, over at T&R, as soon as Marina learned that Niamh was entering the Nova Jewelry Design Awards, she assigned Quentin a mission: no matter what, he had to get a photo of Niamh’s preliminary design draft.
Quentin was blindly loyal to her–he was her employee, after all–so Marina had secretly planted him in Niamh’s studio, allowing her to keep tabs on Niamh’s every
move.
In the executive office, Marina was working on her own sketches.
At first glance, her design looked almost identical to the Heart of the Ocean–but even more extravagant.
Around the original heart–shaped gemstone, Marina drew three concentric rows of diamonds. In her mind, this not only fit the “ocean” theme but also represented her attempt to reinvent and elevate the Heart of the Ocean.
She had just finished her sketch when her phone pinged.
Seeing that Quentin had sent her an image, Marina’s eyes lit up instantly.
She opened the picture, excitement gleaming in her smile–only for that.nile to freeze on her lips.
The Nova Jewelry Design Awards gave each contestant just one week to prepare for the preliminaries.
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After that week, they had to submit their design drafts and photos of the finished pieces on the competition’s website. Two weeks later, the website would announce which designers had advanced to the next round and publish their work’s scores.
Niamh felt utterly confident that she’d make it to the semifinals.
And two weeks later, just as she’d anticipated, her name appeared on the published
list.
Of course, Marina’s name was there too.
Niamh still didn’t think Marina’s skills surpassed her own.
But in their two previous head–to–head battles, Marina had swept the floor with her, so Niamh never underestimated her as a rival.
This time, twenty designers made it through the preliminaries–only Niamh and Marina chose not to use sapphires to represent the ocean.
They both used pearls.
When Niamh saw Marina’s piece displayed on the official website, she was stunned.
“Did Marina really have the same idea as me?”
Niamh frowned.
She had chosen a flawless Australian white pearl as the centerpiece, accented with sapphires and diamonds, and crafted it into a brooch shaped like ocean waves.
Marina had also used an Australian white pearl–but hers was a pendant, not a
brooch.
On closer comparison, Niamh saw that Marina’s pearl pendant also featured a central Australian white pearl, with sapphires and diamonds as embellishments. At first glance, it resembled an olive branch, but the more she looked, the more she saw the clever illusion: it could just as easily be interpreted as a wave.
The concept was identical to her own brooch.
Yet somehow, her brooch had scored lower than Marina’s pendant.
A coincidence?
Niamh mentally drew a question mark.
And if it wasn’t a coincidence?
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She couldn’t forget–back when she worked as Jonathan’s secretary at The Thomas Group, she’d also been designing for FY
And one of her designs… had been stolen by Marina before.
