Chapter 325 - 312: I Will Resign

Hannah Gardner lay her head on the table, waiting for the meal. "Mr. Shaw, when will Ms. Thorne be in a better mood?"

Georgia Thorne hadn’t eaten anything this morning and had spent the entire time in her bedroom. The news today must have been a huge blow to her.

Byron Shaw had seen today’s news. The story was still trending, and the impact on Georgia Thorne was terrible.

In this situation, even taking legal action wouldn’t be enough to silence everyone. It might even backfire.

Georgia Thorne mumbled a reply, then grabbed the phone by her pillow and glanced at it again. Still no text from him.

’Did he not see the news today? Or is he out of the country right now?’

The phone chimed. She scrambled to grab it, only to see that the new message was from Justin Sullivan again.

Georgia Thorne’s plagiarism scandal was a serious matter. When she went to work on Monday, she was immediately called into Seth Shields’s office.

Seth Shields pointed at the newspaper headline. "What is this! Georgia Thorne, I recommended you for this competition because I valued your talent, not so you could go out and plagiarize someone else, disgracing yourself and all of us!"

"Team Leader, I’m so sorry for embarrassing you!" Georgia Thorne was full of apologies.

"Georgia Thorne, you have the skill. Why would you plagiarize? And from the same person, no less... Ugh!" Seth Shields was so angry he didn’t know what to say. "You can explain it to the department head in a bit!"

Yesterday’s news had caused such a huge stir that all of Georgia Thorne’s past competition history had been dug up. The moment the department head arrived this morning, he had told him to send Georgia over.

The head of the Design Department was a Laurentian of Chinese descent, transferred from the Laurentian branch office a few years ago.

"Sir, hello." Georgia Thorne knocked and entered.

Georgia Thorne had only ever met their department head once—this time.

"Do you have any idea what impression the public has of our company right now? They think we hired a plagiarist! Many clients have said they will no longer use our company to design their clothing lines unless you resign voluntarily!" The department head got straight to the point, outlining the negative impact Georgia’s news had on the company and slamming his hand on the desk. "Georgia Thorne, you’d better think of an answer for me that will convince me not to fire you!"

"I didn’t plagiarize!"

"Is that so? Do you think anyone will believe that plain, unadorned statement?" The department head squinted at her. "Even if I believe you, can you make that pack of reporters outside believe you? Can you make everyone discussing this believe you?!"

"Saying that is completely useless!"

"Sir, I am very sorry!"

"Sorry is useless. If you’re saying you didn’t plagiarize, then that means someone else plagiarized you. Can you produce concrete evidence of that?"

It was precisely because Georgia Thorne couldn’t produce any evidence that she hadn’t been able to say a single word in her own defense back then.

"Sir, I will resign voluntarily," Georgia Thorne said, taking a deep breath.

’There were really only two ways to solve this problem now.’

’One was to produce evidence proving that Yulia Upton had plagiarized her. The other was for her to resign from the company so it wouldn’t suffer any more negative repercussions.’

’Clearly, she could only choose the latter.’

"I will issue a statement tomorrow. That’s all. You may leave."

"Yes, sir."

When Georgia Thorne returned to her office, Vivian Sawyer rushed over. "Miss Thorne, I heard you were called into the department head’s office. Are you okay?"

"It wasn’t anything major." Georgia Thorne opened her laptop and started writing her resignation letter.

Vivian Sawyer glanced over. "Miss Thorne, you said it was nothing! Why are you writing a resignation letter?"

"The company is being kind by letting me resign on my own."

"But if you leave, what will I do?!" Vivian Sawyer looked like she was about to hug her and burst into tears. "It’s over, it’s over! I’m definitely going to have to intern under that Laura Chase now!"

"No, you won’t. You’re studying jewelry design. I showed your designs to a designer in Department A before. One of them really appreciated your work and will have you transferred to intern under him."

"WAAAH! Miss Thorne, you’re too good to me!" This time, Vivian Sawyer really did hug her. "But I’ll miss you so much!"

"We’re still friends. We can still meet up for tea. You’ll learn so much by studying under a real jewelry designer. You won’t have to follow me around doing grunt work all day!"

"Miss Thorne..."

Georgia Thorne submitted her resignation letter, then packed her things and left.

She’d worked here for a few months. Leaving everything behind, she was filled with a sense of reluctance.

"Sorry for all the trouble during this time."

After resigning, Georgia Thorne felt a sense of relief, but at the same time, the pressure felt immense.

She opened her phone. Weibo notified her of countless unread private messages, and she had an unreadable number of texts from people who were concerned about her.

But the one person she was waiting to hear from had yet to send a single message.

When she got home, Hannah Gardner was in the apartment playing with the cat, and the ever-busy Byron Shaw was also home for once.

"Ms. Thorne, you’re back!" Hannah Gardner ran over happily, then noticed the big box in Georgia Thorne’s hands. "What’s that?"

Byron Shaw glanced over. "You quit?"

"Yup. I’m unemployed again!" Georgia Thorne put the box on the coffee table. "Uncle, I don’t think I’ll be able to find a job for a while. Can you support me for a bit?"

「Three days after she resigned」

Georgia Thorne took Hannah Gardner to the zoo.

The sun was bright, and even though it wasn’t a weekend, the zoo was packed with visitors.

Hannah Gardner was exceptionally curious, dragging Georgia Thorne to see the lions one moment and the zebras the next.

After half the morning, Hannah’s face was flushed from running, and he took off his jacket.

Georgia Thorne followed behind him. "It’s noon. Want to get something to eat?"

The zoo had places to eat. Georgia Thorne ordered a combo meal.

"You sit here and don’t run off. I’m going to the restroom," Georgia Thorne instructed, still a bit worried.

"Okay!" Hannah Gardner looked around at the scenery. He could still see the lions in their enclosure not far away, so excited he wished he could press his eyes right up against the glass.

The moment Georgia Thorne went to the restroom, Hannah Gardner immediately looked away and fished the phone out of her bag.

He made a call. "Uncle, why aren’t you here yet? ... Ms. Thorne and I are eating at the restaurant right now!"

Hannah Gardner didn’t know many characters yet, and the restaurant’s sign was written in traditional characters, which he recognized even less. So he had to describe the surrounding landmarks. "There are some really, really big lions across from the restaurant. Oh, and they’re selling candied haws at the entrance! Ms. Thorne and I are sitting right by the window, so you’ll see us as soon as you get here!"

After reporting in, Hannah Gardner cleverly followed Elliot Sheridan’s instructions, deleted the call history from the phone, stuffed it back into Georgia Thorne’s bag, and went back to watching from the window.

When Georgia Thorne came out of the restroom, Hannah Gardner had an innocent look on his face. "Why aren’t you eating?"

"I wanted to wait for you to come out so we could eat together!" Hannah said sweetly.

"Go on, eat up, so you have energy to keep exploring later!"

After they finished eating, Hannah Gardner seemed very tired and didn’t want to leave.

He pestered Georgia Thorne for some milk tea. As soon as she got up to buy it, Hannah immediately pressed his face against the glass.

’Why is Mr. Sheridan so slow? We’ve already finished eating, and he’s still not here.’

Georgia Thorne brought him the milk tea he wanted and waited for him to finish. "Alright, we can go now, right?"

"Wait, I think I drank too much milk tea. I have to pee!"

"Go on, then. The restroom is straight ahead!"

Hannah Gardner put down his milk tea, clutched his crotch as if he were in a huge hurry, and dashed toward the restroom.

Georgia Thorne picked up her phone and started playing a game out of boredom. She had just cleared a level when a deep voice sounded from above her.

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

Georgia Thorne wanted to say she didn’t mind. Sharing a table was normal in a crowded place.

However, the moment she looked up and saw that face she hadn’t seen in so long, she froze, unable to react. The word "no" was stuck in her throat, refusing to come out.

’In this vast sea of people, how could he possibly appear here, and right in front of me, of all places?’

Her throat felt tight, and her eyes began to sting. Under the table, her fingers dug into her pants. She said nothing.

It was the man opposite her who suddenly spoke. "If you don’t want to see me, I can leave right now."

He had been out of town on business for the past two days. There had been an incident at a construction site, and the manager there was at a complete loss. The matter was of great importance, so he had to go handle it personally.

The weather there was bad—non-stop dreary rain, the sky a constant yellow. He had developed a low-grade fever after his first day there.

When he finally finished his work and rushed back, the first major thing he saw was the news about Georgia Thorne’s plagiarism.

The news was flying all over the place. He learned from Nathan Rhodes that Georgia Thorne had already voluntarily resigned from her company.

In his anxiety, he had called Georgia Thorne, though he’d hesitated while it was ringing, wondering if she would even pick up.

The call connected, but it was Hannah Gardner who answered. An idea sparked in his mind, leading to today’s scene.

Georgia Thorne remained silent, her stinging eyes fixed on him. She hadn’t seen him for a while, and he seemed to have lost a lot of weight. He looked much more haggard.

’His voice sounded a little nasal, too. He’s probably caught a cold.’

Beneath her calm expression, a tempest was raging inside her. She was filled with grievances she longed to pour out to the man before her, but she couldn’t.

Elliot Sheridan thought she truly didn’t want to see him. He stood up, leaving behind an apology.

Just as he was about to leave, Hannah Gardner came running out of the restroom, his childish voice crisp and clear. "Mr. Sheridan, you’re here too!"

The little guy was incredibly clever. He had deliberately stalled in the restroom to wait for Elliot Sheridan to arrive, and he had even taken the time to figure out how to greet him to make himself look surprised.