Chapter 158
There wasn’t a word about plagiarism in the whole essay.
When Kimberly and Zachary had taken a look at the essay previously, they had focused on the sincerity of Aurelia’s written words and assumed that she had given up and accepted her fate.
In the end, Aurelia hadn’t given up at all.
Daniel said, “Ms. Simmons‘ words seem sincere. She clearly recognizes her mistake for interrupting during the meeting. Isn’t that right? Where did she admit to plagiarizing someone else’s work? I didn’t hear it at all.”
Kimberly and Zachary exchanged glances, and Kimberly immediately said, “There was no proposal in her laptop. There was only a draft of a proposal based on a fake idea I gave previously.
“We all have passwords on our laptops, so other people can’t access them. This is enough proof that she had plagiarized my work.”
Aurelia retorted, “Millie knows my password. She has gotten particularly close to Kimberly recently. The two of them started saying that they were each other’s best friends only yesterday.
“But Millie used to follow me around. I believe that this was all a trap.”
After speaking, Aurelia pretended to be deep in thought.
Millie was taken aback. She explained, “No, I don’t know her password. She’s lying. I’ve always been close to Kimberly. Just ask the others.”
The others? It seemed that Millie was still clueless about her current situation.
Did she truly think that everyone would fawn over her simply because she had a wealthy boyfriend?
Millie pointed at the others, but no one tried to help her.
“Millie and I are just colleagues. I don’t know much about who she’s friends with.”
“Millie has always been friendly with everyone in the office.”
Millie stood in place with a pale face.
Aurelia then presented her chat records with Millie and said, “Millie once asked me for the password to my laptop under the pretext of reviewing some case plans. Here’s the evidence.”
Millie was speechless.
With this turning point, most people expected Aurelia to take the opportunity to argue further.
To their surprise, Aurelia’s eyes turned red, and she lowered her head.
“Boss, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have spoken up, but I’ve been with the company since I graduated. I’m attached to this place, and I’m also attached to the proposal I had written.
“I had initially wanted to let things go, but this plagiarism incident is causing a significant impact on me. The whole building has been condemning me, so I had no choice but to stand
up for myself. I’m really sorry.”
She kept apologizing, then raised her hand to wipe the corners of her eyes, as if there were tears there.
Indeed, there were no tears.
She couldn’t be overly assertive at this moment, or the boss would resent her too.
She had to play the victim and make people think that she really couldn’t bear it any longer and was forced to speak up.
If anyone were to blame, it was Kimberly’s fault for not being discreet and insisting on making the plagiarism incident widely known to everyone.
Upon hearing Aurelia’s reluctant confession, the boss had no choice but to blame Kimberly for being so arrogant.
If it weren’t for Kimberly, the other departments in the building wouldn’t have known about the incident. Young Advertising’s competitors wouldn’t have learned about it either, let alone One Technology.
As expected, the boss turned to look at Kimberly reproachfully.
Kimberly’s arrogance vanished, and she wished she could sink into the ground.
At this moment, Daniel stepped forward.
“It seems that there’s more to this plagiarism incident than meets the eye. In order to ensure sincere cooperation between the two companies, I think it’s necessary to investigate further.”
“Investigate further? How?” The boss was momentarily puzzled.
“It seems that you’ve forgotten what our company does,” Daniel said, pointing to the two young men beside him.
The two men stepped forward and put down their laptop bags before saying in unison, “Give us Ms. Simmons‘ and Ms. Watson’s laptops. We can retrieve the records of the proposal.”
“My laptop is right here,” Aurelia said, taking out her laptop immediately.
Kimberly remained silent as she trembled.
