Chapter 511: This Is Just My Guess
After Michael left, Wendy walked to Zess and said, "I’ll help you." As she spoke, Wendy went to get another mop.
Zess hurriedly stopped her and smiled as she said, "You’re pregnant, you can’t do chores."
"Zess, you know that I’m pregnant?" Wendy asked a little awkwardly.
"I’ve been pregnant before, so I could tell. But since you denied it, it wouldn’t be good for me to probe," Zess said. "When Chairman Lucas and you returned from the hospital yesterday, the atmosphere was really tense. I suspected there was a problem and it scared me. Thankfully, everything seemed normal when the both of you came back today. Seeing how Chairman Lucas is so worried about you, it’s very easy to guess what’s up."
Hearing what Zess said, Wendy lowered her head slightly, not knowing what to say for a moment.
"What happened within this short span of time to cause such a drastic change in both of your mood?" Zess asked curiously.
"I’m indeed pregnant. We weren’t well prepared yesterday, so we didn’t want to keep this child. We went to the hospital this morning initially wanting go for an abortion, but they found that I wouldn’t be able to bear the risk of going ahead with the surgery, so we can only keep the child."
Wendy had never guarded against Zess, but there were some things that simply couldn’t be said. She could only tell Zess about it in this manner.
Zess nodded, looking like she was enlightened.
"Chairman Lucas loves children. It’s good to keep this child. Little Leah and little Jake will have one more playmate," Zess smiled as she said.
"Mm," Wendy said absently as she nodded.
"Go sit, I’ll cut you some fruit," Zess said as she was more or less done with her chores.
"You’ve been working hard, Zess," Wendy said.
"Don’t worry about it."
Wendy walked to the couch and sat down. With nothing much to do, she took out her cellphone and scrolled through Twitter. These days, Zen Tanner was trending.
Zen wasn’t that established in the fashion industry, and she had left when she was not yet famous. Furthermore, Zen had resigned from DR after she was pregnant and had gone to Rheinsville City, disappearing from the fashion scene for some time.
Now that she was able to trend on Twitter for half a month or so, it was clear that Christian was the one who had bought the attention with money.
Wendy tapped on one of the tweets about Zen. It was posted by DR. The tweet was not long, with only a statement and two pictures.
It said: Zen Tanner’s latest collection.
The accompanying pictures were a completed design draft and one of Zen’s pregnant belly at seven months.
There were many likes and comments below this tweet.
[Wow wow wow, that’s so pretty... Hurry up and release this new collection already! I can’t wait to buy it!]
[To the one above, don’t exaggerate. I think it’s very ordinary looking, not comparable at all to Corrine Swift’s design.]
[If you like Corrine’s design, go comment on Corrine’s tweet, what are you flexing here for.]
[Zen’s belly is so big, but she’s still working hard. You’re my idol. I can’t, I need to go work on preparing for my exams after working on this tweet.]
[I’m gagging... don’t y’all feel that this is a set up to promote her image as a strong woman? Stick to designing if you’re a designer. Why are you always talking about being pregnant and what not. Don’t draw if you’re tired from being pregnant... Who’s forcing you to draw... Oh my god, disgusting!]
...
[Someone finally said what I meant to say. Zen was such an inspiration at the start.
But now I’m gagging too. I see her every day... the kind that you can’t keep out of your feed even if you wanted to.]
[I’m a designer too. Honestly speaking, Zen’s standing in the fashion scene is really just that. Now that she’s trending every day, we can’t help speculating.]
[Y’all being salty! She’s just so hardworking and so inspirational, being able to produce good work. Zen wasn’t famous previously, but it doesn’t mean that she can’t be famous now. Y’all can’t say keep saying that their fame is bought each time they gain a little more attention!]
...
"Have some fruit." Zess served up the cut fruits and placed them on the table.
Wendy uttered a word of thanks, then continued to scroll through Twitter. This persona that Christian had created for Zen was clearly agitating some netizens. Too many cooks would indeed spoil the broth.
However, Wendy thought that Christian should very quickly buy an army of commenters to suppress all these negativity. Furthermore, the DR officials had already released Zen’s new designs, which meant that Christian was going to start the production for this batch of clothing very soon.
As long as the clothing started to enter the market, it would be able to earn revenue.
It would be fine even if there was no revenue. Christian did not intend to depend on Zen’s designs to earn for the company anyway.
As Wendy ate the fruit, she studied Zen’s designs diligently. Usually, before the clothing officially enters the market, designers will protect their designs very well, and will not easily reveal them. After all, there was this fear of the designs being plagiarized before the actual products were released into the market.
Wendy knew Christian’s motives. He wanted to generate publicity, to let everyone know that this batch of clothing was designed by Zen, and would be produced very soon. This was to build up her reputation.
However, Wendy felt something was a little strange. Being seven months pregnant right now, was Zen really drawing every day through the night? Perhaps Christian was forcing her to do so.
But inspiration cannot be forced. It doesn’t always come at your bidding.
Wendy tapped on an image and zoomed in to look closely. Wendy understood Zen’s style. Although this design looked like it was Zen’s, Wendy could see that it was merely an imitation. It did not look like it was from Zen.
Suddenly, Wendy thought of a possibility. But she was uncertain. She then gave Michael a call.
Michael had just reached the office. Seeing that Wendy was calling, he immediately answered, "Missing me already?"
"Oh quit it. I’m serious now," Wendy said. "I was scrolling through Twitter and saw the designs released by the DR officials. They don’t look like they came from Zen.
I’m not entirely sure. After all, Zen and I haven’t been working together for a while."
"Are you saying those designs weren’t by Zen? Or perhaps she couldn’t produce any satisfactory or suitable ones, so Christian simply found a designer to imitate Zen’s style?" Michael instantly understood what Wendy meant.
"This is just my guess, but it’s a good place to start," Wendy said. "You could try looking into this. If you can uncover the person behind these designs, Zen’s image would be destroyed and Christian will have no way of turning things around then."
"Alright, I’ll get someone to work on this immediately," Michael said.
...
Wendy had nothing on in the afternoon, so she went with Zess to fetch her two children from school. Seeing that her mother was here, Leah was especially happy and rushed straight into Wendy’s arms.
Zess spontaneously pulled her away and said, "Little Leah, you can’t go at Mommy like this, alright?"
"Why not?" Leah blinked her huge eyes and was very perplexed. "Mommy doesn’t like me anymore?"
"Of course not," Wendy held Leah’s little hand with one hand and smiled as she said.
"Mommy will always love you very much, and will love you forever."
"Then why not?" Leah asked again.
Wendy was embarrassed to tell the children about her pregnancy and gave Zess a look. Zess smiled and explained, "Because there’s a little baby in Mommy’s tummy.
Soon, you will have a little brother or a little sister. Are you happy?"
"Really!" Leah’s eyes lit up quickly, "Daddy asked yesterday if I would like to have a little brother or sister. And now, Mommy has a baby in her tummy. How quick!"
Leah did not understand pregnancy. She thought her parents could simply conceive a child just because she wanted another sibling.
Jake stole a side glance at Wendy’s tummy for quite a while. Indeed, mommy was really pregnant. Jake’s little face scrunched up. But when he studied his mother’s expression, she seemed a little better today.
"Since Mommy is having a little baby, little Leah will be a big sister soon. You’ll have to take care of Mommy and the little baby," Zess smiled as she said.
"I will." Leah nodded, taking on the airs of an elder sister immediately, and reached out to lightly touch Wendy’s tummy.
Seeing that Jake was standing aside with a dark face, Wendy reached out to pull him over. Jake hesitated, and then walked over and stretched out his little hand.
Wendy knew her son was very intelligent and had his own way of thinking. Seeing that he looked unhappy, Wendy felt a little bothered.
"He doesn’t want a younger sibling?" Wendy thought. Wendy had decided to abort this child party because of Jake. She was afraid that if the child was really Clement’s, Jake and this child would turn out to be like Michael and Christian.
Wendy knew very well about how hurt and aggrieved Michael felt since he was a child. She was afraid that Jake and the child in her tummy would fight each other in future.
But there was no point thinking about such things right now. Michael would never allow her to go through the abortion due to the risks involved.
She and Michael had already agreed to treat this child as their own. Besides, Jake and this unborn child would grow up under different circumstances compared to Michael and Christian during their childhood. Michael was not Anthony Lucas.
"Little Jake, you don’t want this sibling?" Wendy asked Jake gently.
Jake lowered his head and said, "As long as Mommy is happy."
Wendy could hear that there was no happiness in Jake’s tone. Since she had decided to keep this child, Wendy would need to have a good chat with Jake.
At the very least, she had to know why Jake unhappy. She had to allay his fears that she would no longer love them when another sibling came along.
Once they were home, Wendy said to Jake, "Little Jake, could you come over and have a chat with Mommy?"
