Chapter 512 - Conspiracy

Curiosity filled Lisa's mind after she heard Maria's accusation. The woman took a few steps forward then took the two brown envelopes. She opened one of the envelopes and began to skim through it.

At first glance, the two proposals do look similar. The title is almost the same and not to mention the estimated costs that will be incurred are the same. Not only that, even the preface is exactly the same. 

Seeing the two proposals made Lisa's head spin even more. When she looked for references on the internet, she never found the proposal that is now in her hands! All the proposals that she worked on for a whole week were purely her own work.

"Okay, I do admit that these two proposals are exactly the same." Lisa put the two proposals into each brown envelope. "But how come you said that I copied someone else's proposal? Why isn't this person accused of copying my proposal?"

"Are you dumb??? I already told you that it was a proposal that was made last month, while your proposal was only given to me last week!" 

Maria took a deep breath and massaged her temples. "Oh God... Do you know how embarrassed this company is because of you? After you gave me your fake proposal, the company directly sent it to the High Creative Ads company. Not long after, we were immediately contacted by High Creative Ads."

"At first, I thought that the advertising company would give us good news. Because if I'm honest, your proposal is very good, so we are 100 percent sure that they will cooperate with us. But it turns out that Mrs. Indri was actually scolded by representatives from High Creative Ads!"

This time, anger was already eating away at Maria's heart. The woman got up from her work chair and pounded the table with her bare hands.

"And you know what! That company said that they refused to cooperate with us because they knew your proposal was just a result of a copy paste work!" Maria snapped. The feeling of shame she experienced still lingers inside her!

Lisa took a few steps back after she heard the thud of the table. The look on her face turned shocked for a moment, but in the snap of a finger, her expression became even.

"How could they say that my proposal is just a copy paste?" Lisa asked flatly. Maria then heard it and replied rudely.

"You're so stupid! They sent back the proposal to us! After they called us, they immediately came here and gave the two proposals to Mrs. Indri!"

"And you know," Maria took a deep breath and then sat back in her chair. Her throat felt as dry as the Sahara desert from her frequent screams that morning. "The person who made the proposal works for this company."

Deep down, Lisa knew that what Maria said was a lie. She knew that it was actually Maria who sent the copy of the proposal to the High Creative Ads company, not someone else. That demonic woman must have worked hard enough to imitate her proposal.

In the past, Lisa should not have accepted the offer to work on the project from Maria's hands. She should have known there was going to be a big problem when Maria suddenly gave her the big project. That demonic woman in the human mask must have planned all of this long ago.

Since people make mistakes that at some point they will regret it and try to improve themselves, Lisa foolishly forgave Maria. The woman thought that Maria had finally repented and was willing to cooperate with her. After all, they share a relationship between superior and an employee now.

Even though Lisa was extremely tired of working on that thick proposal, she worked on it with a light heart. The thought that Maria might already be on her side made her job easier. But unfortunately, everything was just a trick and she fell for the demonic woman's sweet talk. Lisa thought that her proposal would definitely be accepted and yet, things came to ruin this fast.

Lisa thought that Maria would be a professional boss, just like her, who tried to be professional as an employee. She firmly believed that personal problems shouldn't be dragged into their working environment.

But it turned out that everything she expected was wrong!

Now, standing in front of Maria's desk, Lisa knew she had made the wrong move. She should have known that he was being lured into Maria's trap!

"Ma'am, I swear that this proposal is purely my hard work. I couldn't even sleep just to finish it on time! Can you imagine how I feel now after hearing that you accuse me of copying someone else's proposal?!" Lisa snapped. Now, she didn't care whether she had to be polite or not. Her anger clearly blinded her judgement.

Maria was no less furious than Lisa. "Yes, you stay up all night just to cheat, right! It's okay, you just have to admit that you cheated! It's better to be honest and get a proper punishment than to lie so that your punishment will be even more severe!"

"Jeez, how many times do I need to tell you that I worked on this proposal by myself! I have copy-pasted it from the internet!" Lisa repeated, trying to defend herself.

"Alright, how about we call the person who said they made the original proposal? I dare them to come and face me!" Lisa challenged, not wanting to lose. Perhaps if she met the person said to be the original owner of the proposal, she would know that this person was Maria's messenger.

Maria laughed and then pressed the button to call out to Aaron. "Who's scared?"

***

10 minutes later, Maria's door was opened from the outside. Not long after that, the sound of loafers and high heels came from behind Lisa. Without looking back, Lisa already knew that Maria's messenger had arrived.

"Mrs. Maria, I have already called Miss Patricia Grace," Aaron said politely.

Maria nodded her head, "You can come out."

After Aaron left Maria's room, the atmosphere in the study was tense. Lisa didn't know if Patricia was Maria's messenger, because to be honest, she had never met the woman.

"Mrs. Maria, are you looking for me?" Patricia asked politely, no less polite than Lisa or Aaron.

Maria handed the two brown envelopes that Lisa had opened in front of the woman. "Patricia, is it true that you were the one who worked on the proposal last week?"