One Step Closer!

By this time, the music had turned on and the models started walking out.

At this moment, a thought crossed Natalie's mind. 'Is this what despair is? Is it true that she can't even win against Erlyn?'

No! I will not surrender!

Nia's face is also red with anger, she said excitedly, "That bitch…! At least let me hit her for you!"

But Natalie pulled her once again, trying to calm her down.

"Then what should we do? You've been fighting hard all week, and because of my stupidity, you don't have a model…" Nia's eyes were already starting to get wet.

Natalie smiled and gently wiped Nia's tears. "It's okay, let me do it by myself!"

"Can you really do that?" Nia's face looks confused.

Natalie was around 155 cm, her height was very far from the standard of a model. But when Nia saw Natalie's eyes, she knew that she couldn't break her best friend's spirit.

Natalie looked at her watch. "Instead of brooding and fuming like this, how about you help me by bringing me the shoes in your room? Luckily, we went last so we have time to prepare."

The process went smoothly, it only took Nia 10 minutes to return to the backstage.

With the right High heels that reached 10 cm, the height problem was already solved for her.

Now with Nia's help, the process of making up and styling her hair also went faster.

Two minutes before the show, all preparations had been completed.

In this assessment, there were 4 judges who would judge each participant. From behind the curtain, Natalie looked at each one of them.

The first was Kevin, the Dean of the fashion design department. The second one was one of the world's famous fashion designers, namely Mike. And the third was… Reynold. It seemed that her fiancé was secretly helping to orchestrate Erlyn's scheming behind the scenes.

When she looked at Reynold, the man had a strange look in his eyes. He used to be handsome and friendly, but for some reason, he'd completely changed and now all he could give her was anger and disappointment.

Pinching her own thigh, Natalie tried to stay calm.

And the last one on the far right… was a person wearing a black suit, his face was firm and handsome but his eyes were sharp and cold. It was as if his gaze could penetrate everything in this world.

His strong figure overpowered the auras of the other three judges.

And that person was Anthony Stefano!

Geez, it really is Anthony Stevano!

Lately, Natalie was so busy with her design that she forgot the incident of breaking the man's car window.

In light of the incident, Natalie had lost all hope of winning. Even her own legs had gone limp like noodles.

After the event had been running for so long, Anthony felt so bored.

He kept his eyes on his cell phone. He didn't even say anything about the looks of the models.

But at this moment, Natalie's presence on stage took him by surprise.

In an instant, he straightened his back and his eyes lit up.

With a river themed stage in the background, a girl came out from the side of the stage using a paper umbrella.

Cherry blossoms scattered from above and rained down on the model as she walked to the center of the stage.

Her yukata-inspired dress was combined with the nuances of batik. As she spun her paper umbrella, the cherry blossoms that were clinging to it scattered.

Looking through the flowers, the model's beautiful face looked even more elegant.

This short show that lasted less than a minute was over. The entire Youth Hall was silent for 3 seconds, after which the applause of hundreds of people could be heard.

Even Erlyn, who had always looked down on Natalie, couldn't help but be dumbfounded this time.

She never realized Natalie's talent.

She didn't notice Natalie's elf-like beauty.

Her mouth was wide open and her eyes were wide as if they wanted to pop out of her eye sockets.

Anthony smiled with satisfaction and his hand subconsciously rubbed his ring finger. This woman was completely different from the others.

After Natalie's performance, it was now time for judgment.

Now the models were asked to line up on the stage according to their sequence of performance. Meanwhile, the judges would present their assessment from their seats.

On stage, Natalie stood nervously.

As a designer, she was quite experienced. But as a model, this was her first time walking the runway.

She looked at Anthony once more. Did the man have a grudge against her for not paying for his damaged car? Would this be the perfect chance for him to vent his anger?

"Now let's see the score of model number 1. The score of the first judge is ten, the second judge is ten, and the third is also ten…"

The emcee conveyed the judges' assessment professionally.

Ten is the highest score. With the first 3 judges giving it ten points, Erlyn's design really deserves thumbs up.

"And the fourth judge gave a score of … zero!"

When the emcee announced Anthony's assessment, even he was a little embarrassed to say it.

Natalie laughed quietly and looked at Anthony.

It seems that it will be difficult to melt the man's heart.

She had to admit that the work Erlyn did was very good, but Anthony still gave her a score of zero.

What about her then? Would she get the same thing or even a minus?

Although not as expected, Erlyn was quite satisfied with this assessment. She knew who Anthony Stevano was, and a man like him was always picky and unpredictable.

No problem, 30 points she scored was high enough.

After all, if her work couldn't even move an Anthony Stevano, how could others?

Not surprisingly, Anthony always assigned a 0 to every participant.

It seems that his criteria were very high.

Now, it's time for Natalie's design to be assessed.

"And now participant number 50 is Natalie Andersen. The design this time is a bit unique because Natalie herself has become the model for her own design! The first judge gave ten marks, the second judge ten and the third also ten." The emcee gave the judges a quick assessment.

Until finally, he looked at the score given by Anthony.

After looking at it in disbelief, he quickly announced. "WOW, Mr. Anthony gave it a ten! It seems that the design this time impressed the judges and the audience. Congratulations to Natalie for being the winner! Give a big applause to our winner!"

"Congratulations!"

The audience immediately stood up and gave a round of applause.

Natalie's face turned red. As she walked forward, a smoke shot out from the floor and the sound of firecrackers could be heard.

In the center of the stage, she thanked the audience and the judges.

"Thank you to the judges, the audience and my teachers for guiding me. Without all of you, I would not have been able to get this award."

Her voice echoed followed by tears falling from the corners of her eyes.

With this she had already proven that she was not a weakling who could be messed with at any moment, and she was no longer a person who depended on others.

Natalie Andersen is one step closer to her future!