I Have My Reasons

"I just remembered something important." Professor Luo Xia interrupted, and everyone turned their attention to the old man.

Karen's graven expression darkened, and she subconsciously shook her head slowly. He smiled and reached out to Susu with his right palm facing up, " May I borrow the invitation card for a minute?"

"Sure." Susu handed the invitation card over to him and watched as he placed the invitation card to the projector. "Zoom." he raised his arm and waved his index and middle finger in the air at the same time.

"I would deeply appreciate it if everyone could take a look at the zoomed-in invitation card." His voice worked like a mantra as everyone's head followed to the projector slide and focused on the enlarged stamp on the invitation.

Borrowing a cane from one of the judges, Professor Luo Xia pointed to the tiny leaf corner of the rose stamp and pointed out Susu's initials. "Just like the other designs, this stamp was designed by Yin, Susu."

The crowd murmured as they wondered what this stamp had anything to do with this whole event and proving Karen's wrong doings. "As everyone could see, this design goes quite well with today's rose outfit display, don't you all think that?"

After taking a close look, everyone followed along and nodded to each other. Professor Luo Xia smiled and turned to Susu, "I believe that you must have another way of proving this design as your own. Just like the dress. Am I correct?"

Susu revealed a rare smile, "Of course." She stepped up and removed the invitation from the projector. With the use of her skillful fingers, she poked a few mini holes on some angles of the rose stamp. After that, she folded tiny corners of the design to reach the other corner. When she was done, the invitation card was trimmed down to only the rose stamp and the rose was no longer visible.

Now, the rose was folded and curved into a rosebud with the tip opened to reveal the mini holes that she had pecked earlier with a pen. She smiled and said to the microphone once again, "Dear, will you turn on the special light again? The projector can remain on, but I will adjust the angle of it so that it wouldn't blind anyone's eye."

"Alright." Chen Mu's voice rung the ears of the audience as they heard hurried footsteps from somewhere above. It was too dark to see anything or anyone. Once the special lighting were turned on and the room darkened to give the highest-quality effect, Susu held the rose bud and let it do its trick for the audience.

Under the projector's view, everyone saw the mini leaf that had her initials dangling as the rosebud's stem. She pulled it slowly and the petals slowly spread into a rose. Once the rose became fully blossomed, everyone saw the colored edges of the petals from earlier reveal her initials at its center. It was magical.

If one didn't believe that this was a design event, then it would definitely be an adult's fairytale land for the day with free admission tickets. Everyone clapped once again, but Professor Luo Xia didn't plan to stop just there.

"Miss. Susu, would you explain to me what happened to your designs from years ago and how long has it been since you've designed these amazing, creative works?"

"It was several years ago, and that was during the time when I planned on submitting my work for Paris Institute of Design. Unfortunately, two days before the deadline, Miss. Karen came into my room with a sizzling plate of beef and some drinks that she ended up spilling all over my laptop. While I ran to the restroom to clean myself up, she took my laptop and refused to give it back saying she wanted to bring it to the repair shop."

Susu crossed her arms and stared straight at Karen's guilty expression, "And then she came back to tell me that none of the files on my laptop were recoverable. I tried bringing it to a repair store after that, but even then, my files were all damaged."

Professor Luo Xia closed his eyes as he listened to her part of the story and nodded, "I completely and thoroughly understand now. Would you do me another favor?" He snapped his fingers and extended his hand towards his assistant. Quickly, an art portfolio with Karen's name was placed on his opened palm.

"Would you please go through each and every page of these designs for me? If any of these belong to you, please prove the design with your initials. If you recognize any designers from any resources that you've used for your research in any designs, please point it out as well. I believe everyone here is as interested as I am with what this portfolio holds."

His assistant brought him and Susu a chair while Karen remained standing. Susu recognized the front page of the portfolio instantly and flipped through the pages while accurately pointing at where her initials laid hidden behind the designs. While roaming through different designs, she also pointed out the different resources she's used or seen before and pulled it up on her phone.

After half an hour, Professor Luo Xia thanked her for her descriptive explanations. Karen almost urinated herself from the extreme pressure that she was facing from the audience. She only dared to move the slightest of her body when she got tired of standing because everyone would roll their eyeballs to her side once she makes the tiniest moves.

Although stealing someone's work is a crime, she always thought that as long as she takes the work and claims it first then she is the winner. Of course, it doesn't work that way and the road to her wishful thoughts of gaining popularity was about to come true. Except, not the type of popularity she would enjoy.

Everyone's eyes were sharp and scanning every inch of her body as Professor Luo Xia handed the portfolio back to his assistant. "I think everyone would love to know how I got my hands on her art portfolio. Not only were these designs on her self promoted webpage, she used these designs to pass the admissions exam for Paris Institute. I first noticed the odd initials on these designs after zooming in and out of them for so many times."

"For those of you who don't recognize me, I am a professor at the art institute. Plagiarism is a very serious breach of academic integrity and a shame to every field in every career. At first, I was eager to see her designs from projects as she held one of the most impressive admission art design [portfolios. My suspicions grew as she failed to perform any talents during the basic introductory courses. Her drawings and sketches were atrocious nonsense."

"Oh, my apologies for forgetting the most important point. Her fashion sense was close to nonexistent because of her awful choices. Definitely, those designs were not her own creation and that made me look into her admission files carefully. To be fair, I reviewed and observed her works after admissions for a few months and compared it to the portfolio that she used for admission. Totally a different feel to the designs."

"I caught her redhanded during a contest that we held to celebrate the institute's anniversary and she was banned from all design schools after we found out that she actually did extensive plagiarism using pieces of famous works. Of course, she was also expelled from the institute. Anyways, now that her art portfolio is confirmed to be another fake, I announce that Yin, Karen will not be able to step foot into any design careers ever again."

Reporters took pictures and wrote down these strong lines for the next headline. Professor Luo Xia continued, "I almost forgot to mention that Miss. Susu could feel free to sue for copyrights and plagiarism for monetary purposes. Obviously there are many more to what miss. Karen had done, but that would be solely up to Miss. Susu to decide."

Susu faced the audience and looked at Professor Luo Xia, "Thank you very much for clarifying everything and even helped me point out this copycat in public. I would definitely pursue legal actions against Miss. Karen. Although we are stepsisters, she has done many disgusting things in the past. At least for this one, I can hold it against her and publicize it."

"My pleasure. Now, let's get back to announcing the winners for the contest. First place goes to Yin, Susu. As for the second and third place, we will have to discuss further to give out the names. Congratulations and let's all give a round of applause to Miss. Susu's amazing work!" The crowd followed Professor Luo Xia's lead and cheered for Susu's wonderful presentation. Everyone thought that her designs would definitely be worth more in value than the prize of this event.

After the event ended and contestants had left, Susu waited for Professor Luo Xia by the entrance of the event hall.

"Professor Luo Xia, please give me a few minutes of your time." Her sweet, gentle voice made him stop in his steps. He turned around, hiding a hint of sadness and showed her a smile.

"Yes?" he answered.

"I want to thank you once again for clearing my name and helping me gain justice. I really appreciate it." She thanked him once again because she thought that thanking someone should be done privately in terms of manners.

"No biggie. I would've done it for anyone else if I caught such a huge rat snooping around and thinking about being a big shot by copying somebody's work. If that's all..." his words were then cut off by hers.

"I really want to know how you found me." she bit her lips and spat out the first question that she could think of. Her mind was in a small mess where she couldn't really figure out how he managed to trace from just the initials of the artwork to her.

"What do you mean?"

"My initials are common out there. It could mean a lot of things, and the designer may not be me. How come you were so sure that the rose stamp belonged to me and that I had another method of proving myself? How come you were so confident in my designs? how come-"

This time, he cut her off. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but all I can tell you for now is that I have confidence in you and your talents. I've seen your work before, and it is rare for someone to be as talented as you. Besides, it runs in your blood..." His voice trailed off, and she missed the last few words that he said.

"I'm sorry, but could you repeat the last few words that you just said?" She blinked and had more question ready for him.

He shook his head and smiled, "nothing. I was just mumbling to myself. I said with such great talent; it is difficult for anyone to imitate your work. I recognized your unique style and am extremely proud to see your unlimited potential in the future. I have an appointment to attend to, so I will meet you perhaps next time."

Susu held her tongue and nodded, "alright. Then next time you must answer my questions. I still have a lot of inquiries about design that I need your opinion and guidance.

After they separated, Professor Luo Xia met up with Zhi Hei in the parking lot where Zhi Hei brought out an envelope and handed it to him. "Thank you," Professor Luo xia took the envelope and carefully opened it after getting into the car. It was the rosebud stamp that Susu had folded during the event.

His eyes turned slightly watery when he pulled the initials that acted like the stem carefully and watched the rose blossom and close. "She's definitely your daughter...Zi Lan. She's just like you."

Zhi Hei looked at him and asked, "Why did you want me to collect the stamp design for you? I don't think you need it for any academic works."

"I have my reasons." Professor Luo Xia put the rosebud back in the envelope and continued the conversation with Zhi Hei about his upcoming plans.