In the sitting room of Rowe''s house in Royal Vi, a maid was answering the phone carefully.


    "Yes, Mr. Garwood. We''ve received the air ticket from Mr. Sterling. Thank you…


    But Miss Rowe feels ill this morning… Yes, a fever. She''s not got up. I''m afraid her departure has to be postponed...


    No, thanks, we have a family doctor. It''s not that serious... Okay, sure, we''ll take care of her and send her back when she gets well."


    The maid hung up the phone.


    Just then, footsteps came from the stairs.


    Charlotte, in a pink home dress, stepped down slowly.


    "How''s it going?"


    "Miss Rowe, I''ve talked with Mr. Garwood as you told. Mr. Garwood wanted to send a doctor here, and I declined his kindness. He asked me to take care of you and said that he would book a new ticket for you when you get well." The maid lowered her head and said.


    Charlotte nodded and sighed with relief. Dn asked his secretary to send a ticket to Chicago to her early this morning, and the flight time was this afternoon. In order to stay, she could only pretend to be sick.


    Maybe she couldn''t dy long with this excuse, it was worth it as long as she still had a chance to see Dn in the city.


    After a little, Katrina came and was led into the house by a maid.


    "Miss Kaif, this way, please. Miss Rowe''s waiting for you in the drawing-room." The maid said respectfully. Katrina had been here several times, and the servants here knew this youngdy was Charlotte''s best friend.


    Katrina walked into the drawing-room and sat next to Charlotte with a cloudy face, throwing her handbag on the sofa.


    "Give me some juice. With ice, please," she ordered the maid.


    "What''s going on?" Charlotte nced at Katrina, who seemed to be in a bad mood. "Didn''t you just win the first prize in the designerpetition?"


    Charlotte pretended to be sick, so she could not go out these days, for fear of being seen by Dn. She asked Katrina here to apany her and talk with her so that she would not be too bored.


    Katrina''s face became gloomier when her friend mentioned thepetition.


    "First ce? Now everyone said that I got the first because Savannah gave it to me! The real winner should be Savannah, not me!" She cried and almost turned the juice over.


    Savannah withdrew from thepetition and gave up the prize as soon as she was announced as the winner. After that, the jury gave the first prize to Katrina. It should be a happy result, but Katrina could not cheer herself up at all.


    The outsiders had no idea about the inside story, but people who had learned about it all thought that she got the prize because Savannah didn''t want it!


    It was aplete humiliation for her!


    Katrina transferred this shame to Savannah and cursed her every day.


    Charlotte could feel Katrina''s anger towards Savannah, her face growing darker.


    "Oh, well. Charlotte, how have you been?" Katrina noticed her friend''s silence and asked, "You said you were going to visit old Sterling in Sterling''s house. Did you see your Dn? You haven''t seen each other for three years. How about the visit?"


    Charlotte frowned for a long time before she said, "Dn booked me a flight back to Chicago. If I hadn''t pretended to be ill, I would have been on the ne by now."


    "Ah?" Katrina gasped and thenforted her, "maybe Mr. Sterling was just too thoughtful and didn''t want your brother and your grandma to worry about you..."


    "Don''t say that to make me feel better. I know he wanted to drive me away because of Savannah. He''s busy fixing his rtionship with Savannah and has no time to deal with me. Oh, maybe he was afraid that Savannah would be unhappy to see me, as she did three years ago, so he wanted to send me back as soon as possible." Charlotte looked straight ahead; her tone remained emotionless.


    "That bitch again." Katrina took a deep breath and gritted her teeth. "She''s a nuisance! Because of her, I lost my face in thepetition. And it was her who came between you and Mr. Sterling and stopped you from being together all these years!"


    Charlotte didn''t answer, but Katrina knew how she hated Savannah.


    "Come on, that bitch cannotpare with you at all! Mr. Sterling has an interest in her because she''s good at ying hard-to-get. Maybe she''s been stalking Mr. Sterling behind you."


    "She said she would not haunt Dn, and she took Dn as a stranger now. She promised that she would go to Italy after thepetition." Charlotte said slowly.


    "Oh, you believe that? If she isn''t that scheming, why''s she working in Mr. Sterling''spany now? How could Mr. Sterling want to send you back when you finally met? I don''t believe she''s willing to give up such an excellent man like Mr. Sterling!" Katrina said indignantly.


    She took a sip of juice and continued, "What''s more, she had given birth to a child for the Sterling family! Even if she refused Mr. Sterling on the surface, her existence is still a threat! For men, the one they couldn''t get is always the best. As long as she''s still in LA, there''s always a barrier between you and Mr. Sterling."


    Charlotte''s eyes clouded. She clenched her hands, and a wry smile rose on her lips.


    What could she do? How could she keep Savannah from ever appearing in front of Dn again? Even Lionel would not forgive her if she dared do anything to hurt Savannah.


    Anyway, thepetition was over. She could only hope that Savannah really had no feelings for Dn and would leave for Italy soon.


    In this way, Dn would give her up early and saw clearly that there was still someone else waiting for him.


    * * *


    It was ten to nine in the morning.


    Savannah walked briskly into the design department as usual.


    It was the first day of work after thepetition.


    She promised Kevin that she would quit the job after all the work was done. So, she must go back to thepany to deal with the rest of the work and finish them as soon as possible, and then she could go back to Italy with Kevin.


    "Hey, Savannah! You''re back!" Some colleagues crowded over as soon as Savannah entered the design department.


    "We miss you a lot! How are you?" A female assistant designer giggled and gave her an exaggerated hug.


    Savannah was happy to be weed by her colleagues with such enthusiasm but also a little guilty.


    "I''m sorry. I didn''t win the prize after such a long time off. You must have worked overtime for days to finish my unfinished work. I''m really sorry."